Now's the time to speak up about Mitchell's recycling services.
On Friday, Mayor Jerry Toomey enacted a veto on the City Council's decision to go with Dependable Recycling for Mitchell's recycling services.
Toomey cited dozens of concerned residents contacting him via phone and email with their displeasure of Dependable before and after the council voted 6-1 on Jan. 17 to renew the company's annual bid for the work.
Clearly, not everyone is happy with Dependable Recycling. And those unsatisfied with the recycling services they pay for have legitimate reasons for concern.
At the most recent council meeting, it was stated that Dependable doesn't abide by some clauses in its contract, and some believe the company's customer service is subpar. Included in the discussion was that Dependable's employees don't always wear their necessary safety vests, and they park in the middle of the streets while collecting recyclables. Other complaints about Dependable were a lack of identification or phone number on their service vehicles and a failure to educate the public about services through advertising.
ADVERTISEMENT
What's curious is why the council's vote was so one-sided in favor of keeping Dependable when the mayor is hearing a significant amount of complaints about the company.
That's why we're pleased to see the mayor veto this decision, not because we think Dependable should or should not get the work. We just want the council to have more discussion on the topic.
We realize council members already spent nearly two hours voicing their thoughts on the city's recycling services last meeting. And we believe their votes were made with their constituents' best interests in mind.
But if people are still complaining, that means they're unhappy. Is it the majority of Mitchell that's unhappy with Dependable and the company's perceived poor customer service? We don't know.
So, now's the time for Mitchell residents to voice concerns to their City Council representatives. The next City Council meeting is on Monday, when the topic will likely come up.
While the mayor said he recognizes his veto will likely be overridden by the council, we believe he truly feels he is acting on behalf of the city's residents he's hearing from.
That alone makes an additional discussion warranted.
