Members of the public held up pieces of paper that read "THANK YOU" in all capital letters after the agreement was passed 4-2. The one-year emergency contract with Richard's Disposal comes after a long battle between the council and the mayor on how to handle contracting a company to pick up garbage. Terms of the agreement were reportedly finalized in closed-door meetings earlier this week.
Jackson resident Marilyn Triplett was one of the citizens in the chamber holding a sign. She said this agreement is needed, but overdue.
"I just think that this should have been done a long time ago," she said. "Before the citizens of Jackson endured some of the problems that we are enduring with no garbage pickup for the last 15, 16 days."
Trash pickup is scheduled to begin today. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba stressed that the contracted company would need time to catch up on the garbage, and certain regulations needed to be met by residents.
"Please separate household garbage from leaves, branches and bulk items... limit bags to 60 pounds or less." he said. "They will collect two cans or six bags of household garbage from each house for the next few pickups."
The two no-votes were council members Ashby Foote and Vernon Hartley. Aaron Banks, who voted "no" on the last contract, voted yes for the one-year agreement.
