St. John trash contractor given 30 days to ‘clean up their act’

By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — St. John Parish’s contract with Waste Management is being analyzed and put on the line due to not following the contracts guidelines.

The St. John Parish Council shared many concerns with Waste Management’s District Manager Brian Brining at the meeting on Tuesday night.

Brining addressed many of the concerns, with responses relative to Hurricane Katrina being the reason things are running slow, but that Waste Management has been working overtime and have hired many new employees to help with the overload.

No action was taken at the meeting, but Councilman Ronnie Smith did say he would give Waste Management an opportunity to get back on track.

“I said I would give them 30 days to get their act together,” Smith said. “I didn’t make a motion, because I wanted to give them an opportunity to do what they are supposed to do. I wanted to get the message across that we are not going to accept anything. If they do what they are supposed to, there won’t be a problem, if they don’t, I will make my recommendation to the council to eliminate their contract.”

Councilman Cleveland Farlough said he will take this time to review and analyze Waste Management’s contract.

“I want to take a serious look at the contract, because normally there is some kind of penalty when you don’t hold up your end of the contract,” Farlough said. “It is difficult to believe that there are no stipulations in the contract, and the only thing we can do is eliminate them. Every contract has guidelines, they’re not just cut and dry.”

Councilman Sean Roussel suggested at the meeting that better communication would help, especially when Waste Management is running late or run into other problems. He said if they would just make a simple phone call to let them know what’s going on, it will be easier to explain the problems to the many residents who call several members of the council.