Port St. Lucie-March 22, 2022: Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin breathed a sigh of relief after the City Council Monday unanimously approved a motion to grant City Manager Russ Blackburn emergency authority to find another waste service provider to replace Waste Pro, and to hire a private contractor to collect yard and bulky waste until the new provider is in place 6 months from now.
“OK. We finally have a very clear path forward," she said. "I’m glad were finally at this point.”
City officials say that over the past 3 months Waste Pro has neglected to consistently collect yard and bulk waste. City staff have been doing that job for several weeks now. So a contractor will be hired temporarily to ease the burden on the City. In addition the Council agreed to move forward with finding another company to replace Waste Pro as the City’s solid waste hauler.
Both actions were among the recommendations made by the Solid Waste Task Force formed two weeks ago after Waste Pro filed a breach of contract complaint in court advising that it will stop collecting trash in Port St. Lucie in September because they haven't been paid the $1.2M they say they're owed for the service they have provided.
The City has filed its own breach of contract complaint against Waste Pro over the lack of service. City Manager Blackburn said the contract allows for payments to be withheld when collection services stipulated in the contract are not provided. “Waste Pro has breached the contract by failing to provide the service that is in our contract," said Blackburn. "We believe we have documented that there are major service deficiencies.”
“Unfortunately, we can no longer continue to rely on Waste Pro," said Mayor Martin. "They have lost the public’s trust, and they have not taken the necessary actions to improve and provide the services they are required to under the existing contract.”
The City Council also approved a number of other temporary steps like limiting yard waste collection to 4-cubic yards and bulk waste pick-ups limited to 5 pieces , until a new trash hauler comes on board in September.
“It’s going to be a little bit bumpy as we get through this to get to that successor contract," said the Mayor. "We may still experience delays with other services that are being provided like re-cycling, like solid waste, unfortunately, and we’re very sorry for that, but, we’re going to get to the end of this.”
Waste Pro has not yet responded to an emailed request for comment from WQCS.
The following is a list of the recommendations by the Solid Waste Task Force which will be implemented when a permanent contract is in place:
• For automated garbage collection, residents would utilize a City-provided 64- or 96-gallon cart with the option to purchase an additional cart if more capacity is needed. Collection would be once a week.
• Recycling collection would remain the same.
• Yard waste would be limited to 4 cubic yards per week, which is about the size of a large conference table.
• Bulky waste would be limited to five pieces with a collection day once a month.
• The City would continue its voluntary Convenience Center where residents can drop off bulky and yard waste at no additional charge.
• The City would be divided into two franchise zones, allowing more than one solid waste hauler to provide service to our residents.
• Commercial service would mirror the two residential franchise zones.