Friday Footnotes with Rob Smith: November 22nd, 2024

Editor’s Note: Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin publishes a weekly report he calls ‘Friday Footnotes’ updating residents on current happenings and topics in Flagler Beach. This week, he has given the duty to Sanitation Director Rob Smith.

This is the November 22nd, 2024 edition of the report, published here with Martin and Smith’s cooperation.

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I have lived in Flagler Beach since 2004, relocating from Las Vegas, NV. My wife and I, with our children, moved to Flagler Beach because of our families visited Flagler Beach when we were much younger. We returned to Flagler Beach to raise our own family because of its small-town attributes: friendly, sense of community, uncrowded, quiet – not traits often associated with Las Vegas.

I have seen many changes in our twenty years here. Despite the influx of so many people to Flagler Beach and Flagler County, Flagler Beach still retains that small-town atmosphere that drew us back. Traffic (cars) is obviously heavier, but it is not the problem associated with larger cities or even elsewhere in Flagler County.

Flagler Beach has developed a wonderful restaurant landscape. Many of the locally-owned restaurants remain, and new restaurants open up often. In every restaurant or bar, the owners, greeters, and staff frequently know your name. Their efforts to treat you well are genuine.

I have also had the opportunity to work for the City of Flagler Beach, managing the City’s Sanitation Department for the past five years. The Sanitation Department is small, with only seven other full-time staff. The full-time staff (mostly drivers) is supplemented by short-term laborers who work off the back of the trucks, taking your household garbage from curbside into the back of the truck. Because of what they do (in all weather conditions), that group is referred to as “throwers.” Some of the throwers have worked in their role for up to ten years. They are very committed to serving this community even if they are not formally City employees- they are dedicated to their work and this community.

Before coming to work for the city, I owned a small trucking company for about twenty-seven years. Once on the “inside” working for a municipality, I learned a lot about local government. I have seen City Commissioners and City Managers come and go. I am proud to have been part of the staff that has worked hard to keep this community functioning during numerous storms, special events, political turmoil, and the pandemic, and the staff has kept things working during challenging times.

A key highlight during my time with the City was building our own City-run material recovery facility for recycling and encouraging residents to support the City’s recycling efforts.

But we can always seek to improve services and support to Flagler Beach residents. Things that I believe could be changed to enhance services are smaller more efficient trucks, promoting less waste at commercial sites, and more use of reusable products by residents.

Change often comes at a cost, and sanitation services are no different. For instance, a new garbage truck cost about five years ago was $200,000 and we operate eight such trucks. Now that same truck costs somewhere around $325,000. The cost of the throwers (the guys on the back of each truck) has increased about 90% from 2020 to 2024. Fees to dispose of the collected trash continue to rise throughout the world along with maintenance, fuel and insurance costs. The City’s recycling effort generates some revenues (sale of cardboard, tin, and glass), but the most significant “cost” is actually the savings: without recycling, the landfill fees would be substantially higher due to the increased volume. Recycling also comes with a cost, but if the materials collected can be sold after processing and, when combined with the savings in transportation and dump fees, recycling can be recognized as a real benefit.

My last day with the City is December 2. Our children returned to the western U.S. over the course of several years and we want to be closer to them. I have been fortunate to have so many personal friends and professional peers. I will miss the hub of activity that I have enjoyed for so long. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community.