Bridgeport City Recorder Melissa Matheny’s frustration with one utility serving the community reached a point where this evening she asked for Council consider taking over the service. And while it’s all very early, Council members agreed that study should begin.

 

At the end of this evening’s session, Matheny asked that the city consider taking over waste pickup services that it currently receives from Waste Management. She said on a personal front, as well as hearing concerns from dozens of residents as a member of Council, it’s time to look at something else.

 

“Most recently I had a poor and unacceptable experience with Waste Management with a problem we had on our street and the service I received was less than courteous,” said Matheny, who lashed out several times at the waste service provider. “I was calling as a customer (as opposed to a Council member) and I don’t believe I could have had a worse experience.”

 

Matheny followed her comments stating that she believed every member of Council has heard similar complaints. City Manager Kim Haws echoed the same sentiments from city staff.

 

“From staff’s perspective, we’ve had it up to here answering questions for something we have no control over … A lot of the problem is that several years ago someone in the Waste Management system thought it would be a good idea to have a person in Texas answer a customer complaint from Bridgeport,” said Haws.

 

With that in mind, Matheny said she believed the city is at a point where not only should a change be considered, but a change – if feasible – should be made.

“I really only believe it’s going to get worse. I don’t see the service getting better,” said Matheny.

 

Haws told Matheny and the rest of Council the city did explore the possibility of doing its own waste service pickup with staff, equipment and other necessary personnel when Keith Boggs served as the Bridgeport Finance Director. He said Boggs felt that it was a “sustainable” project.

“We’d have to dust off the information we have, but I think we can have it by the next work session,” Haws said.

 

Whether this leads to the city creating their own waste department is too early to speculate said Haws. Haws did say that this in no way infers the city is looking at getting into the landfill business. City Attorney Dean Ramsey also backed Haws and said that the Public Service Commission allows for cities to handle their own waste pickup.

 

A call to Waste Management was met by an "office closed" message.

 

Council also approved the bid of Cook Brothers to do the city pool’s retaining wall project. They were one of five contractors that bid on the project and had a low bid of $149,441. Two other contractors also came in under the $150,000 mark, which was the engineer’s estimate for the work. The retaining wall work will help stabilize the pool deck and allow for a new pool slide to be installed if determined to be feasible.

 

Many of those utilizing that pool are members of the Bridgeport High School football team. Several members of the team and coaching staff were on hand to be recognized for winning the Class AA state title early in December. Mayor Robert “Bob” Greer presented Coach Josh Nicewarner with a proclamation for winning the Class AA state title, the eighth title in school history, and giving everyone a ceremonial key to the city.

 

In other business, City Council:

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Melissa Matheny, who let Council know of her ongoing displeasure with Waste Management. Middle photo is of City Manager Kim Haws as he talks one of several subjects addressed by Council this evening. In the bottom photo Mayor Robert "Bob" Greer presents BHS football Coach Josh Nicewarner with a proclamation on the Indians' recent Class AA state title.