MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Some people living in Hickory Hill have a messy problem on their hands.
They’ve been waiting for weeks to get their trash picked up — and now they might be waiting a little longer after problems with the third-party vendor Waste Pro that services the area.
Neighbors say they keep their trashcans on the curb for weeks at a time, not knowing when the trash people are going to come pick it up.
Tuesday, in a city council committee meeting, the city of Memphis’ Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen updated council members on the trash backlog in Hickory Hill and Cordova, saying crews were “all caught up now.”
It sounded like good news. But viewers alerted us that it wasn’t the case in their neighborhoods.
When we asked the city of Memphis, they said McGowen immediately realized he had misspoken, and responded in the virtual meeting chat to all of the council members they were actually in te process of getting caught up and should be in the next two weeks.
As far as we can tell, that chat is not visible to the public who watch the meetings online.
Now with the threat of wind and rain on the horizon, there’s concern neighborhoods could be littered with debris. Wednesday, we saw trash has already blown all over this subdivision.
McGowen assured council members teams are working diligently to get things back to normal.
“Our aim is to provide better solid waste service in the area, adequate solid waste service people deserve,” he said.
Tuesday, the city council voted on a resolution urging the mayor’s office to terminate its contract with Waste Pro. Waste Pro has already said they’re open to ending the contract.
The city could decide on April 10.
