We have us a case of dueling press releases regarding the garbage gunfight. Jackson City Council President Virgi Lindsay issued the following statement:
Today, the city council voted to disapprove the need for continuing the local emergency the Mayor declared on September 17, 2021, pursuant to Mississippi Code 33-15-17(d). The council did so because no emergency exists. The current vendor that has provided solid-waste collection services to the city for decades has offered to continue those same services through, at least, the month of October at the same rate specified in the existing contract. The council is waiting on the mayor to determine whether he will accept that proposal and present it to the council.
The mayor has challenged the council to develop a plan for trash pickup. I believe we have one. The mayor has before him a reasonable option that is in the best interest of the citizen of Jackson. That option is available to provide continuous, uninterrupted services without the hiccups that come with bringing in a new company that has been in existence for a short period of time. Moving forward with this option also gives the Mayor additional time to negotiate a long-term agreement.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba fired right back with his own statement:
I feel compelled to issue the following comments after the release of a statement this afternoon. It concerns the City Council’s decision earlier in the day to rescind my emergency order. More importantly, it is directly related to something every Jackson resident and business has a say in: our garbage collection contract and how we operate as city leaders.
In the statement, which was released to the media without my knowledge, council President Virgi Lindsay explains the council’s decision earlier in the day to rescind my local emergency order.
At the same time, Lindsay – and the council members who voted with her, now seem to have come to an agreement with Waste Management, the current garbage collection operator whose contract is set to expire at the end of September.
She writes in her statement that the current vendor has offered to continue their services through, at least, the month of October. She then suggests the council is waiting on me to accept the proposal and present it back to the council.
I want to make a couple things clear: In an attempt at negotiations, Waste Management never offered a short-term contract or the proposed one-month solution that councilwoman Lindsay speaks of. When my office offered them a one-year contract, they turned it down. Instead, they demanded a long-term one, and this occurred repeatedly.
“It is economically unfeasible for Waste Management to enter into a one-year contract for the services requested in the RFP (request for proposals) for the reasons articulated by Waste Management in its two meetings with the City,” the company said in an Aug. 30 letter that was emailed to my office.
This forced me to declare a local emergency order, since their contract is set to expire, and to find a company that could fill the gap as a public safety crisis looms. Instead of reaching out to my office, they have decided to use this pressure as leverage to force the city into a long-term contract. The most recent proposed option stated in Councilwoman Lindsay’s memo is only now offered after the city managed to find an emergency solution.
It should also be noted Waste Management left us with no other options than to declare an emergency in the first place, as no contract has been approved by the City Council, leaving the city to face the possibility of no garbage collection in a matter of weeks.
Looking forward, I want to quickly point out two major problems with the councilwoman’s memo: One, the negotiations between Lindsay and those who voted with her, are outside the council’s purview as members of the legislative branch. More importantly, I am now legally prohibited under state law from giving Waste Management any contract – unless it is under either the bid process or a declared emergency.
Rather than selecting the company that received the highest recommendation from an independent review committee, FCC Environmental Services, a majority of the council decided in two separate votes to deny the contract. And they have now restricted the administration from finding another solution that suits the best interest of our city. This is the very definition of contract steering.
A majority of the council – in their apparent zeal to side with Waste Management – has put my office in an impossible situation.
I will address this matter in more detail in the coming days, but I want the residents of Jackson to know the full story. Waste Management appears to be calling the shots and the council is working with the company to give the appearance they are negotiating in good faith.
The ball is now in their hands.
Kingfish note: How does it feel, Virgi?
41 comments:
Man, he must REALLY want to give his buddy this contract. All he got was $10,000....that we know about. Come on down Shad and find the rest of the money. You may want to start under the crooked mayor's mattress.
Labamba did not follow law. The RFP was for six years. He decides to lone gun it by asking for one year. Given how well he works with others, what makes him believe that after one year he will have an agreement? He uses symbolism over substance...and I leave symbols to the symbol minded.
Mayor Lumumba clearly cares more about "winning" than procuring services for the city of Jackson. This should be cut and dry and have been done 6 months ago, with no news coverage. Pick the best deal offered among the bidders and move on. Maybe Waste Management didn't provide enough bonus services to the mayor's friends.
As the adage goes, don't wrestle with pigs, you get muddy and the pig will like it. The city council doesn't really have a choice, as someone must provide actual leadership. But this scenario provides a lot of insight into the city's current problems.
FCC was not chosen by an "independent review committee" It was chosen by the mayor and Ridgeland resident Omari (sp?) in an RFP they wrote specifically to cater to FCC. The the RFP had stuff nobody was asking for like one day a week collection and automated trucks and new cans. It cost way more than current services and the citizens spoke and voted it down.
Also by hiring crews to go clean up illegal dumping sites we are just encouraging more illegal dumping. The solution to that is to prosecute illegal dumping. Not easy to do but better money spent if we wanted to catch people doing it bad enough it could be done.
looks like the council has taken the ball....and ran with it for the citizens of Jackson.
It is really fucked up how cornered the mayor is acting
So has Virgi burned bridges with both Lumumba and her constituents?
The saddest part to this whole insanity is that the majority of his voters see nothing wrong with this behavior.
We have lowered the bar so dramatically on morality and decency, it just no longer exists in elected officials.
(insert dog in room of flames gif saying "this is fine")
When did Virgi get a spine?
WM is laughing…..the mayor needs to learn if you are going to graft you need to include 4 others to graft with you.
Without wide spread bribes you wind up looking like a clown.
prima donna
The boy mayor is a very insecure narcissist. Keep re-electing him and expect different results. Be prepared to dump your garbage in front of chowke's electric gate, because the current contract will expire without any immediate replacement.
Own it, Jackistan voters!
Every time the mayor speaks or issues a press release he shows the world that he is a petulant jackwagon who is dumber than a sack of hammers.
Well, Virgi is certainly more consise, I'll give her that. The Mayor's statement reads like a 6 page teenage note to an ex detailing why he is right.
It is Lumumba's obligation to put the WM contract responsive to the RFP to the Council for a vote. He'll lose in court but doesn't possess the stones to take it that far.
"One, the negotiations between Lindsay and those who voted with her, are outside the council’s purview as members of the legislative branch. More importantly, I am now legally prohibited under state law from giving Waste Management any contract – unless it is under either the bid process or a declared emergency."
If Dumbumba is right about this, it's more likely that Lindsey is working in concert with the Mayor, considering she's been carrying his water on this. Win, win for Lindsey.
9:04 - You're right in that characterization (and I like it)....but, it's CONCISE.
The council and the mayor have proven themselves a bunch of ass clowns, but the council does see the only solution, albeit a short-term one. That whole Socrates Garrett plan being pushed by the mayor has disaster written all over it. I can only hope that one day we will see the demise of Chokwad, just like that mayor of Detroit several years back.
8:50 is so right.
Not being well versed or learned on this subject, can't proposals be shown to us ignorant people what is being negotiated and by whom? Then, I believe, we could approach our representatives with our ideas as it's our monies being squandered, I mean spent.
Mr. Mayor
Please give waste management the 6 year deal so the citizens of Jackson have a least one less thing to be worried about being screwed up.
Too bad Virgi had to be baptised in garbage for her fall off the Donkey moment. Truly the ass in the donkey show is a spectacle.
As usual, ol' Socrates is standing by for some more city money.
@8:25 here
Also another way to discourage illegal dumping is to expand the dumpster days. They used to be once a month at 3 or 4 locations around town. Now they are once a month but at only one location. If we are spending extra money then expand the dumpster day program to be more frequent and/ or more locations.
Use the garbage piling up to fill in the 1,000s of Jackistan potholes. Win-win, right?
Just dump your trash on all those used tires at the old Methtop Inn off I-20. No one seems to mind.
Socrates Garrett and the mayor are essentially the SAME person, it appears.
Jackistan is the poster child for the "broken windows theory."
WLBT has caught the mayor lying when he accused council members of working directly with Waste Management & cutting a deal without his knowledge or involvement.
https://www.wlbt.com/2021/09/23/waste-management-extension-letter-sent-mayor-lumumba-claims-he-hasnt-seen-it/
Those who voted for this guy pay very little attention to this guy.....or the last guy or the last guy etc..... They do watch local news sometimes and low and behold there are never any real negative stories about this guy...or the last guy or the last guy....the last Mayor to receive heat was Frank. And that was because he did his job.
I drive by the corrupt boy mayor's McMansion several times a day and have started laying on the horn as I drive by to protest his stupidity. Won't y'all join me in making some noise?
So when the contract expires the City of Jackson will be on record as failing to provide two of the four basic services to its constituents. WATER, SANITATION, Electric, and Gas. I can't wait until NYT comes down here so he can accuse the big bad republicans of not paying their bills.
12:24 : Once all the hands are stuck in the cookie jar..............
The mayor doesn't help himself by responding tit-for-tat to each single point. A good public relations professional (if those aren't mutually exclusive terms) would advise him to stick to a couple of over-arching messages that ignore what opponents are saying. If you're on the defensive, you're losing the battle.
After reading his lengthy statement, I came away with no clear takeaway. The mayor doesn't know that more words mean less communicating. He honestly believes excessive blathering makes him sound intellectual. He talks just to hear himself talk, there's no meaning to anything he says - awful messaging, or either he's lying outright.
12:08 PM
He'll take it as encouragement.
What is really going on here. Does the M Bar guy have the mayor on film with a donkey for something?
2:54 ....didn't they just "donate" to the community some cameras ? When the obvious is so obvious it alludes.
Those who control the garbage companies expect return on investment and the mayor is late. Now that's an emergency for ya.
The mayor won reelection with 17% turn out.
It really does appear as though the Mayor (and Council, I suppose, to a much lesser degree) are doing their best to totally screw up one of the few things that is working relatively well in the City.
It’s a win/win for Waste Management.
They will either get the 6 year contract, or be awarded attorney fees plus the profit they would have made on the 6 year contract, if the City doesn’t award WM the contract. WM is hoping the city gives the trash hauling contract to anyone else, so they don’t have to work to earn the profit - the courts will side with WM. That’s why you have lowest and best bids.
Talk about a good poker hand - WM is holding all the cards. They are the low bidder, great at hauling trash, and positioned to get paid regardless of which contractor the city chooses.
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