On October 16, 2019, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution No. 2019-31056, extending a renewal of the City's Non-Exclusive Franchise Waste Contractor Agreements and new Service Agreement for a period of three (3) years, commencing as of October 1, 2019 and expiring on September 30, 2022.

The Public Works Department engaged MidAtlantic Solid Waste Consultants (MSW) to assist staff with evaluating the current agreement structure, and to provide recommendations for an open versus closed, exclusive versus non-exclusive, Franchise Waste Contractor Agreement.

At the April 29, 2022 Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC) meeting, the City Administration presented MSW's findings, and, among them, MSW recommended for the City to transition to an exclusive franchise system.   A motion was made to expand the analysis, and to come back to a future meeting with the findings.  The Administration continued meeting with FERC on May 27, 2022, July 29, 2022, November 14, 2022, January 27, 2023, February 17, 2023, and lastly on March 31, 2023. 

Parallel to the FERC discussions of what would be the future terms of a non-exclusive commercial franchise waste contractor agreement and service agreements, a motion was made for Public Works to place a request to extend, on a month-to-month basis, the contract term of the Non-Exclusive Commercial Franchise Waste Contractor Agreement and Service Agreement with Waste Management Inc. of Florida, and Waste Connections of Florida, Inc., for a period not to exceed September 30, 2023.  The City Commission approved this request via Resolution No. 2022-32228.

At the March 31, 2023 FERC meeting, Committee members made a motion to proceed with a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and provided additional guidance to consider when drafting the RFQ, listed below:

• Have the Administration ensure no less than 3 waste haulers (with additional waste haulers to serve as alternates to replace any primary waste hauler that drop out).
• Consider an annual percentage increase cap, and a hardship waiver that would allow the waste hauler to exceed the cap's limit (depending on extenuating circumstances,) with the City Commission's approval.  
• Determine the term duration of the contracts between customers and haulers (whether a maximum of 2 years, or 5 plus years, should there be a major capital investment for equipment).
• Restrict the option for auto-renewal.  Instead, allow a 90-day renewal notice from the waste hauler to the resident, and a 60-day window for the customer to respond to the waste hauler.
• Include a clause that would allow residents to call the City's Sanitation staff directly, should there be any service issues or concerns, as well as allowing for residents to call the waste hauler directly.
• Effective next fiscal year, provide a quarterly LTC report that would list complaints from customers, identified issues, and turnaround time to remedy the issue(s).
• Include language to allow for property manager credentials to be accepted by the City in the same manner as resident credentials for the purposes of drop off of bulk waste, or bulk pickups on behalf of the resident (and if possible, find ways to make it easier for multi-family with more than 9 units to have curb bulk pickup).

It is important to note that as the RFQ process takes place, the Administration will require that the month-to-month Non-Exclusive Franchise Waste Contractor Agreements and accompanying franchise fees, in kind services, and other program contributions set to expire on September 30, 2023, be extended from October 1, 2023, until such time as the solicitation process of the RFQ is completed and the new contracts are in place.

At the May 17, 2023 City Commission meeting, Public Works brought forth a Resolution, accepting the recommendation of the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee, at its March 31, 2023 meeting, to proceed with a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) for the City's waste hauler services, and to extend the current contracts for non-exclusive commercial franchise waste services (Item R7G).  A motion was made to approve the request via Resolution No. 2023-32617.

The May 17, 2023 City Commission agenda also included two additional titles, listed below, waste hauler related:

• A Resolution directing the City Administration, as part of any request for qualifications for non-exclusive franchise waste contractors, to require private waste contractors to include in their contracts with customers a termination for convenience provision, by the Office of the City Attorney/ Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez (Item R7F).  A motion was made to defer the item to the July 26, 2023 Commission meeting, and a referral to the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee to discuss the termination provision (and how it would affect the contract pricing, and to allow for public commenting on the subject).

• A Resolution, authorizing the Administration to issue a request for proposals for an exclusive franchise waste contractor for (1) residential solid waste collection and disposal for multi-family residences with nine or more units; (2) commercial solid waste collection and disposal; and (3) recycling services for multi-family residences with two or more units, by the Office of the City Attorney/ Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez (Item R7H). A motion was made by the sponsoring Commissioner to withdraw the item.

The following lists provides some pros and cons of introducing a termination for convenience clause in the contracts between haulers and customers:

Pros:

1) Allows multi-family and commercial customers to get out of the agreement within 30 days.

2) Allows the customer more freedom to choose from the other haulers for service if it is dissatisfied with the current hauler.

3) Termination for convenience provides limited grounds for dispute in the event of termination as the question of whether a breach occurred is no longer relevant.

4)  It can have an increased level of performance and quality of waste hauler services.

Cons:

1) Can cause upfront pricing to be higher for multifamily and commercial customers because essentially the contracts are for 30 days duration at minimum.

2) For all parties, the termination for convenience clause introduces a greater level of uncertainty in relation to the contract's duration and scope.

3) For the party supplying the services, a termination for convenience clause allows for termination due to reasons that are not linked to the level of performance in terms of its obligations and potentially causes financial losses in the event of early termination which may impact its ability to meet ongoing obligations.

4)  May discourage waste haulers from wanting to participate as contractors (resulting in less than a minimum of three haulers).

The foregoing updates are presented to the members of the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee members for discussion and further direction.