Mayor announces Richard's Disposal Inc. chosen for long-term contract. Council must now vote

Richard's Disposal Inc., the garbage collection company that was rejected for a long-term contract by the Jackson City Council last year, — sparking a 17-day trash crisis — will be up for another vote.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announced the company was selected by the panel of six within the city's Solid Waste Division.

Richard's Disposal was one of two companies who responded to the garbage collection request for proposals that the city issued in November, Lumumba said. He also said negotiations with Richard's Disposal on the long-term contract are ongoing.

The mayor has refused to name the other company that put in a proposal.

After those negotiations, the mayor will bring the contract to the Jackson City Council for final approval. He said he expects to have the contract on the agenda to vote on at the council's next meeting, which is set for March 12.

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The current 1-year emergency contract with Richard's Disposal expires on March 31.

When asked if he expects to secure the four votes needed for Richard's Disposal to be approved for the long-term contract, Lumumba was vague in his answer.

"Council leadership indicated to me that if the thing — and I'm not going to say what the thing was — that they were asking to be negotiated with Richard's … if they (Richard's) were able to do that, then they would have four votes," Lumumba said.

Lumumba was also asked if he was confident that resident's would have their trash collected come April 1, and not have a repeat of last year, Lumumba said he is "100% confident that the administration will do everything in our power in order to achieve that."

In March 2023, the council rejected Richard's Disposal for a long-term contract in a 4-3 vote, leading to a lawsuit with the company that is currently ongoing. Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley and Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks all voted against the company.

Last week, Stokes tried to pass an ordinance that would ban the city from re-hiring Richard's Disposal for any future contracts. That ordinance died on the floor without a vote.

Speaking in a telephone interview Monday afternoon, Foote — who has been one of the most critical of Lumumba's handling of the trash RFP — said he wanted to see more details before announcing if he would vote in favor or against Richard's this time around.

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"I want to see the details. I don't know what the price is per month. I don't know what the services are that they're offering. The mayor has really kept us out of the loop until this point," Foote said. "As a member of the governing authority, the city council has a voice in this matter. We need to see the details."

Hartley said he is also willing to hear out what the contract the mayor presents with Richard's Disposal will look like, but, like Foote, he was critical of the way the mayor handled the RFP process, specifically waiting until the last minute.

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"I'm going to hear them out, but here's the thing: We've been railroaded into Richard's two years straight and that's just not the way government works," Hartley said. "Here we are now less than 30 days, and he has put Richard's in. And I think that's just illegal and it's wrong. I'm going to hear out what they have to say, but the damage has been done."

During the press conference, Lumumba defended the timeline of the RFP. Lumumba, along with former City Attorney Catoria Martin, said when Lumumba announced the RFP back in November that it was going to take this long to complete the process. But Martin had told reporters she expected the city to recommend the contract to the council by Jan. 31, 2024.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson MS Trash Crisis: Richards Disposal is vendor of choice again