Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

AHOSKIE – Town citizens here are upset over why their trash is not being collected on a regular basis.

It appears their voices are being heard.

Mayor Weyling White addressed the issue at last week’s regularly scheduled meeting of the Ahoskie Town Council.

Waste Industries, LLC – doing business as GFL Environmental – and the Town of Ahoskie are currently in the second year of a five-year contract that began June 13, 2023.

“Based on complaints received regarding trash collection is not occurring, on occasion, on the days cited in the contract, we need answers to why this is occurring,” White said.

Mayor White said that when that occurs, GFL is not notifying town officials in advance as to the reason why its trucks are running behind schedule. As noted in item 10 of the current contract, “Contactor (GFL) will notify the customer (the town) and residents with respect to any changes in service day or other similar information at least 24 hours in advance of any such changes in service day.”

The contract does state that if such changes to the pick-up day occurs on that particular day and are beyond the control or without fault of the contractor, then a shorter notice is allowed.

Failure by the contractor to provide such notice “shall entitle the customer (the town) a $250 reduction on that month’s invoice for the first incident, and each additional incident in any 30 calendar day period shall entitle the customer to a $500 reduction on that month’s invoice.”

Cecelia Jones, legal counsel for the Town of Ahoskie, said she has spoken to the Town Clerk on how to handle this matter.

“The town contracts with a company to pick-up the trash of our residents, according to a schedule that is published,” said Jones. “They are required to let us know if they are not going to be able to adhere to that schedule so that we can in turn let our residents know.

“This is all about communication,” Jones continued. “We understand that things come up and there are sometimes going to be delays, but we want to be able to tell our residents that there will be a delay in trash pick-up.”

Jones noted that GFL has not held up their end of the deal.

“What we are asking our residents is to let us know, call the town hall if your trash pick-up is missed,” she suggested. “We’ll get your name and your address and then do our part in holding them accountable for what we’re paying them to do.”

Jones also suggested that for those wishing to electronically report a missed trash pick-up day, she will meet with Town Hall staff to see whose email can be used for that purpose.

“The good thing about doing this by email is that it gives us a paper trail,” Jones said.

Once determined, the town will post that email address on its Facebook page as well as on the printed water bills that are delivered monthly to town residents.

“We want to address this issue and move forward with answers to this issue,” noted Mayor White, adding that the financial penalties as laid out in the contract will be looked at as well.