Edna council disputes brush bill with Republic

By Chris Lundstrom
Publisher/Editor
Edna City Council members are frustrated with Republic Services. The trash removal company contracted by the city has come under fire numerous times since they were hired in 2013, mostly for not picking up brush in a timely fashion.
The most recent issue is a concern over a $23,169 bill from the county for grinding collected brush which was discussed at the Feb. 16 council meeting.
According to Mike Reeves, municipal services manager for Republic Services, Ken Knight, the previous city manager, verbally agreed to allow Republic Services to take the brush debris to the transfer station which would allow for more pickups because it would be a lesser distance than to another composting site.
“We have been permitted to dispose of the brush debris at the Jackson County site since we began servicing the city over three years ago at no cost to us,” Reeves said in an email. “The city has not sent any notices to us indicating that we would incur grinding costs now or in the future until after the grinding work was performed recently.”
The contract between the city and Republic Services states “no amendment to the contract shall be made except upon written consent of the parties.” {Page 1 Art. 3}
In an email dated Jan. 11, 2017, Reeves said Knight allowed Republic to dispose of the brush at the county site to allow them to stay in town longer and complete the heavy volume of debris in a timely manner, and to “keep our cost per home down vs. what Waste Management used to charge the city per home. (We bid based on this offer from Mr. Knight).”
He said three years ago the county was allowed to burn the brush all those years and “then the county mandated with a burn ban with the change to grinding.” He said there is no language in the contract that requires the city to pay for grinding of brush that Republic removes, nor does it state that Republic has to dispose of the brush outside of the county site. “If the city wants to discontinue this practice then we may have to discuss a price increase based on historical service methods.”
Edna City Manager Don Doering said he does not agree that a verbal agreement with a former city manager would change the content of the approved written contract between the city of Edna and Republic Services.
Reeves sent a representative to the council meeting asking them to put the issue on the March 2 agenda.
Mayor Joe Hermes expressed frustration and said the charges for brush grinding was not originally in the contract with Republic and a verbal agreement is not legal and binding.
Reeves gave three options to resolve the issue: the city and Republic Services share the cost of the $23,169 bill with the county and petition for a 50-cent increase per household per month to offset the increase in costs; Republic pays the full amount of the invoice and asks the city for a $1 per household per month increase to cover the cost; or both parties agree to allow the city to choose another contractor with a 120 day notice in writing without penalty.
“We can’t tell the citizens we are going to charge them more,” Hermes said. He asked Doering to start searching for other trash companies and said the city would not honor the bill.
After the meeting, Doering said he believes there is another option.
“They are not a bad company,” he said. “But there is a difference between the written contract and the verbal agreement. I’m hoping at the next meeting we can say ‘pay the bill in 30 days or we will cancel the contract.’ The county needs to bill Republic because legally, once the brush is in their vehicle it becomes their property.”
Doering said the city would need some time to find another trash company since they will have to receive bids and Republic would need time to pick up their containers.
The council will discuss this again at the March 2 council meeting.