Jeri Harwell, the Republic Services Municipal Services manager, spoke about recent waste removal issues at the Providence Village Town Council meeting on Tuesday.
She came in response to issues identified within the town with trash and recycling services.
“First and foremost, we own this problem that we've got with service in Providence Village, and I'm going to share all the reasons how we're going to fix that,” Harwell said.
One issue she identified was that, at the time of contract renewal, the number of homes billed was 3,484.
Since February, the number of addresses in Providence Village has increased to 5,831.
Harwell shared that some addresses were missed in the Republic Services system because the routes were built around those that were actively being paid.
Harwell shared that Republic Services has added new routes.
However, as the town continues to grow, the route may have to be split into two days.
That would be a last resort, Harwell said, and Republic Services plans to use other options first to reduce the number of missed houses.
“In the event that we do that, it's on us to do all of the communication with the residents and come in here with a plan,” Harwell said.
Harwell noted that communications have been improved to better notify residents who weren’t included in email alerts.
A new supervisor-intraining will cover Providence Village.
Other improvements to enhance communication include educating residents on which items, such as bulk items, can be placed in carts and where to place them, along with a flyer being developed that will include additional information.
Residents will receive information on how to set up an account, and the town will receive monthly reports and data from Republic Services.
Harwell shared that trash is collected in Providence Village a little over 67,000 times a month, and that there were 48 trash misses in March.
“One miss to me is one miss too many,” Harwell said.
Potential reasons a home may be missed by the waste collector several times include the collector starting the route earlier than the resident is used to, the use of a new driver or the cart being placed in the wrong spot.
“What we're going to find is that we have residents that are getting service that are not paying for it, … which is detrimental to you and to us,” Harwell said. “… Things happen. We still have work to do, but I'm committed to working on it.”
No residents took up Mayor Linda Inman’s invitation to the public to speak about their concerns regarding trash services during the meeting.
