Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

With a narrow majority vote, the Lowndes County Commission approved payment for garbage collection and avoided potential service interruptions for more than 300 citizens approved for collection fee exemption.

The vote came after discussion of contract negotiations and a notice the county received from Martin Environmental Services, alerting commissioners that payment of more than $30,000 owed for exempt-customer garbage collection performed between July and September was past due. If payment was not received by Sept. 30, Lowndes County Attorney Prince Chestnut said the 319 families currently approved for exemption would cease to receive services.

“The company is agreeable, in principle, to the [accepting] contract,” Chestnut said. “However, Martin has a stipulation or a condition that the CEO (Brandon Hurst) will not sign the contract from the county unless and until the company receives payment for exempt customers for last month.

“If the company is not issued payment by Monday, close of business, exempt customers will no longer have garbage service. Monday would be the last day for pickup for exempt customers.”

According to Chestnut, Hurst also conveyed the intention to terminate service for all other Lowndes County customers after Dec. 31.

“He sent me a follow up and said that regular customers will have service until Dec. 31 due to the fact that many have paid for that service already,” Chestnut said. 

As commissioners discussed whether to pay the past due balance, Commissioner Charlie King, Jr. questioned Chestnut, asking whether the provider had agreed to pay the $1 per-customer, per-month franchise fee stipulated in the county’s original contract with former provider, Liberty Disposal. According to King, Martin Environmental owes the county roughly $22,000 for franchise fees due since it purchased Liberty assets in Lowndes County in 2022.

“Everybody wants to get paid,” King said. “We want to get paid; they want to get paid. They threatened us that they are not going to pick the garbage up and then they still want us to pay them.”

Commissioners disagree over paying Martin Environmental. Commissioner Dickson Farrior reminded the group that service would not continue and 319 homes would have solid waste piling up if the balance was not paid.

“Next week, we’re going to have 300 people whose garbage is still going to be in the can,” Farrior said. “That’s not a healthy situation; we can’t allow that to happen.”

Ultimately, the commission voted 2-1 to approve paying the provider. Farrior made a motion to pay, a move seconded by Commissioner Joseph Barganier. Farrior and Barganier voted yes; Commissioner Joshua Simmons voted no. Commissioner Robert Harris and King abstained from voting.

Following the approval, Harris offered a motion that Chestnut proceed with whatever means were necessary to gain payment for franchise fees. Chestnut advised that getting any court to rule in the county’s favor and order Marthin Environmental to pay uncollected fees, in absence of a contract agreement, was unlikely. 

Simmons seconded the motion, which passed with a unanimous vote to approve that the attorney should work to collect the money from the provider.

The commission declined to approve other contract terms Chestnut had hoped would help the county and the provider come to a long term agreement. After buying time to consider options by paying the county’s past due balance, commissioners said they expect the provider to agree to a franchise fee, but would not give ground on allowing that fee to be collected from the area’s paying customers.

Hurst maintains that Martin Environmental is eager to reach an agreement and to continue collecting Lowndes County’s garbage. He emphasizes, however, that a franchise fee was not included in the county’s bid request and the provider must be allowed to collect the fee from paying customers if it is expected to remit that fee to the county.

If the two parties do not come to terms on a contract, Hurst added it is likely Martin Environmental will be forced to look at ending its service relationship with the county.

“If [the county] pays, then we will continue to serve and we will try to get a contract in place, just as we have for the last six months,” Hurst said. “At some point, probably Dec. 31, or earlier, if we don’t have a contract in place, I would probably have to decide to pull services all together.”