Test of Marble Hill trash contract story DO NOT USE!!!!!

A lot of trash talk has gone on through social media during the last month.

A month ago, the Marble Hill Board of Aldermen opened three bids for a five-year contract for trash pickup, The current waste management business, Waste Connections, submitted the low bid. Southern Sold Waste, owned by local businessman Josh Freiheit, submitted the middle-ranked bid and began a campaign on Facebook promoting his company.

Freiheit stressed that his business was locally owned and had more to offer than its prices over the next five years. Southern Solid Waste, he said, is a good neighbor with the community’s best interests at heart, and deserving of local support and a chance to grow. Other businesses and individuals posted messages of support for the local company, and some wrote letters to city hall or talked to members of the board of aldermen, voicing their support.

The board of aldermen voted Monday night to accept the Waste Connections bid. Alderman Tim McCain was not present.

“Everything I have heard about them is good,” said Alderman Roger Lynch, who made the motion to approve. “Everybody has been hollering ‘local,’ and I get that, but we should stay with the one we have.”

Later in the meeting, when the aldermen and city officials were in closed session, a small group of supporters and Freiheit talked about the board’s decision.

All spoke freely, although they asked not to be identified. Most of them had previously made comments on Facebook. One was a Bollinger County official, who was not present in his official capacity; he came as a concerned resident.

Others present included a local business owner, a business employee, and a former city official. None of them said they had any animosity toward the board for its decision; however, they did say the board should have thought more thoroughly about the impact its decision would have on the county.

Freiheit said he bore no grudges.

“You win some; you lose some,” he said.

“For the cost of a soda per month,” lamented one member of the group, pointing out the difference between Southern Solid Waste’s bid against the winning one.

The business owner recalled seeing Freiheit grow up, working to become successful in his businesses.

“I’ve known Josh since he was 12 years old,” she said. “Josh has given to the community. During the tornado he worked and worked and has done everything, and for what? The price of a soda?”

The business owner compared other self-made, successful local people who started from nothing and succeeded, and pointed out that Freiheit’s connections with other local businesses would have meant more sales taxes staying in Bollinger County. As his business grows, he might need to buy another truck; the sales tax that would generate would add to the county’s revenue and help county businesses grow. One hand washes the other.

One person in the group questioned the lack of support from the chamber of commerce, which frequently pushes the message of “support local business.”

Another suggested that when the city asks for businesses to donate to civic efforts, Freiheit might consider not being so generous as before.

But Freiheit said that’s just not the way he works. He said he plans to be a good neighbor whenever a good neighbor is needed.

“They’re still neighbors,” he said, “still family, still people we know.”