Talk turns to bulk waste woes

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, October 11, 2017

City marshal issue brought up again

JEANERETTE — Mayor Aprill Foulcard says bulk waste trash pickup has been a problem around town lately.

At Tuesday night’s Board of Aldermen meeting, Foulcard opened a discussion about bulk waste pickup, which the city provides as a free service. The Jeanerette Public Works Department has been taking care of bulk waste trash pickup since 2013. Before that, the city had a contract with Gordon’s Disposal for $18,000.

Foulcard said it was too costly at the time, so public works then took over and would pick up bulk waste on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Public works now picks up trash throughout the week, but mainly on the second and fourth Friday.

“What’s happening now is we’re now having dump sites,” Foulcard said. “There are places where people dump their trash. Where this is trash is coming from I don’t know. I can tell you all that there was a trash pickup recently on Sixth Street and what was utilizing that one spot filled two 30 yard dumpsters. That’s a lot of trash in one area.”

Areas on Sixth Street, Monnot Road, Nolan Duchane and Cypremort streets have experienced similar problems where residents drop off bulk waste. 

“I called (the mayor) one time and said I can’t believe there’s a bathtub and two sofas (at a dump site),” Mayor Pro Tem Tia Simmons said. 

Foulcard said it has become a money problem as well as a trash problem.

“For this fiscal year, we’ve budgeted $35,000 just for dumpsters,” Foulcard said. “Right now, we’re at $16,441.35. We’ve utilized 46.98 percent of our budget and we’re just going into our fourth month of our fiscal year, which means we have eight more months to go.”

The mayor said she called five other local municipalities; Loreauville, Delcambre, Franklin, Patterson and New Iberia, and no other town provides a free bulk waste service. Delcambre and Loreauville opted for Progressive Waste to provide bulk waste pickup, while the city of Franklin contacts Pelican Waste on an individual basis when bulk pickup is needed, at the resident’s expense.

“I just wanted to have a discussion on this to see how to move forward,” the mayor said.

Alderman Clarence Clark suggested holding a town meeting to ask residents if they would pay the extra garbage fee if it also entailed bulk waste pickup.

“Can we do a public meeting where the public can come in and give their say?” Clark asked. “It’s ($35,000) is a lot of money that’s needed in a lot of other places.”

Foulcard said she also would find out if Progressive Waste would work on an individual basis, the same as Franklin and Pelican Waste. Foulcard said an update would be presented during the next budget meeting.