Local Government Palmetto Struggles With Selecting Waste Hauler

PALMETTO — When a city waves a flag for an almost $2 million contract, it is usually a sign for all interested parties to take the gloves off and put their wares on the line. At Monday's Palmetto City Commission meeting, Waste Management and Progressive Waste Solutions challenged each others' ability – through a written protest request – to do the job that best fits the city's needs.

Early last year, under pressure to lock in a new 10-year solid-waste agreement before the city's existing contract with Waste Management expired, the commission elected to bump the decision down the road by extending WM's arrangement for 10 months, which expires at the end of January.

Both WM and Progressive have used all avenues available to secure the new service contract that include a challenge to the city's ranking committee's scoring system and RFP process. 

Commissioners were asked to again kick the can down the road and extend WM's temporary contract by six months to July 31, 2015, unless terminated with a 30-day notice. 

WM Government Affairs Manager Bill Gresham spoke to the commission and said that they couldn't agree to the 30-day notice because it could early interfere with scheduling commitments.

The commission then voted unanimously to approve the request without the 30-day notice.