BROOKHAVEN — Time is ticking on a deadline for garbage collection bids and Arrow Disposal Services Inc.’s contract with Brookhaven and Lincoln County. Waste companies gathered Monday morning to meet about what the city and county were expecting in bid proposals. 

ADSI’s garbage collection contract will expire Sept. 30, 2024 for Lincoln County and Brookhaven. The deadline for bids for companies hoping to contract the service is June 3, 2024. 

Waste Management, BCC Solutions, Greenmeadow Solutions, Delta Waste and ADSI had representatives for the garbage collection meeting. No action was taken as the meeting was for local government officials and waste collection companies to get on the same page for bids. 

Simple requests

Garbage companies and Brookhaven’s Public Works Director Kris Xifos had a few questions to ask in the meeting. One man asked how many households were in the county. Lincoln County Tax Collector/Assessor Blake Pickering said there are 8,296 active garbage accounts right now. 

Xifos asked for any feedback on working times. He explained the City expected working times in the bids for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. so any missed garbage could be picked up that day. Lincoln County was on the same page. 

Brookhaven Mayor Joe Cox said they were not concerned about when garbage companies started the work day. ADSI’s CEO Richard Urrutia asked if there was a cutoff time for when missed pickup calls could be taken to be fixed. Xifos said they would be reasonable. He added later the City expected missed trash to be picked up within 24 hours. 

Officials requested the garbage companies submit a sample contract with their bids. 

A Waste Management employee asked the county and city to provide the current routes and dates for those routes so if there was a change operations would be smooth. 

District 2 Supervisor Keith Lewis, former public works director, asked if the trash companies would be able to provide a monthly report of where the trucks have been. He additionally asked if holiday schedules would change. 

Brookhaven’s transfer station is closed on holidays while ADSI collects garbage for every holiday but Christmas and New Years. Supervisors expressed they would like for the trash to not run on holidays to eliminate any confusion for residents especially if the transfer station is closed. 

Xifos had a brilliant request for the bid proposals. One of his questions turned to the customer service side of trash collection. 

“We don’t want a 1-800 number or an out of town number. We want someone who can sit at the phones locally,” Xifos said. “We will expect a weekly missed collections report. We think the local customer service office would help keep a record of it.”