NATCHEZ — Garbage is piling up along some streets in Adams County as the county’s contract with Waste Pro is nearing an end.

The problem, officials said, is an indirect result of the county awarding its garbage collection contract to Metro Service Group, earlier this year in September, with a start date of Dec. 1 for the service change over.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Calvin Butler, District 5, said county supervisors, county administrators’ offices and the sanitation department have been receiving approximately 35 complaint calls a day about garbage not being collected in the county in recent weeks.

On Friday, during a special-called meeting, the board of supervisors agreed to move the start date up from Dec. 1 to Nov. 26 for the new contract for Adams County’s waste collection with Metro to help alleviate the problem.

Adams County District 2 Supervisor David Carter said Friday that Metro has agreed to start their service five days early and will begin on a Monday, Nov. 26.

Adams County Attorney Scott Slover said the new six-year contract with Metro will cost the county $9.71 monthly per household for its 5,700 residents, keeping rates the same for residents.

“All the bids were a higher price than we’re currently paying, but Metro, of all the bidders, was a quarter of a million dollars, over the life of the contract, lower,” Slover said.

Butler said Waste Pro is struggling to keep up with the county’s garbage collection because the company’s employees began going elsewhere for employment after the contract was awarded to Metro.

“They’re trying, but a lot of employees in two weeks know they’re not going to have a job so they’re trying to get with other employers,” Butler said. “They have some supervisors who are driving themselves to take their place.”

Along Booker Road on Friday cans of garbage were piled outside of Gregory Reynolds’ residence where Reynolds said they had sat for the past week. Reynolds said Waste Pro has skipped three days of their usual Monday and Thursday pickups.

“It’s an overload of trash,” Reynolds said. “The dogs haven’t torn it up yet, but my neighbor said her trash is being torn up by animals.”

A few houses down, Dale and Terri Thomas said they’ve been making calls to the county and to Waste Pro to find out why their garbage isn’t being collected.

“I’ve made several calls,” Terri Thomas said. “I’m waiting on (Waste Pro) dispatch to call me now. We pay for a service. I’m going to worry the hell out of them because I pay for that. They need to get this stuff picked up because it’s nasty.”

Carter said it’s understandable that residents are frustrated when service is missed or delayed.

“It’s a fee people pay and they expect a service,” Carter said. “Some areas have had no problems with it and some have had continual problems. I think folks are trying to be patient. We’re going to do all we can to get through until that time.”

In the meantime, the county has drop spots for county residents to leave their garbage on Kingston Road and Foster Mound Road, as well as the county landfill off U.S. 61 North in Jefferson County. Carter said all three are provided free to Adams County residents with a county car tag or other proof of residency.

In September, Lincoln County experienced a similar problem with Waste Pro after awarding Lincoln County’s garbage collection contract to another company, and the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors adopted a system for docking their final two payments to Waste Pro after Lincoln County’s contract with Waste Pro ended.

Slover said county residents are asked to report missed pickups by calling the Adams County Sanitation Department at 601-445-7903.

Slover said the county is considering withhold payment for missed service and he said he doesn’t anticipate any legal issues with the county not paying for services not rendered.

“We pay at the end of the contract, so, no, I don’t think we’ll have problems,” Slover said.

Despite recent problems, some county officials still had good things to say about Waste Pro.

Butler said Waste Pro provided quality service before the county opted for Metro.

“I think they’re putting forth a legitimate effort to try in fulfilling the contract, they’re just having some hardships in doing it,” Butler said. “Up to this point, for five or six years, their service has always been good.”

Slover commended Waste Pro for providing one of the best contracts the county has ever had.

“I’m not trying to put any intentional fault at their feet,” Slover said. “The initial contract saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars. They’ve been very good partners. This is a hiccup. It was a very competitive contract, one of the best ever.”

Waste Pro did not return calls from The Natchez Democrat.

President Jimmy Wilkinson of the Concordia Parish Police Jury said Concordia didn’t have a problem with a lapse in service when they switched from Waste Pro to Metro Service Group almost one year ago. Wilkinson also said service with Metro has been great.

“We’ve been with Metro for about a year now and we’ve had no complaints at all,” Wilkinson said. “Anything we’ve called asked them to do, if they missed a pick up or something, they’ve bent over backwards and tried to meet our accommodations.”