NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson and Natchez aldermen are negotiating with the city’s current trash collector after determining the company has the best proposal of four bidding for the contract.
The mayor and Board of Aldermen closed the public out Monday of their discussions about the four companies’ bids and declined to give details of what made Arrow Disposal Service’s proposition better than the others.
City officials in 2018 also held closed-door meetings when it first selected Arrow as Natchez’ trash collector. The Mississippi Ethics Commission said this violated the state’s open meetings law. The commission ordered then-Mayor Darryl Grennell and aldermen to refrain from further violations of the law that requires government boards to convene in public.
After Monday’s meeting of the mayor and aldermen — when told about that 2018 ruling against the Natchez board– Gibson said they’ll have city attorney Jack Lazarus research the law and legalities of the closed-door session.
“If it is found we did anything improper, we will immediately call another special meeting to resolve the issue. It is not our intention to do anything improper — only to do what is best for Natchez and for our citizens,” Gibson said. “If we made a mistake, we will be the first to admit it and correct it.”
Gibson said he and aldermen closed the public out of Monday’s session to “allow room for negotiations” over the garbage proposals’ final details.
State law does allow government boards to have closed-door discussions about specific issues — such as negotiations over lawsuits and the expansion of businesses — but the state Ethics Commission ruled in 2018 that does not apply to city garbage-collection proposals.
After closing their doors Monday for about 40 minutes, the mayor and aldermen emerged to publicly agree Arrow appeared to offer the best services and costs than the three other competitors: Waste Pro, Hometown Waste and WM (formerly Waste Management).
The board then went back into another closed session to meet with Arrow executive Jimmie Moore to haggle more on a contract. More negotiations are to continue toward a final garbage-collection contract before the current one expires in May, Gibson said.
The mayor did say he wants Arrow to provide additional services, such as hauling away large trash like junked furniture and appliances.
City residents now pay $24.15 a month per household to have their trash collected and disposed of. The fee is attached to their monthly bill from the Natchez Water Works for water and sewage services.
The city’s garbage and disposal expenses totaled about $1.5 million this past year, with Arrow getting $1.4 million of that for collecting the city’s trash. The remaining funds went mostly to WM and Greenway Environmental Services for landfilling the garbage in their waste dumps.
Comments