Some charges that appeared in the city’s monthly bills caught the attention of Benton Harbor City Commissioners during a meeting on Monday. They questioned why the accounts payable listing showed nearly $29,000 in charges related to trash and debris removal. Nearly $17,000 was for Fast Act Junk Removal to collect illegally dumped debris around the city, and more than $12,000 was to We-Cycle Industrial Management for trash. Mayor Marcus Muhammad felt that was a lot to swallow.
“It’s just alarming that between Fast Act Junk Removal and We-Cycle, we have $28,838.45 either in picking up or dumping or special trash pickup for COVID-19 combined for the month of October,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad said charges that large should have been put out for bids. City Manager Ellis Mitchell said some of the work was arranged before he was city manager, and the We-Cycle charges were needed as the city closed out its contract with that outfit and switched to in-house trash collection. The city commission approved the bills, but not without grilling Mitchell about them for several minutes.
