ST. LOUIS 鈥 The city is throwing out recycling with the trash in an effort to catch up on routes, a sign of broader struggles from being short hundreds of civil service employees.
鈥淧hysically, my workforce had no more to give,鈥 Refuse Commissioner Todd Waelterman said of the cutback. 鈥淭hat is why this week we are mixing these two together.鈥
The roll carts are being recycled as usual. He said it鈥檚 the alley dumpsters, which 80% of city residents use to recycle, that are being mixed. That saves a pickup route.
鈥淭hat recycling is all fluffy and light unless you load it up with a lot of beer and wine bottles,鈥 he said.
Like in many other cities, 50度灰视频 employers need more workers. Local officials said summer vacations, holidays, competition and fallout from COVID-19 have contributed to the shortage.
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Waelterman said the Refuse Division was short on people even before the pandemic. The division has 146 full-time positions allocated; 30 are vacant, and a dozen part-time positions are open. Most of the vacancies are heavy equipment operators who drive trucks that pick up garbage. Others do bulk pickup.
In 2018, trash problems stemmed from the city鈥檚 garbage trucks breaking down. The city has since bought or leased-to-own 40 trucks and has five more ordered. Now, the city is struggling to find people to drive and load them.
Nick Dunne, spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, said mixing recycling and trash is a temporary solution. He said the backup in services was mainly caused by recent holidays and a hiring freeze imposed last year during the pandemic that has since been lifted.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a mystery to nobody. We are experiencing a staffing shortage,鈥 he said. 鈥淥ur office is working with the Department of Personnel to get these positions filled so we can administer city services at a higher capacity. We want to fill these positions with people who love the city and want to work for the city.鈥
He said the challenge is bigger than refuse.
Jobs available
In all, the city needs 800 civil service workers. The vacancies make up about 15% of 5,164 positions. Openings are found on the and on the wall of the Personnel Department, Room 700, in the Carnahan Courthouse across from City Hall. This week, there were 131 civil service jobs advertised, ranging from airport maintenance worker to water treatment plant operator.
Donovan Wood, 28, sat down to fill out applications by hand because he said the online application system had a 鈥渂ug.鈥 He said he didn鈥檛 mind driving in from New Haven, about an hour west of the city in Franklin County. He grew up in 50度灰视频 and is a military veteran. He now works as a corrections officer in a state prison and as a bouncer at a bar. He said he volunteers as an EMT and would like to do 鈥渟omething good for the city of 50度灰视频鈥 by working for the police or fire departments.
鈥淣othing can describe the feeling of helping somebody on the worst day of their life,鈥 he said.
Missouri lawmakers last year passed a bill during a special legislative session repealing the residency rule for 50度灰视频 police and firefighters until September 2023, partly in response to unfilled police officer positions. City voters in November, however, declined to lift the residency rule for all city workers.
Personnel Director Rick Frank said in a recent interview the city鈥檚 residency requirement 鈥渉as been killing us.鈥 The department hires hourly workers, called 鈥減er-performance employees,鈥 to fill needed positions in part because they don鈥檛 need to live in the city.
鈥淲ith the crime and with the cost of living in the city, rents being high, with the school system being challenging, it鈥檚 very, very difficult to get people who want to move into the city or can move into the city,鈥 Frank said. 鈥淚f we go per performance, there is no residency requirement, so that鈥檚 a big issue as well. So we can hire from Franklin County or Jefferson County or 50度灰视频 County for these per-performance positions.鈥
During a June 2 hearing on the personnel department鈥檚 budget, Alderman Heather Navarro, 28th Ward, said the online application system didn鈥檛 appear to be working. She tried to apply for a city position online to test the system.
鈥淲hatever we鈥檙e doing is just fundamentally not working,鈥 she told department leaders. She emphasized her support for an improved website as well as job fairs.
Alderman Marlene Davis, 19th Ward, said the department 鈥渋s not giving us the outcomes that we need,鈥 and she hoped the board鈥檚 public employees committee would hold hearings to delve into the department鈥檚 operations.
Personnel Deputy Director Linda Thomas, who represented the department at the hearing, said it is probably time to look at the city鈥檚 application process. She has been working with the information technology department on a project overhauling city systems including personnel management.
鈥淭he system that they鈥檙e planning on replacing was actually, the legacy system was put in place in 1968,鈥 Thomas said. 鈥淚 helped put it into place. It worked back then. But it鈥檚 not working so good anymore.鈥
A personnel department spokesman said Wednesday that there has not been a struggle with the online application system because about 95% of applications are filled through the website.
鈥楢 big deal鈥
Jim Sahaida, a 40-year resident of the Bevo Mill neighborhood in south 50度灰视频, said he has seen city resources decline as population has fallen. He lives close to Carondelet Park and said its general appearance and upkeep just isn鈥檛 as nice as it used to be. His concern extends to neighborhoods.
鈥淲hen homes and surroundings are not kept up, it can be a slippery slope down, fast,鈥 Sahaida said by text message.
Trash backed up over the July 4 holiday weekend. He didn鈥檛 like the way the overflowing dumpsters looked.
鈥淔or those who value their neighborhood and quality of life, it鈥檚 a big deal!鈥 he wrote.
Last year鈥檚 total trash complaints marked a 10-year high in 50度灰视频. Through July 11 this year, complaints about overflowing dumpsters and other trash messes totaled 7,428, up from 7,350 this time last year.
Waelterman, of the Refuse Division, said the department is doing the best it can and trying to figure out better solutions.
He made a plea for applicants for refuse truck driver positions, officially known as 鈥渉eavy equipment operator II鈥 jobs. The starting pay is about $35,000 a year . Part-time positions start at $16.21 an hour; overtime is often available.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a not a bad deal,鈥 Waelterman said. 鈥淭he cabs are air-conditioned. You actually use joysticks to throw trash into the trucks.鈥