Big money exists in garbage, or garbage collection, to be clear. That’s why at least half a dozen companies appear to have interest in gaining the City of Natchez’s garbage collection and recycling business.

Unfortunately, it appears the city leaders who will be making the decision are likely under-educated about the process. That’s no direct fault of theirs, but they need to address it before getting into another pickle.

Last week at a meeting between prospective haulers and city leaders, issues such as whether the city would require a performance bond as part of the contract could not be answered.

A performance bond is put in place to help guarantee the contractor completes their contract. In short, the city would be wise to require one.

Further, questions arose about how to describe what the city ultimately needs with regard to bulky trash collection and how much trash is acceptable to pick up. None of those should be novel, unique concepts to Natchez.

Other cities have handled this before, we are certain. We believe the city would be wise to seek some additional, more experienced help here before the city enters into an agreement that it later regrets.

Of course the whole process seems slightly fishy since aldermen previously voted to reduce the number of references required of potential haulers from five to three. That smacked to us as a suggestion that some aldermen’s preferred pick, may struggle to come up with five.

It’s difficult not to be jaded about the city’s struggles with garbage collection matters since their inaction last year put the city on the brink of not having any legal options for collecting trash. We urge the city leaders to realize their lack of education here, and seek outside help that knows what is feasible and what isn’t with regard to such contracts.