Pitt County works to fix problems at waste sites

Pitt County staff will begin soliciting bids from companies to correct operational issues at the county’s 14 solid waste and recycling sites following a unanimous vote by the Board of Commissioners.

The motion made by Commissioner Lauren White directed staff to solicit bids with attendant salaries set at $10 and $15 an hour. No timeline was set on when the bids would be brought to the board for review and a vote.

The commissioners approved the request for proposals process at its Monday meeting following presentations that outlined current operations at the sites and the trouble some site attendants were having maintaining the property and overseeing the proper usage of the recycling containers.

Solid Waste and Recycling Department Director John Demary and Deputy Director Jason Russell said Monday the commissioners had three options: negotiate with current operators, Truss Denim Group Co., which manages five sites, and Holden Temporaries, which manages nine sites; seek new proposals; or bring site operations in-house.

Under questioning from the commissioners, Russell said he believes having one contractor operate all 14 sites is the best option.

At $10 an hour, the total site attendant cost would be $640,307 annually plus other costs, Russell said. If the commissioners want a $15 per hour salary, which is the minimum Pitt County employee salary, the site attendant costs would be $952,307 annually plus other costs.

Under the current contracts for Holden and Truss Denim the county spends $577,907 on the site attendant costs.

Bringing convenience site operations in-house would require hiring a supervisor along with 29 site attendants plus purchasing a vehicle for the supervisor. That cost would be about $1.5 million a year which would equal an approximate increase of $9.37 in the county’s solid waste fee, Russell said.

The commissioners had questions about requiring contractors to pay $15 an hour versus the staff-recommended $10.

Tim Corley, assistant county manager/county engineer, said staff is recommending a $ 10-an-hour salary because it can be covered under this year’s solid waste and recycling program revenues.

During Monday’s presentation, Demary and Russell said the county penalized Truss Denim more even though it managed fewer sites. Demary also said staffing issues have prevented his department from conducting constant inspections of the sites.

Commissioner Tom Coulson asked if the other contractor, Holden Temporaries, could take over the other sites. Demary said he believed the company would step in to cover the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June.

“We’ve given both of them plenty, ample time to correct the issues,” Demary said. “And they are just not cleaning the materials outside the box … just a number of (issues) we’ve gone over them a number of times.”

Russell said in one instance a county driver arrived at a Truss Denim Group site at 9 a.m. and there was no attendant. Russell said he called a supervisor who said an attendant had been on site the whole time.

Russell said Holden Temporaries would address problems when notified.

Commissioner Melvin McLawhorn recommended implementing a new plan of action but continued working with the current companies.

“If those violations continue, we should start the implementation (of the request for proposal) process … bringing it down to one contractor for the whole county. I think right now we should keep the two we have in place and monitor the situation and maybe they’ll come up to par,” McLawhorn said.

Other commissioners weren’t convinced.

“If we’ve had this much trouble, why haven’t we terminated that contract yet,” Commissioner Mark Smith, the board chairman, asked.

Demary said he has previously sought to end the contract but was told to continue working with the company. Both companies currently are working on a month-to-month basis.

“How long do you continue to put up with a poor performance month after month after month,” Smith said.

During the presentation, Russell said the new contract should include language requiring daily patrols of all 14 sites to ensure maintenance rules are being followed; more language on how and why site attendants must safely remove contaminants from recyclables; add site house rules into the contract, require attendants to complete daily opening and closely tasks and require site attendants be paid at least $10 an hour.

Russell said the new contract language also needs to state the contract will be terminated and rebid if the contractor’s state continues the same violation for five times after one warning.

The board also unanimously approved $358,218 in contracts to perform asphalt and concrete work at the convenience sites located at Port Terminal, Ayden, Winterville, Farmville and Stantonsburg. If approved, a contract for $161,926 would be awarded to Garris Grading and Paving for services at Ayden, Port Terminal and Stantonsburg and a $163,726 contract would be awarded to Tripp Brothers Construction for services at Farmville and Winterville.