By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Williston’s troubles with garbage collection should be coming to an end in about 10 days.
Waste Pro’s contract with the city is expiring and the city’s new contractor, GFL Environmental is set to take over on June 1.
Residential rates will drop about 50 cents and commercial rates should go up slightly depending on the size of the business.
City Council members voted unanimously to approve a contract with GFL on May 18 extending through September of 2024. The contract is renewable and prices are negotiable in three 5-year segments.
“We’re excited to work with GFL. We think we’re a little step above the way it was handled in the past with our last collection service with our billing and customer service,” said City Manager Jackie Gorman. “You’re going to see new dumpsters, you’re going to see new totes and the transition seems to be ready to go seamlessly.”
GFL acquired WCA in 2020.
Skip McCall, GFL’s representative, said the company has been ramping up the past three to four weeks in preparation for operating the solid waste collection service in Williston.
“We’ve already been ordering parts, dumpsters, things of that nature. We’ve been working to make sure hopefully everything goes smoothly in the transition in a nice way for the city of Williston,” McCall said. “Starting next Monday the carts will start arriving, the dumpsters will start arriving and then towards the end of that all the parts will be delivered – 1200 approximate units we have out there and commercial businesses.”
McCall said all of the equipment will be delivered on time. He said there was a shortage of metal for a time but the contractor GFL deals with has given assurances that the deadline will be met. McCall said GFL has worked closely with the company “and they are a very good customer of ours.”
Gorman said information packets are to be placed in totes informing customers of garbage pickup days and times. Information is also being posted on the city’s website and Facebook page.
“This is all going to happen before June 1st so we’re on the ball with this trying to make sure everyone understands there’s a new service in town,” she said.
McCall said Waste Pro plans to pick up their carts for a final time next week on May 25th.
“We’re going to go in behind them so we’ll set the carts out, so the intent is not to leave a resident calling and saying, hey, they took my cart,” McCall said.
GFL will place flyers in plastic sleeves giving customers the company’s 800 customer service number and place the flyers in the rollout carts, McCall said. He said in the past, flyers that were placed in rollouts have made the transition “very successful” in other communities the company services.
“When residents go out they can grab their cart and pull it out and say hey, cool, got a flyer in there that tells them the day of pickup and some of the other recycling information,” McCall said. “If it all goes as planned and we have good support and good communication with the incumbent (Waste Pro), it’s generally a very successful transition.”
Council President Debra Jones asked if GFL was going to provide garbage collection equipment and services for special events like the July 3rd patriotic celebration, the Peanut Festival and also the Cleanup and Fix up week. She said she read the contract thoroughly and didn’t see it mentioned. McCall said special events coverage was mentioned in the bid documents and the company will honor those requirements by providing coverage for special events at no additional charge. He said it can be added to the contract if the city wishes.
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City of Williston Regular Meeting May 18, 2021; Posted May 21, 2021
