PALM COAST – The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday evening voted to end Waste Pro’s tenure as the city’s trash disposal vendor. The vote was a 4-1 majority, with only Councilman Ed Danko dissenting. It ends a nearly 16-year span in which Waste Pro regularly picked up residents’ trash from their driveways. The city instead elected to sign a contract with FCC Environmental Services.
The process of phasing out Waste Pro has been in the works since last year, when a bidding process was initiated. Waste Pro’s bid would’ve cost Palm Coast homes $32.35 per month for waste services. They were initially under the bid put forth by FCC, who came in at $34.64. City negotiators worked with FCC to arrive at a cost of $32.32, including administrative fees. That three-cent difference would prove the catalyst for Waste Pro’s tenure coming to an end. Either way, residents will be paying more than the current fee of $29.97.
Waste Pro employees spoke at the City Council meeting, pleading their case as neighbors and members of the community. They were granted sympathy by the Council, but in quantities not large enough to save their livelihoods.
It was a concern echoed by Danko. “I cannot for the life of me believe,” Danko said, “that we would throw these people, our neighbors, out of work for that much of a difference, to bring in a company that’s not tested.”
FCC is based out of Daytona, and will have to pay for transportation to and from Palm Coast. It was a concern raised by Councilman John Fanelli, who questioned why Waste Pro couldn’t undercut FCC given that they’re located in Palm Coast, and therefore wouldn’t have to account for these costs.
The bidding process was repeated after a complaint filed by Waste Pro last year. They pleaded to the city government that the procedure was compromised, and they were granted another stab at it. The contract was still awarded to FCC. It will go into effect in June of next year, and cover the next seven years.
Just when I didn’t think the city council could get dumber then they already have proven themselves to be. But they proved that they can be dumber. This doesn’t make any sense. First, I’m a business owner in flagler county since 1989. I would never give (or expect to) enter into a 7 yr contract right from the start. Second I would never change contractors after 15 yrs of service. I would attempt to iron out the problems before going with another contractor with not doing any back round check, especially with a company based from over seas. third, I definitely would have listened to the tax payers that will be paying for the service from the contractor.
Apparently like always this city council doesn’t give a rats behind as to what the tax payers think. Because otherwise they wouldn’t have wasted everyone’s time by asking them to take the survey. These Morons should leave their seats and don’t let the door hit them where the good lord split them.JMO
One more thing. For anyone that thinks Waste Pro’s service was bad before this vote. Just wait and see what happens between now and next June. I’m ashamed to tell people I live in PC and will so until I retire soon. I guess That will be sooner than later.
It’s a shame Waste Pro wouldn’t come down just 3 cents to match FCC. Since they do not have to travel, it would have been doable. Instead they lost a good contract. In addition, the city council used very poor judgement to enter into a 7-year contract with an unknown entity. It seems that how good or bad the service was depended on the crew picking up in the neighborhood.
I do not understand how the bid process can be abrogated by the council members and the contract given to a much higher bidder. A bidding process is to obtain the lowest bid WITHOUT NEGOTIATIONS. Were similar NEGOTIATIONS done with Waste Pro?? In my experience the only change should have been for poor performance in past. It seems to me the Waste Pro service has not been worthy of such treatment. I would love to hear the thinking by the 4 council members on this matter. Is there a transcript available?.