Written Statement Regarding Garbage Situation –
Monday 3 April, 2023.
Jackson just passed the one year anniversary of the Mayor’s illegal action when he gave Richard’s Disposal the notice to proceed in picking up garbage across the City of Jackson without a valid contract. This was illegal because the Mayor abandoned the RFP Process that had begun in October 2021 after Richard’s Disposal had been voted down multiple times by the City Council in January, February and March of 2022.
If the Mayor had stayed within the RFP process he would have brought forward another vendor until he got one that could get four votes from the City Council. Instead the Mayor chose to go outside the law in pursuit of a contract for his favored vendor.
For this reason the City’s garbage pickup has been under the jurisdiction of the Federal Court system and Judge Christy Johnson and Magistrate Mike Parker for nine months. Sadly, the Mayor has taken little to any action to find a garbage vendor that can get four votes from the City Council. In a cynical move he decided to wait until the last 48 hours of the Federal Court jurisdiction in hopes that the threat of ‘no garbage pickup’ flip one of the Council votes in favor of Richard’s Disposal.
It is shameful to create and then use citizen anxiety as a negotiating ploy.
The Council is pursuing a legal pathway through Special Chancellor David Clark, appointed by the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court to resolve the current garbage issue.
The Council is seeking a Declaratory Judgement to negotiate with Vendors 2 and 3 to provide garbage collection services under a legal and valid contract. Further details on these efforts will be forthcoming.
Ashby Foote
President Jackson City Council
3 April 2023
