Lack of mechanics and qualified drivers a problem for Montgomery’s Sanitation Department
The City of Montgomery’s Sanitation Department has struggled to keep up with trash pickup over the past several months, and now the Mayor and City Council are looking into some new ways to solve this problem. There are 55 garbage collection routes that need to be run in the City of Montgomery, but right now there are only about 40 trucks that are able to run these routes. The other trucks in the fleet are aging and they require maintenance – the problem is that the Sanitation department is short 13 mechanics who could help with the needed repairs. At a work session this afternoon, Mayor Steven Reed and City Council members discussed some of the issues the sanitation department is facing, including a shortage of employees with Commercial Driver Licenses, which is required to drive the big garbage trucks. Right now there are about 240 employees in the department, but more of them need to be qualified CDL drivers, so the director of Sanitation says they are looking at pulling employees from other departments to fill that gap. As far as a long term solution, leasing equipment instead of buying it is a possibility, because it would cut down on the repair and maintenance costs of the garbage trucks in the long run. Outsourcing is also an option that Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed says is being explored. City Council President Charles Jinright says that he believes they’ll be able to make a decision about whether or not to outsource parts of the sanitation department by the end of this year.
