(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — Residents wanting Parkersburg City Council to reconsider a recent sanitation contract with Waste Management have a week left to collect and submit more than 2,700 signatures for a referendum petition.

Parkersburg City Council approved the final reading of an ordinance authorizing the contract on Jan. 13. It’s a five-year agreement under which the company would charge the city $17.65 per residential unit for the first two years of the contract. After that, it would increase to $18.89 in the third year, $20.21 in the fourth and $21.62 in the fifth.

The city would continue to bill residents and collect a sanitation fee. Mayor Tom Joyce has proposed reducing it from $22 to $19.50 a month.

A number of residents spoke against the move away from the city providing its own sanitation services at a public meeting on the subject, the subsequent special council meeting where the contract was approved on first reading and the regular meeting where it passed on final reading.

“I just think it should be up to the people,” said Parkersburg resident Karen Riel, who has been going door to door collecting signatures. “Considering the weather and everything that’s up against us right now, we’ve done pretty good.”

Parkersburg’s charter allows for a referendum petition that requires council to reconsider any adopted ordinance. If council does not repeal the ordinance, residents can approve or reject it in a municipal election.

Such a petition requires the signatures of 15% of the total number of qualified voters in the last regular election, in this case the 2024 general. Volunteer LaDonna Reid said they’re shooting to get 2,725 signatures.

Referendum petitions would be due within 30 days of an ordinance’s adoption by council. That puts the deadline at Thursday, Feb. 12.

Parkersburg resident Eric Engle said he’s in support of the effort and the city should keep trash collection in house.

“It really boils down to paying livable wages to your Sanitation Department to do this vital and important work,” he said.

A recent filing by the city with the West Virginia Public Service Commission said the city began having staffing issues in the department in late 2023 and had 10-12 vacancies among its 27 budgeted positions by the middle of 2024. By May of 2025, the issues reached the point that the administration suspended curbside recycling. There are only five full-time employees remaining in sanitation, with members of other departments, temporary workers from an employment agency and the Parkersburg Correctional Center sharing the load.

Reid said she is concerned about the additional charges if customers exceed the volume of trash that fits in the 96-gallon carts provided by Waste Management.

“It’s not going to affect me a whole lot but … my neighbor has two kids in diapers,” she said.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.