City Adds Equipment, Personnel for Sanitation Efforts
Alexandria, La. (June 23, 2021) — The City of Alexandria has recently added two new garbage collection trucks to the fleet and has reduced the number of open positions in the Sanitation Department leading to a decrease in the turnaround time for trash and debris collection.
“Although the ongoing cleanup from the hurricanes has been a challenge, our sanitation crews have reduced the time it takes to cover the city for limb and debris pickup,” said Alexandria Mayor Jeffrey W. Hall. “We have accomplished this by adding new equipment – we have purchased three new garbage trucks this year – and by aggressively working to fill vacancies in the Sanitation Department.” The Sanitation Department reports that since March they have made steady improvement reducing the time to cover the city from five to six weeks to three weeks.
Hall explained much of the city’s equipment was old or near the end of its service life. When repairs were needed, parts were often difficult to get due to COVID-related supply chain issues. And, due to the COVID pandemic, the city struggled to find refuse collection workers.
“Through it all, the team at the Sanitation Department did an outstanding job of working with what they had,” Hall said. “I’m glad we have been able to acquire new equipment and our recruiting efforts are working. Our service level isn’t where we want it to be, but we have a plan in place for ongoing equipment maintenance and replacement, and staffing. Residents have been very patient, and I encourage them to keep reporting debris piles that need to be picked up through AlexConnects and illegal dumping to Code Enforcement.”
In addition to city employees the city contracts with an outside company to collect debris, including limbs as well as discarded boxes and furniture. The city has also added a contract maintenance worker specifically for sanitation equipment repair.
Contact:
Jim Smilie
Communications
318.449.5038 (Office)
318.730.1683 (Cell)
jim.smilie@cityofalex.com
