Itta Bena resident Dorothy Dodd has seen the pile of old furniture and assorted trash grow in front of her home on Cleveland Street over the past month.
“It has not been picked up for a long time,” she said. “We keep calling. They keep on with the excuses.”
Itta Bena Mayor Thelma Collins said Dodd’s complaint is just one of many surrounding the issue of trash pickup in the city.
“We were able to get a rubbish truck; unfortunately, the truck did not have tires,” she said. “By the time we got the tires, the truck needed an alignment.”
She said she hoped the truck will be back in service beginning next week. She said she’s aware that the city needs to be cleaned up, but “it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Collins said she’s been emailing every city in the state with her “needs list” for surplus equipment that might be available for donation to the city. She was planning to travel to Summit, just outside McComb, Wednesday to pick up a surplus crew-cab pickup and a sewer flushing machine.
Collins said the road trip is being done at her own expense and with the assistance of her husband, the Rev. Johnny Collins.
The city is also seeking the donation of vehicles from Greenwood. On Tuesday, the Greenwood City Council approved selling two surplus police cars to Itta Bena for $1 each.
Collins, who took over as mayor in July, asked the residents of Itta Bena for patience.
“The people must understand that I inherited all of this,” she said. “I’m doing the very best that I can.”
Collins said the city’s sewer system is causing headaches on a daily basis.
Often, she said, residents contribute to the sewer problems by pouring household cooking grease down their drains. A variety of other items that the current sewer system can’t handle are being found as well, including strands from mop heads.
Collins said she was able to restore a $2.5 million grant for the electrical substation that was approved during her last tenure as mayor in 2009. It supplies electricity to the entire city.
During the four-year administration of Mayor Walter Parker, the grant was not utilized, she said.
Collins said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is working with her office on the substation’s renovation.
When Collins stepped back into the mayorship, she found the city owed the Municipal Energy Association of Mississippi $500,000. Steps have been made to correct that.
“We already have made one payment of $118,000. Now, we’re getting ready to make our second payment,” Collins said.
In other developments, she said the city’s long-anticipated park is nearing completion.
Now she is asking for residents to be understanding.
“If the citizens only knew what I’m confronted with, they’d say, ‘What can I do to help?’” she said.
In response to this call for understanding, Dodd said, “I’ve heard that before.”
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
