Council Will Wait to Decide on Waste Management Contract Extension

The decision to extend the city’s current contract with Waste Management, Inc., will have to wait a few more weeks.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Twinsburg City Council postponed voting on the proposed contract because it wanted to have a closer look at the numbers.

“I would just like to have two more weeks to check it out,” said Sam Scaffide, Ward 2 councilman. He said he wants to be sure they are getting a competitive rate before they agree to another extension.

The current contract ending in December was a three-year extension of the original agreement made in 2005. The proposed extension would continue the contract with Waste Management until 2014.

According to the proposed contract, there would be no rate increase in 2012, which currently stands at $13.35 a month per unit. But the price would go up 2 percent each year after that. By 2014, the rate will be $13.89.

However, those are only the base rates.

In 2011 the added fuel surcharge was $1.67 in addition to the monthly rate. In the proposed contract with Waste Management, they maintain the fuel tables from 2005, when the original agreement was made. Law Director Dave Maistros said that clause in the contract would save the city $1,500 a month.

In 2010 the city spent nearly $2 million for Waste Management’s service.

Council asked Public Works Director Chris Campbell to look into more data from a variety of surrounding communities to see what they are paying. Campbell said he already looked at communities such as Macedonia, Bedford, and Hudson, but all of them had different circumstances.

“I’d like to wait and see some more data,” said At-Large Councilman Bill Furey. Council would like to have a better idea of what the monthly cost is in other communities, who the provider is and how many residents and homes they serve.

Council also wants to research the financial savings of switching to a multiple-day pickup. Currently, Waste Management has around 15 trucks collecting Twinsburg’s trash every Tuesday, but spreading that out over several days could also save money.

“It’s very hard for me because I couldn’t quote anything like that, without running a whole financial analysis,” said Tony Discenza, Waste Management’s public sector representative. Discenza said having service once a week can have an advantage aesthetically, with everyone only having trash out one day, as well as safety, with trucks clogging roads.

“I’d like to understand what that savings is,” said At-Large Councilman Bill Furey. “To tell a neighborhood that it’s going to be Wednesday, instead of Tuesday, doesn’t seem like much of an inconvenience.”