THE TEAM
Rosemary Ramirez Barbour owns a number of businesses including Go Potty LLC, a mobile sanitation company with offices in Jackson, Flowood and Brooklyn, Miss. Lori Harris is the executive administrator for all three branches. Danny Ayers was the lead technician for the Jubilee!JAM festival. He worked with five other techs. Ayers is known as the company’s go-to guy — “Whenever you have a problem, you call Danny,” he says.
COMPANY HISTORY
Barbour got into the portable sanitation business three years ago when a customer who had a contract with her mobile laundry and shower business asked if the company could also provide restrooms. She purchased 100 units, started a new company and has been growing it ever since. Today all of the portable sanitation transactions are conducted under the Go Potty LLC business name — restrooms as well as trailers for restrooms, showers and laundry, which they build themselves.
Construction accounts for 60 percent of their business. The other 40 percent is special events such as a local marathon, the Crystal Springs Tomato Festival and company picnics. Their territory covers 300 miles in the Gulf Coast region and surrounding area.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Jubilee!JAM is sponsored by the Jackson Arts and Music Foundation in partnership with TCB Entertainment and the Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau. In 2007, Barbour contacted the event committee and was able to get Go Potty’s name on the list of bidders. After winning the bid, they successfully serviced the event, giving them an edge in this year’s bidding process. “I don’t know that we were the lowest bidder this year, but they were extra happy with our service last year,” says Harris.
THE MAIN EVENT
For two evenings each year, since 1986, the streets of downtown Jackson have been turned over to the Jubilee!JAM Arts & Music Festival, featuring local, regional and national artists. This year the festival was held on Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14, headlined by Rock and Roll Hall of Famers ZZ Top and Oscar-winning rappers Three 6 Mafia. Twenty-five bands performed on three stages: one for rock, another for roots and gospel and the third for R & B. In addition to music, 20,000 visitors enjoy sampling regional cuisine strolling through the Artists Village, and treating their kids to KidJAM, the children’s village. This is central Mississippi’s biggest outdoor music festival. It’s also the company’s biggest event to date.
BY THE NUMBERS
The company provided 55 gray-and-white Satellite Industries Inc. Maxim 3000s, all with hand sanitizers. They also brought in two wheelchair-accessible Satellite Industries Liberty units with automatic doors as well as four hand-wash stations. In addition, four 175-gallon holding tanks were needed for the VIP trailers used as “green rooms” for the entertainers.
LET’S ROLL
Setup was scheduled for Thursday night starting at 6 p.m. The other vendors were doing the same, which made for a long evening of maneuvering through slow traffic. Drivers also had to wait for the event coordinator to show them where to place units. They finished around 1 a.m.
The bulk of the hauling was done in two trips, with the company’s 2007 one-ton Chevy pickup pulling a 40-foot flatbed trailer carrying 20 units. Their 2007 Chevy four-wheel-drive pickup brought in 10 units as well as the hand-wash stations, and the 2006 Chevy 3/4-ton pickup carried eight units on its trailer. The holding tanks were brought in on one of the service vehicles.
The hand-wash stations were placed next to the three stages, mainly for the benefit of the entertainers. The wheelchair-accessible units were located near two of the stages. “They were easy to see and easy to get to,” says Ayers.
The restrooms were spread out in many locations throughout the downtown area, but were concentrated in rows near the entryway (in front of the Mississippi governor’s mansion), the three stages, and in the food vending areas. One was placed behind the police stand for use by officers.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
Although the company was prepared to do so, the units did not require pumping until the festival was over. Every few hours, four uniformed technicians stopped by to sweep, freshen and deodorize units, and replenish the paper, hand sanitizers and urinal blocks. The company takes cleanliness seriously, not only for benefit of users but to increase the longevity of the units. “They clean up very well, and as long as we take care of them, they’ll stay nice,” says Ayers.
From midnight Saturday until 8 a.m. Sunday morning, units were given a final cleaning and then pumped out prior to removal. The company used two of its four service vehicles. “Plus we had one standing by as backup, just in case,” says Ayers. “In events like this, you can’t take chances. We also had extra restrooms available just in case something happened.”
The company’s 2006 Ford F-550 service truck, built by Satellite Industries, features a 1,500-gallon stainless steel tank (950 gallons waste/450 gallons fresh/100 gallons overflow). The 2006 Kenworth T300, also from Satellite, has a 2,000-gallon stainless steel tank (1,500 gallons waste/ 500 gallons fresh). Both vehicles are outfitted with Masport Inc. pumps. Disposal was at the city’s treatment facility.
LOOKING AHEAD
The company enjoyed a repeat of last year’s success for the festival. They met afterwards with event coordinators who were pleased with the service, although organizers realized they should have ordered more units. That’s a change Go Potty expects to make next year.
“They cut themselves short thinking they could save some money, but they ended up needing more,” says Harris. Units did not fill up, but lines were often unacceptably long and the company received several complaints. “They saw our number on the units and called,” says Harris. But the company views that as a positive thing. “It worked out well because now we’re able to show that to the organizers, so next year they won’t cut it short.”
