NATCHEZ, Miss. – A lawsuit remains in limbo to nullify Adams County’s garbage collection contract with a New Orleans-based waste hauler amid continued complaints about its pickup services.
A divided county board in March 2025 sued United Infrastructure Services of Louisiana in Adams County Circuit Court. No court decision has been issued yet, said board attorney Scott Slover. The lawsuit alleges UIS has breached the contract with the county because of poor services that include missed trash pickups and substandard garbage trucks that frequently break down.
Adams County Supervisor Kevin Wilson suggested Monday the board ask other garbage collectors to submit plans and cost proposals for picking up garbage in case the court rules UIS can be fired. However, Slover said that’s not needed since the board could declare an emergency and quickly get another garbage collector to continue services.
The Adams County Board of Supervisors hired United Infrastructure Services in 2023 to serve the 5,700 or so households outside Natchez with twice-a-week garbage pickups. Supervisors Warren Gaines, Ricky Gray and Angela Hutchins voted to hire UIS while Wilson and Supervisor Wes Middleton voted against the contract. The $2 million-a-year contract was followed by a $20-a-month garbage tax increase on county residents, raising the monthly rate to $35, or $420 a year – $240 more than what county residents were paying prior to 2023.
The garbage contract is among the rancorous issues dividing the five-member county board in recent years. During Monday’s meeting, angry words were exchanged between supervisors when Wilson – the board’s only Republican – questioned Gray’s allegiance to the American flag, and Gray refuted Wilson’s past insinuations that supervisors took bribes from the county’s garbage collector. Hutchins, the board’s presiding officer, was prompted to pound the gavel to quell the argument. However, war of words continued later as she castigated Wilson for his attempts to “falsely accuse us” of taking bribes.
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