Mississippi’s capital city of Jackson, recently reeling from decades of infrastructure neglect that led to a water crisis, now has garbage bags piling up as the city’s leaders are at a standstill over who should pick up the trash.
The Jackson City Council failed to ratify a contract for Richard’s Disposal Inc. to pick up the city’s trash on Saturday, so for the first time in modern history, the state’s largest city and its predominantly Black residents are going without garbage removal.
At issue: A power struggle between the council and the mayor over the contract for the city’s garbage collection.
Here’s what we know about the situation in Jackson:
Lengthy power struggle comes to a head
- Rejection: City council declined multiple times to adopt a 6-year-contract for Richard’s Disposal Inc. Some members said the city had better options.
- Attempted veto: Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba attempted to veto the council’s rejection of the disputed contract. The state Supreme Court ruled last month that he acted improperly.
- Trash collected on emergency contract: Amid legal wrangling, Richard’s Disposal has been collecting garbage in Jackson since Lumumba awarded an emergency contract.
- Trash collectors not paid: The company worked several months without receiving money, then filed a lawsuit last July to demand compensation. In October, the company said it would stop picking up garbage unless it received money, and the city then agreed to make payments.
- Most recent vote was split: Councilmembers were split 3-3, with one member abstaining, on whether to adopt the Richard’s contract.
- The end result: There is no current trash contract for the city.
Trash ‘crisis’ piles onto historical infrastructure issues
Late last August, excessive rainfall led to flooding of the Pearl River and failure at the city’s largest water treatment plant. 150,000 residents were left without safe water to drink, bathe or cook. The crisis wasn’t the first time the city had water supply issues, including previous lead concerns and boil advisories.
It was a flashpoint that turned national attention to decades of racial inequality, neglect of infrastructure and poverty.
JACKSON WATER CRISIS:The crisis can’t be disentangled from race, experts say
Now, residents are having to figure out what to do with the trash on their own. A solution for trash pickup in the meantime remains at a standstill, and Lumumba warned a new request-for-proposal process with other vendors could take weeks or months.
Lumumba called the lack of a contract a “crisis” on Thursday.
What’s next?
A hearing date is scheduled April 17 for the lawsuit brought by the council, members announced Thursday.
Meanwhile, residents are “suffering, and we are in a very difficult space,” Lumumba acknowledged Thursday after six days of garbage building up. Richard’s employees were out collecting signatures on a petition this week to urge the city’s council to have a new hearing so they can go back to work.
Lumumba said he wants to convene another emergency meeting of the City Council and hopes for a “favorable vote” on a Richard’s Disposal contract. The council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday.
Household garbage collection sites with dumpsters have been set up. At one such site, over 100 cars were lined up when it opened Thursday morning. One resident, Justin Ragin, said he’d charge residents to collect bagged trash himself, but responses were “too many to count.”
Contributing: Ed Inman for the Mississippi Clarion Ledger; The Mississippi Clarion Ledger; The Associated Press