CITY WATCH: Waste hauling rates to rise 47% this summer, services to decrease

Palm Coast Observer
News

Palm Coast residents' monthly garbage rates will increase by 47% starting June 1, going from the current $20.36 per month to $29.97 per month. Meanwhile, services will decrease starting March 17, with the suspension of the Recycling Rewards and the Hazardous Waste Collection programs and new limits on yard waste and bulk items.

Palm Coast to honor Shirley Chisholm, Doug Berryhill

Palm Coast will rename two city recreational sites after prominent residents. The City Council approved the renamings on Feb. 15.

The city will rename the Pine Lakes Trail as the Shirley Chisholm Trail. Chisholm, a Palm Coast resident from 1991 until 2005, was the first Black American women to win a seat in Congress, in 1968.

The Democratic Women’s Club of Flagler County requested the renaming, and the request was approved by city staff and the city's Beautification Advisory Committee.

The city will place a commemorative plaque about Chisholm on the trail.

Palm Coast will rename Baseball Field 6 at the Indian Trails Sport Complex in honor of Little League coach Doug Berryhill.

Berryhill had been a member of Palm Coast Little League since 2008, and was a coach for 14 years.

The Palm Coast Little League requested the renaming, and it was approved by city staff and the Beautification Advisory Committee.

Palm Coast City Council members voted 4-1, with Mayor David Alfin dissenting, to approve a one-year contact extension with Waste Pro for the higher rates at a council meeting on Feb. 15 after questioning a Waste Pro representative about the reasons for the rate hike.

"Obviously an increase like that is shocking, staggering," Mayor David Alfin said during the meeting. "We are living in exceptional, difficult times."

He asked if Waste Pro wants to "work positivity and enthusiastically with the city in the future."

Waste Pro Vice President of Governmental Affairs Tim Dolan said it does.

City staff told the council that the short duration of the contract is likely one reason for the steep increase in the monthly rate.

Dolan said that rising employee wages and bonuses are also driving up costs, and that it's not clear when that trend will stop.

"Don’t think for a minute that this is set, and now this becomes a starting point for the next negotiation going forward."

— DAVID ALFIN, Palm Coast mayor

"Employee wages have gotten crazy," he said. "... We're seeing huge increases, we're seeing retention bonuses, we're seeing signup bonuses we never saw before. ... There's a lot of uncertainty in the market right now."

Alfin had a warning.

"I do not expect this increased rate to be the starting point for future negotiation," he said. "... Don’t think for a minute that this is set, and now this becomes a starting point for the next negotiation going forward."

Alfin said after the meeting that he'd voted against the contract because he wasn't happy with the increase.

"I think it is based on what the gentleman said are unknowns, and I'm not willing to charge our residents monies on unknowns," Alfin said. "I understand that we do have to move forward. But I wanted to send a clear message to the vendor, that that's not the answer — to rationalize such a significant increase."

The one-year extension is intended to give the city a chance to complete a request for proposal process to find a new, longer term hauling contract.

Palm Coast went out to bid last March, receiving bids by Waste Pro and competitor FCC Environmental Services. But the city ultimately threw out both bids and started over, leaving insufficient time to find a new hauler before Waste Pro's current contract expires on May 31.

City staff had initially favored FCC Environmental's proposal, even though FCC was asking for higher rates for equivalent service — $33.84 a month to Waste Pro's then-proposed $26.47 — because FCC appeared to have had fewer performance-related fines. But Waste Pro filed a bid protest, alleging that FCC had not disclosed them was required in the city's bidding process.

The city found that the wording in its RFP had been unclear and that both haulers hadn't disclosed information that the city wanted, so it threw out both bids.

A new RFP process will begin Feb. 23, and city staff will recommend a provider to the City Council in June, with a new contract beginning the same month.

In the meantime, city staff worked out the one-year extension with Waste Pro, and the hauler at first came back with even higher rates than it had proposed last year, initially asking for $33.88 per month per household and attributing the 68% rate increase to COVID-19-related inflation and labor market shifts, according to a city news release.

City staff reduced it to $29.97 by proposing a suspension of the Recycling Rewards and the Hazardous Waste Collection programs and a reduction of yard waste pickup from 4 cubic yards to 2 cubic yards, and a limitation on bulk items to 3 cubic yards.

Residents can dispose of hazardous waste items for free of charge by calling Flagler County Recycling and Household Hazardous Waste at 386-517-2075 or visiting 1700 S. Old Kings Road on between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.