Delray Beach commissioners will pay Waste Management in full for last month’s bill, declining to deduct possible discrepancies until the city’s Financial Review Board has completed a study of the account.
“Until we’re absolutely certain of our numbers, we pay the bill until we know no other reason to act differently,” said Mayor Woodie McDuffie before the panel unanimously voted to pay the city’s contracted trash hauler in full.
Commissioners turned a review of Waste Management’s account over to the Financial Review Board in January following resident Ken MacNamee’s contention of billing inaccuracies.
MacNamee began his own study of Waste Management billing after he learned he was being charged for rear door trash pickup he wasn’t receiving, commissioners said previously.
The review was turned over to the Financial Review Board following a vote of no confidence against City Manager David Harden and Finance Director Joe Safford because the Waste Management question was still unresolved a year after it was raised. The Delray Beach staff is conducting a field audit in addition to the Financial Review Board’s study.
“I would like to give the review board an opportunity to do what we asked them to do,” said commissioner Angeleta Gray, echoing the sentiments of other commissioners.
In a memo to commissioners, Harden said MacNamee has been insistent that the city immediately deduct an identified discrepancy from the next bill. Harden, however, recommended in the memo that commissioners pay the February invoice because: Waste Management has now challenged unit counts developed last summer, there’s no significant financial reason this month as opposed to next and a large deduction could trigger litigation with Waste Management.
“I agree with the Financial Review Board that we should first complete our analysis of supporting data and arrive at a conclusive finding,” Harden said in the memo.
The memo also suggested commissioners follow the Financial Review Board’s recommendation and “refrain from making any further public comments regarding Waste Management, including any potential billing discrepancies,” until it’s reached a conclusion.
The suggestion didn’t sit well with all commissioners, who didn’t vote on it. “I got the memo about any potentially slanderous comments,” said Commissioner Adam Frankel. “We certainly need to follow those. In respect to the Review Board, I don’t like being censored.”
In adding his yes vote to pay Waste Management, Frankel said, “I don’t think anyone’s acting in bad faith.”
The Delray Beach staff worked 712 hours on the Waste Management project, not including overtime, in the two-and-a-half weeks ended Feb. 25 alone, said coordinator Rich Reade. "We've established an employee working group that has a key staff from each department that may be involved, " Reade said. "We're working on it at the same time."
In addition to makin sure data is accurate, "we want to improve our process of getting information to and from Waste Management, " Reade said. We've identified some really strong recommendations that we'll be able to present to the Financial Review Board shortly. We've already started to implement some of these."
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