BROOKHAVEN — Lincoln County Administrator Daniel Calcote said the County and City of Brookhaven met to go over expectations for bids of garbage collection contracts last week. Arrow Disposal Services Inc. contract ends with Lincoln County on Sept. 30, 2024. 

City and County leaders met Tuesday morning in the courthouse to discuss what they expected from the bid proposals to be sure they were on the same page. Calcote said he was not sure they worked as closely together last time. 

“We wanted to get going and wanted to have similar things on what we expect from garbage companies,” Calcote said. “We wanted to put some teeth into the contract and avenues we can take when garbage isn’t picked up. We wanted to cover all of our bases before we got started.”

ADSI had some issues with trucks breaking down, keeping workers and missing garbage pickups in Lincoln County and Brookhaven in 2023. Richard Urrutia, CEO of ADSI, actually came to Lincoln County to address the issues the company had. 

Measures were put in place by the company at the end of February to ensure service was better going into the final year of the contract. Lincoln County Board of Supervisors recognized a need to work on the trash contracts early in the year.  

Calcote said one of the bases the County and City covered Tuesday was their timelines were the same. They will both ask for three year contracts with an option to extend the contract for a year up to three years. 

He added they plan to put in a structure where fines are levied if the garbage collection service misses entire streets or a certain number of cans. 

“We want to be able to hold their feet to the fire a little bit,” Calcote said. “We don’t want these issues to happen anymore. We want to make sure we can hold them accountable.” 

The County and City shared concerns about prices increasing and want to have a way to justify any cost to the public in case vendors aren’t upholding their end. 

Advertising for garbage contract bids will start next week. Calcote said he and City Clerk Samantha Melancon are trying to mirror each other in their bid advertisements as much as they can. Brookhaven will have a slightly different bid as they are asking for quotes for twice a week pickups. 

The next step is to have a mandatory meeting with any potential vendors. 

“They can sit down and go over any questions they might have,” Calcote said. 

Bids will be due by June 3 and both City and County officials should have a clearer picture of future garbage services by then. The new contract would go into effect October 1.