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Clash over garbage plan swells
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
INVERNESS -- If county commissioners hoped the two-week hiatus between hearings on mandatory garbage collection would calm the public, they were sorely mistaken. The debate has only intensified since the Jan. 28 meeting, with both sides taking to the airwaves to plead their respective cases. Local garbage haulers have continued their media blitz in anticipation of the public hearing Tuesday. They have bought radio and newspaper ads to spread their opposition to the plan and even erected a billboard on U.S. 41 against mandatory collection. Meanwhile, commission Chairman Jim Fowler, the most outspoken advocate of the proposal, appeared on a call-in television show on WYKE-Ch. 49 Friday to explain his position. The opponents are expected to clash again Tuesday, when the County Commission will be asked for a second time to decide whether to release bids for curbside collection. The meeting again will be at the Citrus County Auditorium on U.S. 41 S at the fairgrounds. It starts at 1 p.m., but the garbage issue won't come up until 2:30 p.m. The measure would not implement mandatory collection. It would only authorize commissioners to gather more specific information about the proposal. More than 600 people jammed the auditorium for the last hearing. Nearly everyone in the overflow crowd disapproved of the plan. The opposition at times grew noisy as some hurled insults at commissioners or booed. Tuesday's meeting is expected to attract an even larger group, said William Ray, manager of FDS Disposal Inc. "We just need to get the people out," he said. "I'm one person. I can't do anything. But if we get a big enough crowd there, I think you might see a couple of (the commissioners) step back and listen to the people." After nearly four hours of debate, commissioners opted to table the issue because several of them still had unanswered questions. Since then, each commissioner submitted a list of questions to county staff members, who have drafted a new proposed contract with the goal of allowing small, local haulers to better compete. County Administrator Richard Wesch said the alternative suggested by staff would relax qualifications to allow companies with fewer than five years of experience to bid. Also, the number of residential service areas would be increased from four to seven, which could allow more companies to win contracts. The revised service areas would be: northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, Central Ridge, Beverly Hills and Sugarmill Woods. Commercial pickup would remain a separate bid. Also, haulers were originally asked to submit a $30,000 performance bond for each service area. That has been reduced to $10,000. "I think we have heard the concerns of the commissioners and the public and we have responded to them," Wesch said. Three of the commissioners have already taken a firm stance on the topic. Fowler is the only member speaking out in favor of the proposal, while commissioners Vicki Phillips and Gary Bartell have said they would oppose mandatory collection, no matter how many changes are made to the proposed contract. "I still am hearing from people about it, and no one is in support of it," Phillips said. "I have said that I have heard the people, and I am going to listen to the people." The two swing votes -- commissioners Roger Batchelor and Josh Wooten -- are leaning toward releasing the bids, although they have not yet taken a public position on mandatory collection. "I see no harm in proceeding to bid for mandatory collection services," Batchelor wrote in a memo to Wesch. "If the bids are too high, they can be rejected. If they come in as projected, the majority of our residents will pay less." Wooten took a similar position. In a telephone interview, he said the bids should be released so that the public will have more information about the best means of waste management in the county. Supporters of mandatory garbage say the proposal will help the county plan more effectively for the longterm disposal of solid waste. At the current rate, the landfill on State Road 44 will be used up in about 20 years. County officials say mandatory collection will give them more control over where the waste is dumped and would allow for alternative methods of disposal, such as reserving space at a large incinerator or shipping trash out of state. Proponents also say the plan would cut down on illegal dumping and littering. Those opposed to mandatory collection say it robs residents of freedom of choice and will likely put small, local haulers out of business. They said longterm waste management could be handled in other ways, such as building a transfer station at the landfill. The county first explored the possibility of mandatory collection in 1986, when it was approved by a majority of voters in a nonbinding referendum. The current movement started in June 2001, when the county paid consultant R.W. Beck Inc. $109,447 to draft a plan on how to implement the policy. "I don't want to make decisions in a vacuum," Wooten said. "But after spending $109,000 on a study, we should at least get all the information we can and give it to the people." But many residents think there will be no turning back if the bids are released. Several have written to commissioners urging them to kill the plan now. Most passionate are the haulers, who have hired lawyers to represent them. Citing a state law they say protects them from unfair practices, the haulers predict that the county would owe them more than $3.2-million if they were forced out of business by mandatory collection. County Attorney Robert Battista said that law wouldn't apply in this case because of the nature of the relationship between county government and the private haulers. In a letter to the commissioners, Glenn Pszanka, with Nature Coast Recycling Service, said private haulers just want the chance to keep their businesses afloat. "All we are asking for is the opportunity to continue our dreams of being business owners in our great country and provide the services that our citizens need and desire," Pszanka wrote. -- Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com .
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