By Zena HenryWith increased economic activities expected as the Christmas season approaches, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has expressed grave concern over a possible garbage crisis, given the current situation which has escalated as a result of the dismissal of Cevons Waste Management, one the country’s largest waste management organizations.The services of Cevons and partnership company Dartmouth Skips Rental were terminated by the City Council’s Town Clerk effective October 16. The acting Town Clerk Ms. Carol Sooba told Kaieteur News that Cevons’ services were terminated as a result of poor performance and unsatisfactory work being produced at the city’s two major markets where Cevons is responsible for waste management. She said that the company was being paid millions of dollars to service the market areas but their poor performance has seen the Council receiving blame for excess garbage.Other executive members of the Council have however distanced themselves from the decision made by the Town Clerk. Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green told Kaieteur News yesterday that the decision to fire Cevons was entirely the Town Clerk’s. She said that there was no meeting, and later, decision by the elected members of the Council , to dismiss the company. Chase-Green said that Council members only knew that Cevons’ services were being terminated after the Chief Executive Officer Morris Archer brought a termination letter to the Council’s attention.One of the heaps outside the Stabroek MarketThe Town Clerk had told Kaieteur News that Cevons’ termination would not have affected the collection of garbage and thus cause, “another garbage takeover”. She said that the Council had acquired two compactor trucks because of Cevons’ poor performance, and that would have eased the gap that the termination would bring.The garbage situation at the Stabroek and Bourda Markets has however been different. Several mounds of garbage are now piling up at the two facilities, forcing the Council to “strain” itself to meet the demands of cleaning the market. Currently, one of the Council’s compactors is based at the Bourda market, but this encountered difficulty several weeks ago when attempts were made to transport it on an ordinary truck. With Cevons’ dismissal and the Council not having the right equipment to move the compactor, it fell off the ordinary truck and spilled its contents. The other compactor for the Stabroek Market has no base and the electricity to work the compactor has not been set up, while the compactor is still stationed at the Council’s headquarters.The Deputy Mayor said that the Council’s resources are being strained since to fill in for the Cevons’ termination, trucks working in groups seven and eight (East and West Ruimveldt and La Penitence areas) have to be rerouted to the markets, leaving residential areas unattended.Still, she said, garbage is piling up at the markets.“If we are incapable of dealing with this situation now, we are very concerned about what will happen when the Christmas season starts,” Chase-Greene said. “The compactor right now cannot be filled to capacity to be taken to Haags Bosch.”She added that the Council’s Market and Public Health Committee, which is chaired by Councilor Ranwell Jordan, was not consulted before the changes to the garbage collection system were made, nor were financial assessments made to ascertain the strain on the Council’s already dwindling coffers.As it relates to the Cevons issue, the Council maintains that the termination was an independent decision by the Town Clerk and “from those giving the orders.” Chase-Green further mentioned that with all hands on deck (Council resources, Puran’s company and Cevons); the Council is still unable to be 100 percent effective in garbage collection.When asked what power the Council has to reverse the situation,Jerseys China Wholesale, Kaieteur News was told that the Council’s committees would present a matter and the Council, after consultations, would make recommendations to be carried out by the Town Clerk, but if the Town Clerk does not carry out the recommendations, “then that is just what they remain, recommendations.”Cevons has defended itself by stating that the Town Clerk has asked the company to perform work which it is not being paid to do and which is not stipulated in the work contract. The company’s CEO told Kaieteur News that according to the work contract, Dartmouth Skips Rental has to provide the compactor for storing the garbage at Bourda. He said Cevons workers are responsible for the cleaning and garbage collection aspect.At Stabroek Market, Dartmouth Skips Rentals is also responsible for the compactor which stores the garbage. The Stabroek Market contract does not include any cleaning or garbage collection for that area, council workers are responsible for cleaning and garbage collection, while the company is responsible for storage and dumping.
