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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer 

PELHAM – Representatives from AmWaste spoke to the Pelham City Council on Monday, Aug. 5 related to a series of reports and complaints of repeated hydraulic leaks from its garbage trucks, with special focus provided to a significant leakage that recently occurred on Glengerry Drive.

In addressing the hydraulic leaks, Shadeed Spence, who serves as AmWaste’s district manager for Alabama, spoke both on the nature of the leak and what AmWaste is doing in reaction to the incident.

“We know that there have been hydraulic issues—trucks leak, it is a part of the business for the most part—(however) it is not (normally) as excessive as it is in this neighborhood particularly,” Spence said.  “What we’ve done so far is do a hose campaign on all of the trucks that (service) this neighborhood to replace all of the (hydraulic) hoses and make sure that they are not leaking as they regularly do. The other thing that we have done is that we have replaced some of the trucks there.”

According to Spence, several new, side-load style garbage trucks have been procured as replacements for trucks that were among those causing the most significant leaks.

“You should see a reduction in the leaks we have seen moving forward,” Spence said.

Spence, who has been in the waste management industry for roughly 15 years, has been in his position with AmWaste for just over two-and-a-half months. However, he will not be the only new hire that will address these issues moving forward.

“We have also put in place a dedicated route manager just for Pelham who should be starting in the next three weeks or so,” Spence said. “That should help with issues as well.”

Pelham City Manager Gretchen DiFante mentioned the existing concerns shared by the residents of Glengerry Drive that have further inquired about AmWaste’s intentions and movements toward the remediation of hydraulic fluid spills on their street.

According to Spence, at the time of the meeting, AmWaste employees had been dispatched to the affected areas with the assignment of cleaning and remediating hydraulic fluid spills along Glengerry Drive.

“We have pictures, and as we speak, they are out there right now cleaning,” Spence said. “By the time you guys get back to your homes, you will see that it has been cleaned today. We tried to get them out last week—that didn’t happen—but they were there today to make sure that we cleaned it up as good as we can.”

Among the members of the City Council, several, including Council President Maurice Mercer and Councilmember Rick Wash, shared their own experiences and sightings of hydraulic leaks that have affected their own neighborhoods.

“I think that having an open dialogue and conversation is important,” Mercer said. “I must say that while there are many things that I would salute AmWaste for, the thing that gets the attention and conversation are the things where there are (opportunities for improvement). This hydraulic fluid is definitely one of those things.”

Mercer then questioned AmWaste’s representatives as to what they anticipated the percentage change to be related to any hydraulic spills moving forward. He also questioned as to whether or not AmWaste had been made aware of any other known issues related to leaks in other neighborhoods.

“No, (the spills on Glengerry Drive) are the most prevalent,” Spence said. “The reduction that we are looking for—and you are always going to have some hydraulic leaks here and there, you may have spotting here and there—but for the most part it shouldn’t be as significant as it was in this instance.”

The incident in question, which saw a large amount of hydraulic fluid spilled and leaked across Glengerry Drive, occurred after a hydraulic pump went out on a specific truck. While Spence acknowledged that such mechanical failures can and do happen, he also stated that with proper maintenance they should be rare compared to recent incidents.

“When approaching this from a reduction standpoint, you should see a 95 percent reduction in the amount of hydraulic fluid that you see out there,” Spence said. “Not to say that stuff like this won’t ever happen, but it will be far and few between where we see things of this nature.”

While AmWaste does not have a dedicated line to report hydraulic spills, Spence also detailed that reports for spilled fluid are typically reported quickly by either the drivers themselves or customers and city residents who call in to report the incident.

“The first course of action is to try and contain where the hydraulic fluid is leaking,” Spence said. “We have spill kits that are dedicated to each truck to make sure that we are containing that spill in that specific area. The next course of action is to try and get someone out there to clean it up as fast as possible to make sure it does not enter any sewers, waterways and the like.”

Wash mentioned to Spence that he had personally observed the pictures sent in by the residents of Glengerry Drive and described the spills as “streams” of hydraulic fluid running down the road. He also spoke on how he had recently seen AmWaste trucks in his own neighborhood leak hydraulic fluid. In those instances, Wash also established he had never seen a driver use the aforementioned spill kits.

“I appreciate you guys (AmWaste) coming,” Wash said. “But, I want you to know last year we spent about $4 million resurfacing roads in the city of Pelham and there is nothing more disheartening than to be on your neighborhood’s freshly paved street—that the citizens paid for and live on—and then you see the garbage guy come by with hydraulic fluid running out of the truck. As a citizen of Pelham—I’ll tell you—it is not acceptable. As a councilman in Pelham, it is not acceptable.”

Wash further expounded upon his own experiences with remediation and described cleaning hydraulic fluid completely from asphalt as a nearly impossible task.

“I expect more, as I would from a city of Pelham employee,” Wash said. “I expect you guys to directly represent us. When that truck runs up and down the road, it is no different than our guy who reads the water meter. Our expectation is that you treat it just like it is your neighborhood.”

Wash further expressed a desire to see an official response plan put in place by AmWaste so that the city could see a designated course of action on how the company addresses these issues in a timely manner and so that the city could have a protocol it could pass on to its citizens.

Despite the condemnation of the recent spills, Wash also spoke to the positives of AmWaste’s presence in the city.

“Having said all of that, I will tell you that I think (AmWaste) does a pretty good job, overall,” Wash said. “I can say that—for the most part—my own experiences with your staff has been positive.”

At a previous council meeting, Wash spoke in length regarding how an AmWaste driver had personally aided him in a late pickup of cut brush and how the driver had helped him load the items by hand.

“Your expectations are our expectations,” Spence said. “That is nothing new to us, this is not the type of environment that we like to have—where there are hydraulic spills or any of those types of things. These are communities that have children and the last thing we want is for the kids to (come in contact with the fluid).”

Spence further explained that maintenance on the trucks had admittedly fallen far behind due to prior facility shortcomings.

“We have just moved to a new facility,” Spence said. “We are hiring more technicians in order to get up to date. We are going through this, and it will not be a quick turnaround overnight. We were able to get those new trucks pushed into Pelham because we knew we had the trucks that were spilling or leaking in your community. We are moving forward.”

At the close of the meeting, DiFante acknowledged the hiring of a specified route manager for the city of Pelham. With the manager expected to fill the position in the next three weeks at the time of the meeting, DiFante invited both Spence and the new manager back at that time to discuss the follow up of the maintenance and remediation work.

At the time of the meeting, it remained unclear as to the state of the cleanup along Glengerry Drive but it was made clear that efforts were actively underway where AmWaste was concerned.