County Commission Approves Waste Pro Status Report

On July 9 ^th , the Leon County Commission approved the semiannual status report regarding curbside waste collection service provided by Waste Pro, Inc.

The current contract between the County and Waste Pro, Inc. features stricter quality stipulations and enforcement standards than their prior agreements to “ensure quality performance”. To improve curbside waste collection, operational aspects of service delivery were enhanced, including “a new fleet of trucks, added routes, route efficiency technology, outlined response times, and enhanced customer service”.

The agenda item states that “To ensure Waste Pro meets the agreements stricter quality stipulations and enforcement standards the Agreement contains detailed liquidated damages for violations of standards.” Staff gave an example stating, “Liquidated damage categories increased from 7 in the prior contract to 57 detailed parameters in the current agreement. These standards ensure that Waste Pro has clear expectations for service and performance.”

The status report notes that the routes are near the 100% completion level due to the investment made in fleet routing technology which yields greater efficiency, and along with “levied liquidated damages, staff has also been able to verify customer complaints in real time”.

Waste Pro has received the majority of the new trucks required by the agreement and is in receipt of two new claw trucks, two supervisor support vehicles, and a split-load truck that is smaller and lighter than its regular fleet vehicles and are useful for narrower private roads (which have contributed to customer complaints in the past).

Lastly, Waste Pro has also made an investment in their administrative and customer support functions as well.  The agenda item states, “Additional staff were hired for the call center and new technology was implemented to track inbound calls received by Waste Pro … since January, the hold/wait time for each call remains low with wait times averaging under one minute and thirteen seconds.”