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NATCHEZ — On Monday, Adams County Board of Supervisors President Kevin Wilson inquired about the legality of moving forward and asking for bids from potential garbage haulers if the county wins its lawsuit against United Infrastructure Services.

“Where do we stand with our lawsuit?” Wilson asked. “Would there be anything wrong with us asking for RFPs from other garbage companies? I would like to know someone is ready to take over if the judge rules in our favor.”

Slover said he is awaiting information he has sought in the discovery phase of the lawsuit against the county’s current garbage collection contractor, United Infrastructure. He expects the lawsuit to go before a judge in 30 to 45 days.

The Board of Supervisors voted 2 to 1 in early March to file a lawsuit against United Infrastructure Services seeking to terminate its contract with the company. Supervisors Wilson and District 1’s Wes Middleton voted in favor of the move. District 5 Supervisor Warren Gaines voted no.

District 4 Supervisor Ricky Gray and District 3 Supervisor Angela Hutchins were out of town during the vote and have complained about the meeting taking place when they could not attend it.

In the lawsuit, the county claims it is entitled to a declaratory judgment in order to terminate the contract due to United Infrastructure’s failure to meet its contractual obligations. The county’s lawsuit lists a litany of alleged violations of the contract by United Infrastructure, including lack of appropriate insurance coverage, numerous missed garbage pickups, insufficient equipment to do the job, violations of OSHA standards and other complaints.

United Infrastructure refutes the claims by the county.

The lawsuit will go before Sixth District Circuit Court Judge Carmen Drake.

Slover told Wilson that seeking proposals now is not illegal but unnecessary at this point. “We can always make an emergency request for bids,” Slover said.

Wilson responded that bids provided during an emergency situation are typically very expensive.

“I get texts every day about garbage not being picked up,” Wilson said.

Gray asked Slover if the county could fine United Infrastructure for missed pickups.

“Isn’t that in the contract, Scott?” Gray asked. Slover said it is.

“I think what we need to do is verify them. We have something in place where we can fine them if they don’t pick up trash,” Gray said. He also said he does not get complaints about garbage collection.

Wilson said the county needs an accurate count of households as well.

“We are showing we have 5,200 households in the county, but the gentleman from the garbage company who was here last said we have 5,700,” Wilson said. The county is charged per household in the contract.

Wilson said the county needs to find out how many routes the garbage company uses when billing it and then hire someone to get an accurate count of households on each route. County Administrator Mitzy Conn said she would contact United Infrastructure about the number of routes it runs in the county and make arrangements for someone to ride the trucks and get an accurate count of households.