Residents report gas odor at home and criticize new single-day trash pickup; city officials point to inspections and billing changes

Several residents used the Leroy Boyd Forum and the council’s public comment period on July 17 to raise safety concerns about aging gas meters and to criticize the city's move to a single weekly trash‑collection schedule and related billing changes.

Doris Hayes told council members she first smelled gas at her property in late June and said a utility worker confirmed a strong odor when crews responded. "Miss Hayes, gas is I can smell gas. It's it's really bad," a transcript of the exchange records a contractor telling Hayes; she later told the council that city staff dug and repaired the source. Hayes urged the city to inspect "these old houses" and replace rusty gas meters where needed.

Separately, Thomas Fisher, a resident who spoke near the end of the meeting, said his neighborhood discovered its regular Monday pickup had not occurred and that the city’s move to single‑day collection had surprised many customers. He asked plainly, "Is our garbage going up, and have we been cut to, our garbage in half?" The mayor replied that the base sanitation charge will effectively decline by about three dollars for single‑can customers, and that an additional can or a recycling container is offered for about eight dollars above the baseline rate. The mayor directed residents to the city’s route map and asked for patience while the service change is implemented.

Council members acknowledged confusion and apologized for communication gaps. Councilmember Baer (pronunciation and spelling as spoken on the record) and others said notices had been mailed in June but may not have been noticed by all customers; multiple council members encouraged residents to contact their representatives or the sanitation department for parcel‑specific answers.

Pensacola Energy director Daryl Singleton addressed an allied utility concern when the council accepted a federal PHMSA grant for pipeline replacement at the same meeting. He told council members and the public that the grant will fund replacement of miles of older bare‑steel pipe in economically depressed areas and that much of the city’s older cast‑iron pipe had been replaced previously through a bond funded upgrade. The mayor and Singleton highlighted that the PHMSA award will fund about 14.7 miles of pipeline modernization in the targeted service area.

Why it matters: A reported gas leak raises immediate safety concerns for a household and the surrounding neighborhood. Changes to trash collection schedules and billing touch nearly all households and can generate significant public frustration if communication about timing and costs is unclear.

What’s next: The mayor’s office asked residents who did not receive pickup or who saw service differences to consult the published route map and to contact city sanitation staff for parcel‑specific follow up. Pensacola Energy will begin work under the PHMSA grant to modernize targeted pipeline segments after grant execution and appropriation.