Columbus residents have been complaining to council members in recent weeks that leakage from trash trucks ‐ &uot;trash soup&uot; ‐ is staining their streets.

Columbus Town Council met last week and invited Jerry Searcy of GDS to discuss the problem. Searcy says the problem occurs when heavy rains fill the trucks and a &dquo;soup&dquo; runs over the seal. He assured the town that his company is using different trucks on some streets, such as in the Holly Hills subdivision, and they are filling the truck only half full prior to unloading into the &dquo;mother truck.&dquo;

Council member Margaret Metcalf said she&squo;s had a lot of complaints and she was a &dquo;little astonished&dquo; when she went to Holly Hills at the color of the road. She also said she thinks the truck is leaking going down Main Street and said the town just can&squo;t have this for its residents. Metcalf said she can&39;t imagine the liquid coming out of the truck is sanitary.

&dquo;We&squo;re doing everything in our power to get this repaired and fixed,&dquo; Searcy told council. &dquo;We&squo;re trying to keep the streets clean.&dquo;

Council discussed the issue after Searcy left the meeting last Thursday. Town manager Tim Holloman said he&squo;s seen this issue before because of heavy rains with different haulers.