Sea Coast Disposal has been in business for just over a month in Selma and many citizens are already voicing their concerns about the garbage service.

Some have said their trash hasn’t been picked up, while others have complained about a lack of customer service from the company. While we understand the concerns — everyone likes to get what they pay for — we also think patience may be the best policy here.

Remember the old adage — Rome wasn’t built in a day? Well, it applies here.

Any time a company moves into a new area there are going to be unforeseen problems at the start.

Sea Coast said a third of customers signed up after the final registration day, meaning collection routes had to be adjusted and trash cans had to be delivered later than planned.

The company has vowed to improve. Sea Coast president Matthew Brigance said that he expects service to get better over the next several months as the company continues to learn the area and new workers get more comfortable in their roles.

Selma councilman Greg Bjelke invited Sea Coast to send a representative to a council meeting on April 7 to revisit some of the problems members of the community are experiencing. We hope that Sea Coast will accept that invitation so that the company gets a chance to discuss some of the ongoing problems.

We’d also encourage anyone in the community that needs a question answered to attend that meeting. We can’t speak for Sea Coast, but we’d guess that any feedback — positive or negative — would be helpful as the company tries to get its feet wet here in Selma.

While it’s easy to criticize Sea Coast now, it’s also easy to forget how helpful the company tried to be before it took over garbage services in February. Sea Coast held registration days in every ward, trying to make the process to sign-up as easy as possible.

Of course, none of that matters if customers don’t get their trash picked up each week.

We encourage Sea Coast to work with city leaders to work out the problems customers are experiencing. Until then, we ask that everyone takes a deep breath and gives it some time.