During the Springfield City Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting this past Tuesday, March 12, representatives from Republic Services were brought to task over last month’s takeover of the City’s waste disposal.
While discussing a request to renew the City’s yard waste collection contract, alderpeople questioned Republic’s Springfield area General Manager Jacob Youngblood and Manager of Municipal Sales Susan Piazza over weeks of failure to manage grass and leaf bags; by Tuesday, many city residents had gone more than 3 weeks without waste being collected by Republic.
“I don’t want to put any heat on your drivers, on the people who are actually doing those actual collections,” Ward 8 Alderwoman Erin Conley bluntly told Republic. “At a management level, this was not handled well.”
With an unusually warm and rainy February, many bags of yard waste were in a state of decomposition when Republic crews finally collected, in many cases doing so just a day before the Tuesday meeting. 4th Ward Alderman Larry Rockford observed that extensive messes were being left behind from neglected waste; when Rockford asked whether Republic crews were meant to be cleaning up spilled garbage during collection, Youngblood replied that Republic “encourages” drivers to clean up spillages — but that he cannot guarantee all of them do so.
Additionally, as part of its plan to remedy collection woes, Youngblood and Piazza announced that the Springfield area service had received an additional 3 garbage trucks. But alderpeople reported that Republic crews seemed confused about routes as well as where specifically to pick up trash.
“I know you may have new drivers, because last week, one day, in three hours’ time frame in front of my house, you guys were up and down three times,” said Ward 7 Alderman Brad Carlson.
With alleyway service customers in particular being neglected, the horseshoe was told that Republic’s policy is to often avoid driving through many of the city’s freshly paved alleys due to risk of “disruptions” and damage to vehicles caused by low-hanging tree branches and phone lines. Further, when questioned about alley services’ neglect, Youngblood explained that Republic crews were struggling to identify which bins in alleys belonged to customers and which did not.
A previous transition plan elaborated upon to Public Works Director David Fuchs, in which bins to be serviced by Republic would be temporarily marked with blue stickers, was apparently never adopted.
Republic claimed that while much of the character of the disruptions were normal for a transition of this type, they laid blame for the difficulties with waste disposal on inaccurate customer contact and address information furnished by Waste Management, who abruptly told Republic at the start of the year they desired to exit the residential garbage business in Springfield. Much of the pains in the past month for garbage collection stemmed from the suddenness of Waste Management’s negotiations with Republic, which were strictly confidential until completion, as per contract law.
Ward 10 Alderman Ralph Hanauer mused that despite the bad information received from WM, billing for garbage was still somehow possible.
When asked by Ward 5 Alderwoman Lakeisha Purchase whether neglected customers would receive a credit or refund or other form of remedy for missed service, Republic’s representatives seemed to argue that because missed customers eventually see their waste collected, they are billed for its volume rather than timeliness.
Multiple alderpeople were also unimpressed by this argument.
“If you didn’t show up when you’re supposed to… [billing customers for missed service] is unacceptable,” Hanauer told Republic, “and I think that you guys understand that.”
Republic assured the City Council they would consider credits or refunds on a case-by-case basis, per customer complaints. The discussion on the yard disposal contract ended with the City moving to hold the ordinance until further negotiations had been completed with Republic Services.
Furthermore, during citizens’ addresses, community member “Sarah” presented the horseshoe with an easel covered in pictures documenting neglected yard waste bags from residents in one part of Springfield.
Sarah urged the City to keep the collage, and to ensure it was displayed to Republic during the next round of negotiations over the yard waste contract.
