Human Poop Patrol Funding Runs Out, City Council Demands Answers

Albuquerque –

Earlier this year, the Albuquerque City Council passed resolution (R-24-3) that allocated $100,000 worth of funding to have a private contractor clean up human feces from the public areas within Albuquerque. Yesterday, City Council had it’s first meeting back since adjourning for summer break and it was made aware that the $100,000 for the poop removal has been used up.

District 1 City Councilor Louie Sanchez asked the Mayor Tim Keller administration during the question and answer period about where the program stands with their $100,000 budget.

Matthew Whelan, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of the Mayor’s Office said all the money has been used up. City officials said that they handled over 1,600 calls in the first three months to remove human feces from the streets. That equates to $62.50 per call out.

“Those guys are doing God’s work for sure,” said District 2 City Councilor Joaquin Baca.

District 7 City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn wanted clarification about the program and why the budget ran out.

“I just want to clarify some of the things that Mr. Whelan said. $100,000 was allocated in this bill to get us through the last fiscal year. That was $100,000 for April, May and June, which he said it almost made it to the end. And we had numerous conversations at the budget hearings over and over, and over again. I asked, how are you going to pay for this program in the next fiscal year? I hope you remember that, because I certainly do. so when I called the mayor’s office a week and a half ago to get information on this program, which I never got, I was once again told that this was a pilot project,” said Councilor Fiebelkorn

We called the City of Albuquerque Contract office to find out what company is responsible for the human shit pick up program and we were met with an extremely frustrating automated phone tree system. We opted for a customer service representative prompt and it just kicked us back to the main menu to start the hold time and automated process all over again. This is standard phone service for the majority of City of Albuquerque departments. It is virtually impossible for constituents to be able to talk to an actual human at any city office. Furthermore, the city has now created pre-recorded messages directing people to the cabq.gov website to just get rid of persistent callers. Sadly, the website takes an MIT doctorate level computer engineer to find information in order to accomplish a simple task. Our abuleitas who still like to talk to humans at city hall will have an impossible time trying to reach humans. We suggest you reach out to the elderly who most likely still have land lines and help them navigate the cities confusing website. It appears the city has given up on the phone method of contact for all departments.

Getting back to the human feces problem it was stated: “The word pilot for some reason has stuck, and I don’t know, I feel like I’m going to have to go around and just kind of pry it out of people and say that we can’t say pilot because we recognize and know the value and importance of doing this work. Our team is absolutely working to bring forward a presentation to you all,” said Dr. Samantha Sengel CAO for the Mayor’s office.

The Mayor’s office did promise to bring more data at the next City Council meeting and provide a fancy heat map to show where the steaming piles of human poop are most prevalent within the city.

“Unfortunately, it was larger than we all anticipated that it would be. And I think, it is also greatly appreciated by the community. We recognize that we are listening to the community’s needs,” Dr Sengel said to council.

City Councilor Fiebelkorn was not satisfied with this answer because of the data and plan that was put in place when the funding was approved in February.

“I would just say. And if not, it’s not greater than I had anticipated when I proposed this bill, I believe I said we have thousands of people who are unsheltered in our community. We have one bathroom that’s available 24 over seven, 365. And so it’s not a shock to the community at large that there is a problem with feces in our community. I think what’s been shocking to me is the, haphazard response from the administration in implementing this legislation. And so I look forward to the presentation at the next meeting from both the administration and the contractor to learn more about what’s happening and how we can make sure that it continues for the good of the citizens,” said Fiebelkorn.

The resolution (R-24-3) states:
A. Engages with, and supervises a contractor specializing in removal and disposal of potential hazardous material;
B. Directs the contractor to clean up human feces on both public and private property;
C. Coordinates with 311 to create a mechanism through which residents can report human feces and the contractor can then be dispatched to the location; and
D. Tracks where human feces is found and the number of instances the contractor cleans up such waste.

We will stay on top of this story and try to get to the bottom of this bullshit, or humanshit.