County plans trash survey

Seeks reactions to one-hauler system proposal

Friday, Oct. 9, 2009

The survey proposal comes just a few weeks after the county invited area trash companies to offer bids to cover the needs of roughly 6,800 homes in the Waldorf area.

"While we haven't recommended anything, there were some very competitive bids," said Dennis Fleming, chief of environmental resources for the Charles County Department of Public Facilities. "There are interested parties who are willing to be competitive, which is what this was all about."

Between early August and mid-September the county collected nine responses to the consolidated collection system; six with multiple bid prices and three "no bids" that didn't meet proposal criteria. The bid process was launched after a county commissioners meeting in July.

"This is not something we pulled out of a hat," said Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D) of the proposal. "This is really in response to queries of residents, particularly those representing homeowners associations."

"[A consolidated waste program] would help keep the maintenance costs down on the roads by not having multiple trucks coming in and out of a community at different times and days of the week," wrote Tonja Brooks, president of the Kingsview board of directors, in an e-mail Thursday.

Kingsview, a single-family residential community in White Plains, is not included in the area for the proposal.

"I believe a pilot project of this nature should be solicited by the commissioners by seeing if smaller or larger [homeowners] associations [or combined], or part of the county would like to participate in a business strategy," Brooks wrote.

Waldorf-based Maredith Management owner Candace Quinn Kelly corroborated Collins' and Brooks' claims about the queries of the homeowner associations for a united garbage system.

Maredith Management oversees more than 15,000 residential units as a result of its work with homeowners associations across Charles, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties.

"Generally speaking for large neighborhood associations — that oversee large, single-family homes — most of the people select their own trash hauler. So for large-scale communities you're seeing three or more trucks a day. There's no question trash cans are out every day; bags are out every day," Kelly said. "In a single-family community it's not a horrible issue, but in a townhouse community it would be a mess."

Kelly's belief is that aside from aesthetics, multifamily homeowners associations that charge residents a high price for a contract would benefit by leaving the waste collection to the county.

The current county proposal asked for bids on service to just less than 7,000 residents in the Waldorf area. These homeowners are already hooked up to the county's water and sewer lines and participate in curbside recycling.

Haulers were given the option to bid on service to the entire proposal area, a minimum of 900 homes — lowered from the initial 1,000 residences suggested — or a combination of routes, depending on the size of the business and its fleet.

"It makes a lot of sense," Fleming said of the proposal. "It allows for redistribution, savings to consumers, there's less traffic, less fuel used and less emergencies and more safety."

The garbage to be collected is categorized as municipal waste, defined in the request for proposals as "solid waste normally collected from residential and commercial sources … including but not limited to: garbage, trash, rubbish, refuse, offal, beds, mattresses, sofas, bicycles, and baby carriages."

Prior to the proposal process, a survey of local trash haulers was conducted by the county. Officials learned the average monthly cost of curbside pickup runs between $25 and $30.

The haulers will be required to drop their loads at the county landfill, which in turn will help keep the facility at capacity; since Waste Management stopped dumping at the landfill in 2006 — which made up half of the total amount sent to the landfill — the county has lost roughly $1 million each year.

Waste Management offered multiple bids for the proposal request.

"We're looking at this if it is a possibility in the county, can we pursue it. If it's cost prohibitive, it's something we won't do …" Collins said.

Residents, local haulers and an interstate solid waste association spoke out against the concept of the consolidated pickup. Some continue to remain skeptical and wonder whether the help this system could produce isn't as promising as county officials claim it to be.

"The county wants to undermine haulers when everything now seems to be running well," said Rick D'Angelo, president and owner of AA Reliable Trash Services, which is based in Hughesville. "Competition would be wiped out."

D'Angelo's company sent in one of the three "no bid" responses to the proposal. The reason was to express to the county an interest in being a part of the service, but a declaration that the way the bid is written is too prohibitive to meet the proposal requirements, he explained.

"The bid was written terribly," D'Angelo said. "It doesn't look like something built in a way that's conducive to doing business.

Being required to purchase new $50 trash bins for each home — at least 900 — adds up for a small business, D'Angelo said, and the cost of hiring new staff to ensure quality control and meet the proposed customer service standards is also taxing on wallets and work schedules.

Collins says that fears similar to those of the AA Reliable president are unwarranted, but still valuable to the survey process.

"Everything, all the comments, we're taking under advisement. I'm not surprised at the individuals representing particular interests would be concerned about this," Collins said. "I don't think we'll take away from the free market the way businesses are suggesting."

"If the county approaches it well, I think they could absolutely offer opportunity to small business haulers," Kelly said. "In my experience [small collectors] have been the most reliable and responsible haulers."

Fleming said the survey will most likely involve a series of questions concerning proposal points and will ask the simple question of whether or not a resident thinks a consolidated system will be an enhancement to the community.

"Why not hold judgment and wait and see the results of the initial inquiry?" Collins said. "We're reviewing these things and allowing the process to move forward. We're not going to vote on this if it's something residents don't want."

msomers@somdnews.com