Oakland switches solid waste contractor

Residents will see changes to their solid waste service and their bill when the town of Oakland switches providers at the first of the year. The Oakland Town Commission approved a new provider at its Oct. 22 meeting, and the new contracted company will begin in February.

The town’s current 10-year contract with Waste Management ends Jan. 31, 2025. Residents currently pay $17.97 monthly.

A solid waste advisory committee comprised of John Schmidt, Carlos Esquivel, Steve Stanford and Ed Kulakowski met in July and August to review four proposals received by the town. They ranked them based on letter of interest, qualifications, scope summary, total fees and references.

To keep the current level of service in the town, including twice-a-week collection using residents’ cans, the bids ranged from $28.95 to $43.11, said Nathan Brown, assistant public works director.

The committee selected Waste Pro of Florida Inc., which had the highest rankings of the four bids and carried the lowest fee structure, Brown said. This company also has prior experience with the town of Oakland.

“The group’s selection saves money by reducing the collection days to once a week,” he wrote in a report to the Oakland Town Commission. “However, it does provide town-branded rolling trash and recycling carts that will be owned by the town. … The town will be split into two separate routes (and) collection days. This brought the monthly rate down to $25.58.”

Waste Pro provided several options, and the commission selected Option 4, which includes once-a-week pickup of household waste, yard waste and recyclables. Residents will receive one 95-gallon rolling mainstream trash container and one 95-gallon rolling recycle container — and will have the option of requesting smaller 64-gallon cans and paying a rate for additional cans if needed.

The town will own the cans at the completion of the contract.

Service will be provided by two new compressed natural gas-powered rear-loader trucks and one pickup for supervisor use. These trucks include service verification GPS-enabled cameras that record and verify the waste collection activities and manage anomalies like missed pickups.

Mainstream solid waste service will address the town in two parts — half the town will be serviced on Tuesdays, and the other half will have collection on Fridays. One truck will collect recycling on Thursdays, and one truck will pick up yard waste on Wednesdays. Collection of bulk waste, including furniture, will take place on the same days as regular trash pick-up. White goods (appliance) collection will be accomplished by one supervisor truck on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Service also will be provided for annual hazardous waste pickup events, public facilities and Oakland Avenue Charter School.

TRAFFIC AND PARKING WOES

The town has been looking for ways to alleviate traffic problems during the week at Oakland Avenue Charter School and in this same area on the weekends. Town Manager Andy Stewart presented possible parking improvements at a September commission meeting that also would provide additional parking as it relates to local churches.

Oakland in recent years has formed partnerships with the churches, which have provided parking for town-sponsored events. Last month, the town’s department heads met with local churches to discuss and gather input about a proposed study and traffic issues in the area.

According to Stewart, the consensus gathered at this meeting was most of the traffic concerns were experienced on Sundays as well as on weekdays during student pick-up and drop-off times at OACS.

The commission approved the hiring of Myra Planning and Design at a cost of $7,500 to provide recommendations and schematic designs to explore improvements by using a portion of underutilized land at the southwest area of the school property for parking during non-school hours.

The school no longer needs the existing drain field after the septic-to-sewer conversion, so the town wants to remove the drain field and improve the site to create overflow parking and a second drop-off and pick-up loop for the school.

Stewart said the proposed agreement would be funded in the current budget under the road resurfacing line item and proposed funding for the project is to be determined upon completion of the evaluation and schematic design.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

• The Oakland Town Commission proclaimed Nov. 2 through 9 Week of the Family and Nov. 11 Veterans Day.

• Commissioners approved holding just one Town Commission meeting for each of the remaining months of 2024 because of the holidays. They are scheduled for Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.