Selma Mayor George Evans admitted to the Selma City Council and public at Tuesday’s meeting that more than 1,000 residents have not paid their garbage bill to the outsourced garbage company Advanced Disposal.

Evans said the city plans to go forward and take any avenue possible to pursue these claims of debt to the company contracted by the city and will take these residents to court if necessary.

And while Evans assured the council they would look into the numbers to check if they were correct, he said he didn’t understand, “why any individual would choose not to pay their garbage bill.”

“We will prosecute and we will go through with this to the last mile,” he said.

Advanced Disposal got their numbers by doing a survey during their day-to-day pickups and they were able identify the amount of those who have not paid. That number reached more than 1,000.

He said he is tired of people refusing to pay garbage fees during his term as a mayor. He also warned those that are paying another garbage company other than Advanced Disposal that they would be prosecuted as well.

“If there are individuals who want to test that system and see if this ordinance has any teeth, we will go all the way with it,” Evans said about those who are using other garbage companies.

The council also voted to table an ordinance that would ask residents to put their garbage out by the street less then 24 hours earlier. There have apparently been complaints that residents are putting their garbage out by the street several days prior to the garbage pick up.

This ordinance will go before the public works committee in the next week and then be voted on by the council at the next meeting.

Advanced Disposal began running the garbage rounds in Selma on Feb. 1 after they purchased the garbage equipment from the city and entered into a contract to be the city’s  the sole garbage and waste management company.

The company said they would send multiple letters to the residents that did not pay their bill, and if payments are still not made, their garbage carts will be taken by Advanced Disposal.

There is a $25 reinstatement fee for residents to obtain their cart once it has been taken.

Evans said Advanced Disposal eventually plans to locate an office of theirs in Selma with their current offices being based out of Tallassee, Ala., but for now residents can make payments in Holley True Value or by mailing in payments to the Advanced Disposal office.

4 Payments may be mailed to P.O. Box 781150 Tallassee, AL 36708.

4 Questions can be answered about bills and payments by calling Advanced Disposal’s customer service department at 866-252-0458 or visiting their website www.advanceddisposal.com