County Commissioners Look to 2-Year Extension on Waste Collection

BRADENTON  — Manatee County Commissioners are moving forward to secure a contract extension with the county’s waste-hauling vendors. In a commission work session on Tuesday, county staff presented commissioners with options and important considerations of rates and trash services to county residents. 

The county’s current waste hauler contract was initiated in 2008, renegotiated in 2016, and will expire in September of this year. The current rate paid by local consumers for hauling fees is $9.25 per customer, per month. With a new service provider and established services required to be in place by October 2023, the county initiated a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April 2022. 

In Jan. of this year, commissioners were reluctant to agree to any of the proposed contracts received through the RFP largely because of the projected cost increases to residents and a desire to revise the scope of services outlined in requested proposals. Utilities department staff, however, explained to commissioners then that increases to rates that came with the proposed contracts may be mostly unavoidable due to constraints in rising operating costs, the need for additional fleet and coverage areas, and overall inflation. 

During a work session in February, commissioners directed county staff to move away from the five proposed contracts it had received through the bidding process and instead attempt to negotiate extensions, hoping to buy some time to initiate a revised RFP and potentially delay significant increases to residents. Since that direction, staff moved forward, holding four contract extension negotiation meetings with the county’s current service providers. 

Options presented during Tuesday’s work session included either a one or two-year extension period. Director of Utilities Evan Pilachowski explained that both extension term options would come with essential considerations for the board. 

A one-year extension would provide enough time for the county to work with the proposed contracts it received from the earlier RFP process. Though commissioners voted to go back to the drawing board when proposed contracts came back with cost increases that were not to their liking, Pilachowski said that a one-year extension would provide staff the time needed to further negotiate the terms of the previously received proposals. 

A two-year extension, however, would allow the additional time required in order to move forward with scratching the previous RFP entirely and re-initiate a new solicitation through the procurement process in hopes of getting contract proposals more to the commission's agreement. 

Speaking to a group of residents last month, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge made statements signaling the board’s intention to "reject the contracts" and to "put this back out for bid." 

During this week's work session, information was presented to commissioners showing that in order to restart the procurement process for trash hauler contracts, the extra time afforded by a two-year extension would be needed. 

Pilachowski was careful to inform commissioners on Tuesday, however, that whether they opted for a one or two-year extension on the county’s existing waste hauler contracts, pushing off any final long-term contract agreements would not result in protecting residents from inevitable rate increases. 

Staff presented commissioners with a few optional service level changes that could be made in an attempt to lower costs to residents, but the modest savings such service cutbacks might produce appeared not worth the effort of a transition for a short-term contract extension. Potential cutback options included limiting yard waste pickups and initiating user fees for bulk trash item removal—but these options came with words of caution from staff. Such adjustments would likely also mean changes to residents' regular pickup schedules, among other things. 

"It would really be a change management nightmare to go through that level of change for a one to two year period…to then only have to go through that process again," Pilachowski advised the board about service changes being implemented during an extension period. "People in the county are likely to be dissatisfied if we were to make these potential level of services changes at this time."

Pilachowski made it clear that any transition undertaken to adjust services heading into extended contracts would only be temporary and changed again later—setting off another period of transitions to customer services in just one or two years' time. 

In multiple discussions this year, some commissioners looking for solutions to save residents money had proposed decreasing residential trash pickup days from twice per week to just once per week. Pilochowski advised on Tuesday, that changes of that nature would also present too many hurdles to be feasible while under extended terms. 

Commissioners Vanessa Baugh and Van Ostenbridge stated Tuesday that their positions are firmly toward an ultimate reduction of service days for general trash pickup from twice to once per week—as is recycling pickup. 

"We know we are going to do that once we select a contract permanently," Baugh said. 

Van Ostenbridge agreed with Baugh, stating that while he also ultimately wants to see the county switch to a once-per-week general trash pickup under a new contract, he understood the staff’s recommendation that such a change should not happen until a new contract is finalized after an extension period. 

Commissioner George Kruse, who was against seeking a contract extension with the county’s current waste haulers earlier this year, reiterated his position on Tuesday that an extension might only result in increased expenses in process and costs to consumers. 

"All we are doing is kicking a can down the road," said Kruse. "I don’t think we will be getting the savings we think we are going to be getting." 

But Utilities Director Evan Pilochowski said he believes increases to residents’ overall bills will likely work out to be comparable between temporary extensions to existing contracts versus an eventual finalized contract. 

At the discussion’s end, the board seemed to favor seeking a two-year extension with their current vendors. Staff is expected to return to the board on May 9 to execute the negotiated extension terms. At an additional future meeting, commissioners will need to make decisions regarding future rate adjustments for county trash services. 

According to information presented to commissioners on Tuesday, a Manatee County resident’s monthly charge for hauling fees—which currently runs about $14 a month—is expected to increase to a monthly charge of $21-22 for hauling services. 

Click the video below to replay the presentation and commissioners' discussion on waste-hauling contracts.