City fines Waste Management again for missed collection complaints

The city received 1,609 complaints in June; 1,244 garbage and recyclable complaints and 365 yard waste complaints.

The City's contract with Waste Management allows for "liquidated damages", or fines, when the number of complaints exceed either 1,000 missed garbage and recyclable pickups or 700 reports of missed yard waste collections. The City will assess a fine of $28,453.53.

In June, the City assessed a $27,633.90 fine based on 1,875 complaints; 1,227 garbage and recycling and 648 yard waste complaints.

The fine is determined by a formula using the number of collection days in the month and the number of complaints.

In addition, the City will reduce its June payment to Waste Management by $44,000 for the company's failure to provide separate collection of yard waste.

By contract, Waste Management is required to provide separate yard waste collection April-November.

The company has informed the City due to a shortage of employees, it will not be able to fulfill that requirement.

The City will reduce its payment each month that Waste Management does not provide separate yard waste collection.

"We have a contract with Waste Management and we expect them to provide on-time and complete service," Stothert said. "We will continue monthly reviews of service-related complaints and assess additional financial penalties as allowed by our contract."