Columbia’s city council is hopeful that Monday night’s vote to add a full-time position for solid waste packers will help make trash collection operations more reliable.
The council has voted to approve adding a new job title called solid waste packer, and multiple people could be hired.
Those hired would be eligible to receive all normal city employee benefits and would be paid $15. There’s no impact on the city budget due to several vacant positions, according to the city.
The employees hired would ride or stand on the rear of a trash or recycling truck and would manually lift and place refuse and recycling material into the back of a rear loading refuse collecting vehicle.