Regular garbage pickup coming to Port soon

Port Washington residents are expected to have a new waste hauler in town later this month, a move city officials hope will once again result in regular pickup of garbage and recyclables.

City Administrator Tony Brown said the Common Council on Tuesday is expected to terminate its contract with Waste Management effective Sept. 17 and approve a contract with Harter’s Fox Valley Disposal that will take effect Sept. 20.

The news can’t come too soon for residents who have had garbage pile up as they waited for it to be picked up.

Officials said problems began springing up within a few months after Waste Management purchased Advanced Disposal on Oct. 31 and took over the city’s contract.

Judy Klumb, the Department of Public Works administrative assistant, said it hasn’t been unusual to get 10 calls from residents about collection being missed.

A few weeks ago, she noted, the company failed to pick up garbage and recycling in four subdivisions, and some residents had to wait four days before it was picked up.

Last week, Brown said, the firm was on schedule but this week is behind.

“Unfortunately, it’s a circumstance where we have to live with it for the next couple weeks,” Brown said.

The city has tried working with the company to resolve the issues to no avail, he said, so it began looking for a new contractor.

Brown said the city talked to four companies before officials decided to recommend Harter’s, which he said is just entering the local market.

He has talked to officials in at least five communities where the firm works about their performance and said they are satisfied with the company, adding several have recently renewed their contracts with the firm.

Harter’s has already received the city’s route maps, Brown said, adding that collection days will remain the same, although one of the routes may be altered.

“We’re still trying to work through that,” he said.

There are some streets where collection will be moved from along the street to the alley, he said, adding residents will be notified when this happens.

Collection will begin at 7 a.m., and Brown said residents should have their carts out by that time.

“My hope is that after a month of them (Harter’s) having collection, people will know when their materials will be collected,” he said.

The city is requiring a $50,000 performance bond from Harter’s to cover the cost of collecting refuse and recycling if the firm doesn’t perform as expected, Brown said.

The contract also has clearly defined time limits for the company to respond to complaints, he said.

“We’ve tried to set it up in a way that clearly sets out our expectations,” Brown said.

One condition of the termination agreement is that the city take ownership of the garbage and recycling carts residents currently use.

Residents will continue to use these until early October, when Harter’s will collect the garbage, recycling and carts and replace them with their own carts.

Residents can, if they desire, keep the current carts but they can’t use them for garbage and recycling pickup, he said.

“They could use them for yard waste,” he said, or to store overflow refuse.

When the new carts are distributed, Harter’s will have a flier attached listing the regular collection day, what recyclable materials are accepted and a phone number for people to call if there are issues, Brown said.

Brown said the contract will cost the city about $700,000 annually, noting that the city pays to have items collected at about 4,000 residences.

That amount, he said, is a little less than the contract with Waste Management.

But, he added, the recycling fee residents pay each year will likely increase a bit. 

“I think it actually costs them money to get rid of recyclables,” he said. “With the ways the recycling market has changed, it’s put a lot of municipalities in a position where recycling revenue is non-existent. I think that’s ultimately reflected in this.”