Statement from the Office of Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba on the ongoing garbage contract process:
"In the interest of transparency, we are releasing the following internal communication between the Mayor’s Office and the City Council regarding the ongoing garbage collection issue.
Our objective is clear. We want our residents to know that we have taken enormous efforts to secure a garbage collection contract. We have gone through three separate RFP processes in the last several years. A slim majority of the City Council has refused to accept the contract of the top-rated vendors in the last two RFP processes. First, it was FCC Environmental and now it is Richards Disposal.
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Despite the litigation and the looming deadline on the emergency contract, we now know Richard’s has proven it can do the job of garbage collection in Jackson and at a much more affordable rate than that of the other vendors. Richard’s is the only one willing to honor its price on the RFP. Therefore, there are no other options or other companies to negotiate with. These savings are noted in the attached letter. Additional information can be found on our Facebook page.
We also feel compelled to refute a false narrative that has been created among some council members and their attorney that the Mayor has done nothing. As noted in the letter, the Mayor reached out to the council president four months ago to try to resolve this issue. He even sent letters to the vendors to confirm if they would honor the original RFP prices.
The battle over a garbage contract has been an extremely unfortunate situation. But it was avoidable. The selection of a successful company that could and is now doing the job, while saving the City millions in taxpayers dollars, is in the best interest of Jackson residents. That is who we serve.”
Please see attached document for additional information.
