By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Chiefland City Commissioners expressed concern Monday about Waste Pro’s poor record of commercial garbage collection over the past two weeks.

            Board members said they knew of commercial dumpsters overflowing with garbage.

            “People are unhappy with their service,” said Mayor Chris Jones.

            City Manager Mary Ellzey said the problem with lack of garbage collection stems from a shortage of staff at Waste Pro. Ellzey said she met with Waste Pro officials to discuss the problem.

            Commissioner Rollin Hudson said restaurants can’t afford to have overflowing dumpsters. He said something needs to be done to correct the problem.

            “When you go to a restaurant and the health department comes by, that’s not good for the restaurant,” Hudson said.

            Commissioner Norm Weaver corrected a statement he made at the City Commission meeting Monday regarding Waste Pro. He said he was incorrect stating the City of Gainesville had problems with Waste Pro failing to collect garbage and had imposed big fines on the company. He said it was another company, not Waste Pro that was blamed for failing to collect garbage.  

            Ellzey said Chiefland’s contract with Waste Pro includes a provision for collecting liquidated damages due to things like missed garbage pickups. She said the company can be fined $20 to $25 per incident.

            “We keep track of all those misses,” she said. “We calculate all those misses and we fine them at the end of the month.”

            She said customers need to call the city when their garbage isn’t pickup by Waste Pro.

            Ellzey said she didn’t have a total dollar figure for all the fines that were collected.

            The issue of failed garbage collections was brought up by Jones under commission reports.

            Commissioner Lewrissa Mainwaring asked if the city was fining Waste Pro right now. Ellzey said all the missed collections are reported to Waste Pro and fines are issued.

            “It’s a battle,” she said.

            Hudson said he could deal with the garbage at his home not being picked up for four or five days.

            “I’ll just have to deal with it, but a business like a restaurant and people coming by and seeing it, that’s a different story – that cannot go on,” he said.

            “At that point, I think they were using some Temp Force employees out of Gainesville. When you have employees like that who don’t have a connection to the community, you’re not going to get good service,” he said.

            Fire Chief James Harris asked commissioners if they had heard about a garbage fire behind the Dollar Tree store. He said the company had filled its dumpster to capacity and started piling folded cardboard on carts.

            Jones said he experienced an incident several months ago at his store when garbage had piled out due to lack of collection. He said he spoke directly to the driver of a Waste Pro truck about the problem. He said his garbage was picked up after their discussion.

            “They didn’t have anywhere to put it and someone set it on fire,” he said. The fire was started on the carts, not the dumpster.

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City of Chiefland Regular meeting January 11, 2021; Posted January 11, 2021