Town of Pacolet has 1 employee picking up trash for 2,200 people

PACOLET, S.C. (WSPA) – The Town of Pacolet has around 2,200 residents according to Town Administrator Patrick Kay. Since April just one sanitation worker has been servicing the entire town.

“As of right now, we’ve got an absolutely amazing truck driver,” said Kay. “If it wasn’t for him. I would be down-right desperate [for another sanitation worker], but because of him, I feel much better about the situation.”

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However, Kay said, the 1:2,200 worker/customer ratio can’t go on forever and the town is fervently searching for an extra hand.

“We’re trying to get a temporary employee to come in and work for the Town of Pacolet during this time to alleviate some of the demand and need for trash pick-up,” said Kay.

According to Kay for years, two sanitation workers have acted like a well-oiled machine and picked up garbage around the town every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

One worker drives the garbage truck and another worker collects the garbage and throws it in the back.

In April, one of the two workers suffered an undisclosed injury and took medical leave, forcing one sanitation worker to do the job of two people.

“They should be able to do it in three days, but right now we’re doing it in four to four and a half days,” said Kay. “That’s just the situation we’re in right now.”

At first, Cherokee County offered the town one of its employees to help out.

“Cherokee County [has] been amazing,” said Kay. “They came out in the first week, week and a half, and provided an employee to work alongside our current staffing out there.” But Cherokee County couldn’t do that forever and on April 30, the Town of Pacolet put out a message saying trash services may be delayed.

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According to District 1 council member Jason Wright: “Last fall, I recommended to the council that we hire a third sanitation employee who had CDL class B or who could obtain that certification. This would allow the sanitation department to have an extra driver to fill in in case someone was sick or needed vacation. It would also speed up their services so they could have more time to do limb pickup which had to be contracted out last year. We have two sanitation employees, and one of them is close to retirement. He is the same employee who is currently unable to work due to his health.”

Wright said an amendment to the fiscal budget was introduced last Fall which would create room to hire an extra driver. It needed to be passed twice per council rules, but it only got through the first vote on November 2, 2023.

“When we had the second reading on the agenda in December, a council member invited Spartan Waste to speak to the council about their services, which took place at the beginning of the meeting,” said Wright. “After listening to Spartan Waste’s presentation, a council member proposed getting proposals from sanitation companies when we were discussing passing the second reading of the budget amendment. I made a motion to approve the second reading, but the motion failed to move due to the lack of a second motion. If the motion had passed, the town would have an employee to fill in for our employee who is out sick.”

Wright added the council is preparing the FY2024-2025 budget and with that, room for a new Public Works/Landscaping department which would create a position for a floating employee who holds a CDL.

Several residents said they didn’t notice a disruption in their trash collection service, while one said her trash hadn’t been picked up in “two weeks”. That resident admitted she had not yet contacted the town about her issue.

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But Wright also admits frustration about trash collection delays might be due to a lack of communication between the town and the residents.

“It was close to three weeks before a notice was put on the town’s Facebook page after several complaints had been posted,” said Wright. “It is our duty as public servants to be open and transparent with our citizens while allowing them to know that we are doing everything in our power to continue the services they deserve.”

For now, Kay encourages anyone interested in becoming a temporary sanitation worker for the Town of Pacolet to contact the third-party, APS Staffing and HR Solutions at (864) 649-1448. No prior experience is required and all relevant training, gear and equipment will be provided according to Kay.

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