Editor’s Note: In an effort to hear the public’s concerns on a timely basis, Mayor Nick Cox asks that all complaints and questions about trash pick-up be emailed to Kenzie Taylor at Minden City Hall. She will be the liaison among the citizens, the city and Republic. Email her at ktaylor@mindenusa.com.
By Bonnie Culverhouse
City of Minden residents take their trash very seriously, according to Mayor Nick Cox, so representatives from contracted Republic Services shared new accountability procedures with members of the city council during a recent workshop.
Republic Operations Manager Mike Miller to have more accountability on his company’s side, logs are being implemented.
“It will keep track of whatever time a request came in, whether it be for trash, yard waste, whatever it’s for,” Miller said. “They will put the customer’s address on there, what day it was scheduled for – and whatever date it is complete, it will be marked ‘completed,’ highlighted and stands out as done.”
Miller said if the request is not completed or is still scheduled, the box will help Republic decide why it is not complete and what the issues include.
“It keeps (City Hall) in the loop of what’s going on,” he added.
Republic’s routing manager is working on maps for Minden, Miller said.
“The maps for Minden were a mess. All my maps for Minden have been routed, proofed and set,” he told the council. “All that has been fixed.”
An optimization program informs the driver the most efficient way to run the route, he said.
Republic will continue to run eight trash routes on Fridays.
“I will put out a boom bulk route out for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Miller said.
His goal is to divide Minden into quarters, he said, extending pick up from eight routes to 12.
“I will give you information on what streets are being run on what days,” he said. “I can take that day and run a rear loader through and make sure all the brush and debris are cleaned up.”
Miller said drivers are to supply photo proof that when a complaint is made about pick-up, they have taken care of the issue.
If it isn’t …
“We, Republic, will be responsible for going back out there and make it right,” he said.
General Manager Kevin Frey told council members they will have access to maps of their district and knowledge of pick-up days. They will also be able to access complaints about accounts in their areas.
“The idea is to keep this manageable and under control,” Frey said.
“Anything you can provide to help us communicate to the citizens is helpful,” said District D councilman Michael Roy. “People are willing to make whatever adjustments they need to make. They just need to know what those adjustments are.”
Cox reiterated that citizens should email Kinsey Taylor at the address at the top of this story.
“They email Kenzie, Kenzie gets it to y’all (Republic), and I expect a trail from the citizen to Kenzie to y’all holds everybody accountable,” Cox said. “Then there’s no loss of information.”
Below is information to the public from Republic Services.