Hernando confronts Republic Services over continued problems with trash pickups

BROOKSVILLE — Spring Hill resident Rex Payne was fed up enough with the missed pickups of his garbage and recycling that he sent an email to Hernando County officials earlier this month asking a series of questions about the county's garbage hauling provider, Republic Services.

"Republic has failed to pick up my trash and recycling on enough occasions that I find it time to learn whether my expectations for service are set unreasonably high,'' Payne wrote. "Should I expect Republic to pick up my trash twice a week, recycling once a week, yard waste every other week or is this just folly?''

Payne is not alone.

Officials have heard enough stories about missed pickups and other issues that the county's chief procurement officer, Russ Wetherington, put Republic Services on notice May 1 that it needed to follow its contract requirements. Having not gotten a satisfactory response regarding how the company was going to resolve the issues, Wetherington followed up with another notice late last week.

"It must be clearly understood that the burden of correcting performance rests with Republic Services,'' he wrote in a formal cure notice. "It is also your responsibility to correct your performance so as to ensure successful accomplishment of the contract terms and conditions within the time afforded you in the cure notice.''

The formal letters are the first since the county awarded Republic Services a countywide franchise, which took effect in January 2012.

Republic got off to a rough start and had numerous issues with customers in the initial months, but service improved over time. Wetherington said, however, that ongoing problems needed to be specifically addressed.

"They've had missed pickups … been mixing yard waste and trash and have failed in the timeliness of responses to complaints,'' he said. "We're just trying to get them to adhere to their contract.''

In some cases, Republic has had plenty of opportunities to fix issues, "but residents are not getting satisfaction,'' he said.

Republic officials, including general manager Bill Brinkley, met with Wetherington and other county officials early this week to reach an understanding of what the company needs to do to resolve the customer issues.

"It went great,'' Brinkley said after the meeting. "At the end of the day, it's all about effective communications … and we need to ramp that up a bit.''

Monthly meetings between Republic representatives and county solid waste staffers will be held to make sure that the lines of communications are open, and Republic has added a new division manager to stay on top of any issues that emerge, Brinkley said.

"So we are all on the same page,'' he said. "We are approaching customer service together.''

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Republic customer Brenda Mason said she was glad to hear that the county is confronting Republic with the continuing service issues. She said she had been getting only spotty pickups of her recycling until she complained to the county.

"I'm environmentally minded,'' Mason said, "so I want to recycle.''

Payne also wrote to the county last week, thanking officials for their intervention in his case. He said he saw a Republic representative snapping a picture of his trash-free front yard.

It was yard waste collection that vexed another customer, Mary Glasson. She and her husband would call Republic when they were missed and would be told there were trucks in the neighborhood that would swing by and get their yard waste, but they never did.

Once, they actually drove through the neighborhood in an attempt to find a Republic truck, but couldn't.

Instead, the next truck that came to pick up their garbage would also pick up the yard waste and mix it with the garbage, which is contrary to the provisions of the county's contract with Republic.

Finally, Glasson said, they called the county directly, and the problem seems to be fixed.

"It has been better lately,'' she said. "But we still hold our breath every time.''

Contact Barbara Behrendt at bbehrendt@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1434.