NATCHEZ, Miss. – The head of the company that picks up Adams County residents’ trash rebutted complaints about its service.
“I will not stand here and say we’re perfect, … (but) we have steadily increased our efficiency,” said Jimmie Woods, chief executive officer of United Infrastructure Services of Louisiana, who met Tuesday with the Adams County Board of Supervisors.
Supervisors for several months have recited complaints about UIS failing to meet pickup schedules and operating substandard garbage trucks that frequently break down.
“The taxpayers are not happy and I’m not happy,” said Supervisor Wes Middleton. “The fleet (of trucks) is not up to par. I’m constantly getting complaints. I’m not happy with the service.”
Woods said various improvements in recent months have been instituted, such as bringing three new trucks to Adams County. With that, he said, “the calls (of grievances) have gone down substantially.”
Woods said he and UIS employees “bend over backwards to try to accommodate” Adams County, which he considers is a “major customer.”
Woods noted his parents are from Adams County’s Sibley area and moved to New Orleans in the 1950s. They started the business that he grew up working in and went on to construction, trash collection and real estate development.
Ensuring Adams County residents are adequately served “is personal and not just business for me,” Woods told the Adams County board.
The Board of Supervisors contracted Woods’ New Orleans-based company in 2023 and imposed a $20-a-month garbage fee increase on the estimated 5,700 county households to help pay for collecting trash twice a week. This sharply divided the supervisors 3-2: Angela Hutchins, Ricky Gray and Warren Gaines favored retaining UIS while Middleton and Kevin Wilson were against the contractor and the higher costs.
With that trash collection contract – which has UIS being paid about $2 million a year – Adams County residents living outside Natchez saw their monthly garbage tax increase to $35, or $420 a year – $240 more than what county residents were paying prior to 2023.
Woods is chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors, which governs the university.
The city and county are required to publish detailed report of revenues and cost incurred by the county or municipality during the immediately preceding county or municipal fiscal year in operating the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system before the first day of the fiscal year. I don’t remember seeing a published report from either the county or city.
§ 17-17-348. Counties and municipalities to publish detailed report of revenues and costs incurred in operating garbage or rubbish collection or disposal systems.
(1) In addition to any notice requirements otherwise provided by law, the board of supervisors of each county and the governing authorities of each municipality, before the first day of the fiscal year, shall publish in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county, a detailed, itemized report of all revenues, costs and expenses incurred by the county or municipality during the immediately preceding county or municipal fiscal year in operating the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system. The report shall disclose:
(a) The total dollar amount of revenues received or dedicated by the county or municipality during the immediately preceding fiscal year for operation of the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system;
(b) The identity of each source of funding and the dollar amount received from each source of funding during the immediately preceding fiscal year for operation of the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system, including ad valorem taxes, fees and other sources; and
(c) The total dollar amount expended by the county or municipality to operate the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system, along with the names and addresses of all businesses and persons with whom the county or municipality has contracted to perform or provide garbage or rubbish collection or disposal, the dollar amount of expenditures made under each contract and an itemized list of all other expenditures of county or municipal funds to operate and administer the garbage or rubbish collection or disposal system.
(2) The notice required under subsection (1) of this section shall be no less than one-eighth (⅛) page in size and the type used shall be no smaller than ten (10) point and surrounded by a one-fourth-inch (¼) solid black border. The notice may not be placed in that portion of the newspaper where legal notices and classified advertisements appear. The notice must appear in a newspaper that is published at least five (5) days a week, unless the only newspaper in the county is published less than five (5) days a week. The newspaper selected must be one of general interest and readership in the community, and not one of limited subject matter. The notice must be published at least once.