By Jeremy Weldon

Panola County administrator Kate Victor told the Board of Supervisors Monday that driver turn over in the Solid Waste Department is threatening to disrupt trash collection for county residents and businesses.

The board gave Victor permission to adjust salaries for experienced drivers and hire replacements for those that have left the county’s payroll. She said three drivers recently left for new jobs with the same employer.

“We can’t afford to lose any more drivers,” Victor said. “We have 11,000 accounts and it’s taking all we can do right now to service them.”

Jennifer Jackson, who heads Solid Waste, has three drivers in training this week. In the past, drivers have completed their training requirements and built a few months experience driving and operating the heavy machinery necessary for garbage collection, and then opted for better paying jobs with private companies.

The county’s rate of pay is somewhat lower than the drivers can typically earn with non-government employers, but not all those companies have retirement and health benefit programs available.

Victor said new drivers are hired in at $2,527 a month and can earn more with each year of experience. “What we are trying to do is keep our most experienced drivers.” Adjusting rates of pay in the middle of a fiscal year is generally discouraged, but Victor said she will make budget amendments to cover the extra costs of increasing salaries.

“We can’t keep losing drivers,” she said.

Victor also told supervisors the truck the county ordered last year to help combat Panola’s litter problem has arrived and a driver is being trained to operate it this week.

This is the truck that is equipped with a large vacuum system that will hopefully be able to clean paper, cans, and other trash from ditches and roadways.