The story could make you smile, if the subject wasn’t so electric at the moment in Dordogne. The president of the Dordogne waste union (SMD3) has filed a complaint against the mayor of Saint-Cyprien in the Périgord noir, for illegal dumping of garbage. Pascal Protano accuses Christian Six of having voluntarily placed garbage cans around voluntary drop-off points of his own municipality.
The municipal truck drops bins
“I strongly suspect him of having deposited bags in front of the terminals to make believe that we are not doing the work. I suspect him so much that I have photos of his municipal truck depositing the bags in front of the terminals”denounced Pascal Protano who went file a complaint with the Lalinde gendarmerie this Friday, October 28 in the morning.
The incident is not random. At the beginning of the week, the town moved from door-to-door garbage collection, with the SMD3 truck passing in front of each house, to the collection at voluntary drop-off points.
“I suspect him of having left bags in front of the terminals to make believe that we are not doing the job”
The mayor has received a visit from the police this Friday at the end of the morning, and he gave them his explanations: “The SMD3 stopped door-to-door collection overnight, and without telling anyone, neither the town hall, nor the inhabitants. People therefore left their garbage cans in front of their doors. I could not leave them in the streets! I loaded them into the municipality’s truck and dropped them off in front of the containers so that the SMD3 could pick them up, that’s their job!”
When we ask the question to the inhabitants however, many answer however to be aware of the change in the collection for weeks. But they don’t wanna say it on the mic : “We don’t want to upset the mayor”, said a local resident. Pascal Protano ensures for his part that the inhabitants have received letters to inform them. He denounces a “thug behavior” from the mayor of the village.
A second complaint for theft of containers
The president of SMD3 tabled a second complaint against Christian Sixfor the theft of about forty containers that the SMD3 had to install in the town: “He sequestered our terminals when we had to set them up, I had to have it noted by a bailiff. We had to install other terminals in the town. He claims that I did not want to hold a public meeting, that I’ve never met him. I think he’s the mayor I’ve met the most in the Dordogne”.
The mayor of Saint-Cyprien, again, provides an answer. According to him, he is holding the containers hostage on communal land in the village, to force the SMD3 to complete the installation work voluntary contribution points. According to him, three points of voluntary contribution are missing in the municipality which are not installed, for 14 others which work. The mayor assures that he will not return the containers until the work is completed.
“I have nothing against SMD3”, assures Christian Six. “What I’m saying is that I suffered, and the people of Saint-Cyprien suffered SMD3, because they didn’t do what they said”.