PARKERSBURG – A day after Parkersburg City Council considers the first reading of an ordinance increasing the monthly sanitation fee for residents, two committees will meet in a joint session to consider the future of the Sanitation Department.

At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, council’s Personnel and Public Works committees will meet in a joint session in the executive conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building. An incorrect date appeared in Sunday’s print edition.

The meeting comes as the city has suspended residential recycling pickups, citing staffing vacancies and call-offs and some residents and council members call for increased pay for sanitation workers, beyond the $2-an-hour raise for medium equipment operators set to take effect with the new fiscal year on July 1.

Joyce said the city needs to “reevaluate how we have provided these services.

“We’re the only hauler in the county that I’m aware of that lets you put out however much bulky goods every week,” he said. “There’s a lot of services across the spectrum that are not what they were five, seven, 10 years ago. The workforce has evolved, people’s lifestyles have evolved.”

The sanitation fee ordinance is on the agenda for tonight’s council meeting at 7:30 p.m.