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City's trash hauler cleans up its record

By Tamara El-Khoury
Published January 18, 2007

OLDSMAR - It had become a routine. A representative from Republic Waste Services, the company contracted to pick up the city's solid waste, would come before the City Council and take a verbal bashing about the company's poor service.

Mayor Jerry Beverland even told them once that their reputation in town was "worse than Jesse James."

But Tuesday, the routine changed.

When a representative from the company approached the podium, Mayor-elect Jim Ronecker told him that there's been a significant improvement in service since the last time the company came before the council.

Other council members agreed.

The council then approved the second half of the rate increase that was requested by the company in August. The increase won't affect the amount individual residents pay. The city is going to pick up the tab.

In August, the company formerly known as East Bay Sanitation asked the city for price increases to deal with the rising cost of fuel, oils, lubricants and tires. The increases will cost the city $241,300 for fiscal year 2006-07.

The council said it wouldn't hear a request for a rate increase until a 60-day trial period, during which the city would track complaints about the company's service. During that period, the city logged 68 customer complaints, which Ronecker called a disappointing number.

In October the council agreed to half the rate increase and gave Republic Waste Services another three months to improve service.

The council also added a clause to the contract to penalize the company financially for having a certain number of complaints in a month. Penalties start at $500 for the first 10 complaints in any given month, plus $50 per complaint after that.

When the company came back to the council Tuesday, the city had tracked only 30 complaints in three months. With the volume of service, that's an impressive record, said newly appointed council member Eric Seidel.

Those complaint numbers haven't dropped by luck, said the company's representative, Brian Garrett. The company changed daily routes to make pickup times more consistent and added a truck. The company also has a new full-time customer service manager and will equip all trucks with GPS devices by the end of the month, so residents can see where the trucks are.

In other business, the council appointed businessman Seidel to Seat 4, which was vacated by the death last month of council member Don Bohr. Seidel was sworn in early in the meeting and City Clerk Lisa Lene already had a name plate ready for him.

Seidel was running unopposed for Seat 4 for the March elections.

Tamara El-Khoury can be reached at 727 445-4181 or tel-khoury@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 22:10:26]