By Mary Thurwachter
The Lantana Town Council awarded a $1,841,942 annual contract for residential solid waste and recyclable materials collection and disposal services June 12 to Coastal Waste and Recycling of Florida, Inc.
John Casagrande, vice president of Coastal Waste, said his company will provide new trucks and trash cans and will keep collection days the same.
As part of the agreement, Coastal Waste will make a special events contribution of $50,000 each year, likely to be spent on Fourth of July fireworks.
Coastal Waste’s five-year contract will begin Oct. 1 and end Sept. 30, 2028.
Not everyone was happy about the decision. Particularly miffed were the executives from the current contractor, Waste Pro of Florida.
“We have been the town’s trash hauler for over four years and have done an excellent job,” said Russell Mackie, a vice president with Waste Pro.
Resident Catherine Skervin, a longtime council watcher, said she was a fan of Waste Pro and asked, “Why change if what they already have works?”
Mayor Karen Lythgoe agreed Waste Pro did a good job.
“They were very helpful to me,” Lythgoe said. “But we have no choice. We had to go with the RFP,” the request for proposal process.
So, why the change?
Eddie Crockett, the town’s director of operations, said it wasn’t a matter of Waste Pro’s performance. Its contract is expiring and the town used the RFP process, which often is used for large services contracts to determine the best possible vendor, rather than the Invitation to Bid process, which usually looks for the “lowest responsible bidder.”
Contractors were ranked by a committee of senior town staff based on several factors, such as qualifications, project approach, experience and price.
The committee ranked Waste Management of Florida, with a bid of $2,582,605, as first; Coastal Waste and Recycling of Florida, with a bid of $1,841,942, as second; and Waste Pro of Florida, with a bid of $2,030,280, as third. The fourth-ranked bid, for $3,104,989, came from FCC Environmental Services of Florida.
Crockett said the town “was unsuccessful in brokering a contract with Waste Management on May 26, but it was successful in negotiating with Coastal Waste on May 30.”
In other news, the Town Council awarded a $2,404,000 contract to RF Environmental Services, Inc. for filter media replacement and improvement to the water treatment plant. Filter media separates unwanted particles from the substance being filtered.
Construction at the water treatment plant will begin in September and likely take up to five years to complete. RF Environmental Services was the lower of two bids. A second bid came from Lawrence Lee Construction Services for $2,890,000.
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