City of Atlanta hires temporary workers to help with yard debris clean-up
ATLANTA - Extra city workers are now on the streets of Atlanta after a major staffing shortage due to COVID-19.
The worker shortage caused some neighbors to complain about trash and debris sitting on the curb for far too long.
FOX 5 spoke with a city leader about what steps they're taking to clear the debris immediately.
The city's public works department has brought in temporary contractors to help their workers manage any standing yard debris.
That additional manpower has increased their department's productivity by 30-percent but they're not in the clear just yet.
"We're not totally comfortable at this point. We understand that the days are shorter, the leaves are falling more," Al Wiggins, the Commissioner for the Department of Public Works, said.
He explained that they recently recruited two landscaping companies to bring additional manpower to pick up debris.
This will continue until next June.
The city has also hired additional employees, meeting their goal but "we're not comfortable right now. Our situation is fluid. We are in direct competition with the private sector and so that has been our challenge."
The target areas for curbside pick-up are the northeast and northwest side of the city.
When Wiggins joined the department earlier this year, he said they were only at a 60 percent staffing level.
A worker shortage, brought on by the pandemic, forced the city to transition from a once-a-week schedule for yard debris collection to a twice-a-month schedule.
Neighbors have said that on some city blocks, collections have been missed for two or even three weeks.
"Right now, we've got bags out there," one resident who didn't want to be indented said. "The bags are basically dissolving because we've had so much rain. It's been out there a couple of weeks. In another week the stuff that's in the bags is going To have to get picked up and it's just a neverending cycle."
A cycle that Wiggins said is now under control as crews have just cleared all of the standing yard debris the city's received complaints about.
However, workers are busy, staying on top of the collections to make sure there are no more delays ahead.
"We're using this time to really evaluate our processes to procure software to analyze the movement of our vehicles so we can provide the service more efficiently," Wiggins detailed.
Anyone with yard debris that has not been collected for more than a week, call 311 so the city can get a crew to you as soon as possible.
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