Georgetown : “The bottom line is dollars” said City Mayor Hamilton Green as he addressed the garbage situation being faced by the Georgetown municipality. He pointed out that one of the solutions to the problem proposed by the Town Clerk, Ms Yonette Pluck-Cort, is a change in the garbage collectors. However, the Mayor is adamant that the municipality will yet remain in a cash-strapped dilemma pointing out that even at the moment the municipality is guilty of not paying contractors in a timely manner. Reports are that several millions of dollars is owed to contractors.
Currently the municipality is struggling to deal with a burgeoning garbage crisis and according to him municipal officials are in discussions to bring some semblance of normalcy in the city. He noted though that in order to effectively deal with the problem the municipality will require an additional source of revenue. “It all comes back to the money that we don’t have. We owe the garbage contractors; money is our problem and we can’t run from that and we are working on finding answers to our problem.”
According to reports the municipality is currently faced with a two-prong challenge as it relates to the collection and disposal of solid waste in the city.
The garbage collection problem had soared to unmanageable proportions a few weeks ago when one of the two private garbage disposal contractors withdrew partial service from the municipality due to mechanical problems with some of its waste disposal trucks. As a result, there has been a disruption of the collection schedule in several areas. These include; South Ruimveldt, Cummings Lodge, Agricola, Mc Doom and East Ruimveldt. “Many citizens have been calling in to the public relations section to express their dissatisfaction about the situation. The Council fully understands the fatigue and worry of those who are affected and we are doing our best to ensure that the situation is return to normalcy,” Public Relations Officer Royston King has disclosed. He said too that the appropriate officers are in constant dialogue with the contractor involved in providing the service.
The municipality has since assured that the collection system in Central Georgetown would remain on schedule, a process which has however been marred by the wanton dumping of garbage by citizens who according to the municipality “continue to blunt the effort of the council. Citizens continue to dump waste into canals, on parapets, reserves and other public thoroughfares.”
In light of this development, the council has issued a warning to citizens that dumping is illegal and could attract a fine of at least $10,000. The Council is also appealing to all citizens to resist the temptation of such negative actions towards the environment and has sought to advise all residents of local communities, who are affected by the disruption in regular collection, that where convenient they should bury their garbage as this would help with soil enrichment and raising low areas in yards.
Meanwhile an advisory issued by the municipality is assuring that the public is being made to ensure that collection will return to normalcy in all areas of the city shortly.
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