–to undertake 60% of garbage disposal 

THE withdrawal of the services of City Hall’s two major garbage contractors last week has opened up an opportunity for the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to “rethink” its approach to providing this service to the city. Town Clerk,Royston King made the observation on Monday at the statutory meeting when he also noted that the M&CC intends to take over at least 60 per cent of the total collection by the end of 2017.    “There are a number of approaches we are looking at and have already discussed. It’s very frightening when contractors can actually withdraw their services at their own whims and fancies and the city is left vulnerable to all kinds of public health and environmental challenges,” said King.     “While we know we owe monies to the contractors, we also believe that they have a civic responsibility to ensure the integrity of our environment. Therefore we were a little disappointed particularly since we were also talking with them in finding a way forward in terms of paying them,” King continued.        Puran Brothers Disposal Services and Cevons Waste Management recently opted to pull their garbage collection services from the city due to outstanding balances from the M&CC.     King told city councillors last month that the M&CC was finding it increasingly difficult to honour its financial obligations to the contractors.    He said Council has been trying to keep up with current bills, although it has outstanding amounts for the years 2015 and 2016.    King said it was “extremely difficult” for the Council to sustain payments to these contractors because the municipality is being asked to do more with less resources. He pointed out that the Council is now doing more drainage works than it did before.    Although help has been forthcoming from the Ministry of Infrastructure, it is often inadequate, King noted, and called for the commercial fee to be implemented as soon as possible, and for the container-fee issue to be sorted out.    Meanwhile, in a press statement, the M&CC said the monthly payment to both contractors is $45M.