PARKERSBURG – A potential referendum over a contract Parkersburg City Council approved with Waste Management has not been settled, but the company will begin providing trash service July 1 on an interim basis.

Mayor Tom Joyce made the announcement in a press release Friday afternoon. He said the city will continue to bill residents and the monthly sanitation fee of $21, which includes a $1.50 recycling surcharge to support that service under a separate contractor, will remain unchanged.

Residents will be provided with a 96-gallon cart prior to July 1 at no charge, the release said. Residents can have two bulky goods collected monthly and will be notified of those collection dates before the transition on July 1.

“The other option would have been to repeal and amend sections of Article 955 (of the city code); requiring all residents to obtain their own private solid waste collection provider,” Joyce said in the release. “This was considered, but ultimately I believe this temporary measure will be the most beneficial to the community as a whole; one provider and centralized billing are important for consistency and accountability. (M)aking 12,000 residents responsible for obtaining their own service would have created confusion, and most residents would have been required to pay for (three) months of service in advance.”

City officials began looking into privatizing sanitation last year, following the suspension of curbside recycling amid manpower issues for the Sanitation Department. There were double-digit vacancies in the department, which was budgeted for 27 employees. As requests for proposals were sought and contracts reviewed, the number of workers dwindled to just two, with employees from other departments being paid time and a half and temporary workers used to cover the duties of sanitation workers.

“As I have previously expressed publicly on several occasions, the city is unable to maintain trash collection service by City employees in the current manner,” Joyce said in the release. “For several months, we have neglected other services and projects that are equally valuable to our community and residents.”

Residents opposed to the move have argued the city should have increased wages and done more to maintain the city-owned service, which was known for taking almost anything residents threw out. Joyce and other city officials have said their efforts were unsuccessful and contracting out the service, with the city maintaining billing and oversight to ensure all trash is picked up, is the best alternative.

Opposition grew into a referendum petition effort to force council to reconsider the ordinance approving the five-year, nearly $15 million Waste Management contract. But the initial batch of signatures turned in fell 672 short of the required 2,763, equal to 15% of the registered voters in the city in the 2024 election.

The petition committee turned in another 1,928 signatures in mid-April, but the Wood County Clerk’s Office said it could not review their eligibility until after the May 12 primary election and Monday’s canvass.

If the referendum petition is successful and council does not vote to repeal the ordinance, the question would go before the voters. City officials have also questioned whether the ordinance is even subject to the referendum provision in the municipal charter, given that it involves the allocation of funds.

“Waste Management is understandably reluctant to expend the capital required to fulfill the long-term commitments and investments of this contract until all legal issues are resolved,” Joyce said in the release.

Citing a provision of the charter that allows for emergency purchases and contracts, Joyce said he asked Finance Director Eric Jiles and City Attorney Blaine Myers to explore obtaining a temporary contract “to provide trash collection and disposal services for all residential customers on an interim, month-to-month basis until all legal issues are resolved.”

The details of the temporary contract were not immediately available Friday afternoon. Although the release said the fee charged to residents won’t change, City Council President Andrew Borkowski said the temporary contract “has worse terms and rates.

“It’s unfortunate that the petition has suspended the contract we negotiated on behalf of the city and its residents with the best terms and rates,” he said. “A temporary contract was determined to be the preferred option over requiring everyone to go out and secure their own trash contract until the legal issues are resolved.”

Borkowski noted the fiscal year 2026-27 budget, which goes into effect July 1, did not include any funding for city sanitation wages.

Parkersburg resident Eric Engle, a member of the committee pursuing the referendum petition, said he doesn’t question Joyce’s authority to act on an emergency basis but called the move to a temporary contract “a cop out.”

“My main question … is why the mayor thinks that restoration of the original Article 955 language automatically means residents have to choose their own trash provider?” he said.

Engle said he understands the city’s argument that there is no sanitation division or budget to pay workers in one.

“The concern here is that the original charter language … holds the city accountable for the provision of sanitation services directly,” he said. “In my view, in no way does that translate to ‘you all have to find your own sanitation providers now because the sanitation division is gone.’ To me, that says figure it out. Restaff the sanitation division and make budget amendments … to bring that about.”

Engle said he believes the city’s interpretation could be challenged in court, though he acknowledged a judge could rule differently.

The petition committee made a filing in Wood County Circuit Court seeking more time to gather signatures after the frigid winter conditions in January. They later were represented by the ACLU of West Virginia when seeking information on why some signatures were disqualified, with Judge J.D. Beane ordering the city and Wood County Clerk’s Office to provide that information.

The release from the city included additional information about what items would be allowed for bulky goods pickup under the temporary contract. That includes refrigerators/freezers (with freon and doors removed), washers and dryers, stoves, bicycles, microwaves, televisions/computers, couches/chairs, tables and dining chairs, toilets, mattresses/boxsprings, and dressers, as well as yard waste in approved yard waste bags.

Bulky goods collection does not include tree stumps, tree trimmings, construction and demolition materials, flood or fire debris, remodeling waste, auto parts, and other non-household items, the release said. Large cardboard boxes or bags placed outside the 96-gallon container are part of regular weekly trash collection “and should be broken down and placed in bags inside the provided container,” it said.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.