City Shuts Down TDS Rep in Trash Forum

A representative of Texas Disposal Systems (TDS), Ryan Beard, took to the microphone during the middle of citizens’ comments at a trash service forum, and said he was going to explain the history of the current trash contract and how the city ended up in the trash mess it’s in today.

However, City Operations Director Shane Kelton interrupted, “Ryan, Ryan, I don’t mean to cut you off, but this is about citizens telling us what they want out of the trash services…”

Beard also interrupted, “May I ask the citizens if they want to hear how they got into this mess?”

From the crowd, muffled voices soon transitioned to out loud ”Hear, hear” and “Yes!”

“That’s not what we’re here for and I don’t...” Kelton responded. “That’s not what we’re here for tonight. Your definition of mess and everybody else’s definition of mess may not be the same thing.”

“I have the majority that it is a mess,” Beard responded.

An awkward silence overcame the room as Beard, standing sideways as if he was about to leave the microphone while looking towards the crowd for support, and Kelton stood silent, both likely wondering what to do next.

“Yes, we’re looking at the majority,” a lady in the audience said. Others chimed in. Many wanted to hear what Beard had to say.

Another comment came from the crowd, this time from a man who said, “Can you schedule a meeting to discuss how we got in this mess? I’d be in for that!”

“You hold the meeting, and I’ll come,” a woman exclaimed.

“If ya’ll want to visit with him separately, after we leave, I mean… this is… we didn’t ask other service companies to come talk about their company and what they did and what they didn’t do, and what their viewpoints are," said Kelton.

Beard: "No one else would bid on it!"

Kelton: "We didn’t ask anyone else here to do that (to attend the forum)."

Beard: “At a public forum, you’re telling me I can’t speak. Is that what you’re saying?”

Kelton: “This is for the citizens of San Angelo.”

Beard (who is from Austin): “So you’re telling me I can’t speak at a public forum?”

(In the crowd you could hear hushed voices now, many in support of Beard.)

At this point, City Manager Daniel Valenzuela stepped in to back up Kelton.

Valenzuela said, “Ryan, we’re actually looking for input from citizens at this point, and we’re talking with the current citizens that we have, as far as changes that need to be made. That’s what we’re looking for. As far as TDS, you had the opportunity to compete against Republic, and we know how that went anyway, so we really don’t want to hash [that out] at this point. We want our citizens to come forward and tell us what they’d like to see happen. And this is what this forum is for.”

With that, Beard left the microphone and went back to his seat.

With representatives from Republic Services and TDS in attendance, San Angelo’s trash contract with Republic Services was under assault Thursday evening at a forum hosted by City of San Angelo staff at the McNease Convention Center in City Council Chambers. At one point during the meeting, attended by about 50 citizens, an overhead question was asked if anyone was satisfied with the trash service? No one in attendance answered in the affirmative.

[[{"fid":"22498","view_mode":"preview","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"A wide shot of the participation of citizens at Thursday evening's trash forum. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)","title":"A wide shot of the participation of citizens at Thursday evening's trash forum. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)","height":"675","width":"1200","class":"media-element file-preview imgbody"}}]]
Above: A wide shot of the participation of citizens at Thursday evening's trash forum. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)

The forum was called by City Manager Daniel Valenzuela to listen to citizen input about the trash contract in light of a renegotiation of its terms ongoing.

The idea of eliminating 26 weeks of recyclable pickup in return for a monthly, rather than quarterly, bulk trash pickup was floated several months ago. Since then, the 10-year contract signed in July 2014 has been under assault. Many citizens have complained, primarily about lack of alleyway pickup, as well as their perception of reduced service for a greatly increased price since the contract’s terms were enacted.

City Operations Director Shane Kelton moderated the forum that was videoed by the City. Watch here.

Almost all of the complaints from the citizens were about the automated trash trucks. For years, San Angelo enjoyed what Mayor Dwain Morrison has described many times as “The Best Trash Service in the World,” with two guys on the back of a truck.

[[{"fid":"22499","view_mode":"preview","type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Former SMD 5 council candidate R.A. Cantrell in a Donald Trump hat faces off with Kelton. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)","title":"Former SMD 5 council candidate R.A. Cantrell in a Donald Trump hat faces off with Kelton. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)","height":"675","width":"1200","class":"media-element file-preview imgbody"}}]]
Above: Former SMD 5 council candidate R.A. Cantrell in a Donald Trump hat faces off with Kelton. Watch him here and also here. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)

Many neighborhoods in San Angelo were designed and developed with the practice of trash pickup using a smaller trash truck, manned by 3-4 trash men traveling down alleyways behind homes manually emptying trash cans into the truck twice a week for each customer. But in 2013, Republic Services and the City began a process of transitioning to a more modern and efficient method of automated trash pickup with a solo driver using a mechanical arm to hoist specially designed trash “carts” to empty the trash into the trucks.

Automated trucks do not fit in many of San Angelo’s alleyways, the City explained.

Automation allows for a similar level of service, proponents claim, but the new trash contract increased the cost of residential trash pickup over 50 percent as well. The rate hike and new automated procedures were codified into the trash pickup and landfill management contract between the City of San Angelo and Republic Services in July 2014. TDS claimed the contract was worth $260 million over its term.

The 2014 trash contract replaced one of the weekly pickup days with curbside recyclable pickup, not trash. A quarterly bulk trash pickup was also added to the schedule as well.

From listening to citizen complaints at Thursday’s forum, and to city council members in open session at their last session, the original quarterly bulk pickup schedule was not enough to give citizens enough trash service to keep some of them out of trouble with the City of San Angelo’s code compliance enforcers. The rapid grass and plant growth due to recent heavy rains that cause more clippings and yard maintenance debris have also added to the need for more bulk collection. City staff’s solution is to increase bulk pickup availability from four times a year to 12. In return, the city staff and Republic agree, they will reduce recyclable pickup by half, from 52 times a year to 26.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Grindstaff, in her last hurrah before going down in defeat July 2, demanded that Republic or the city staff provide a cost analysis to prove the trade was an equitable one. There has been no concrete answer.

Christy Youker, area manager for TDS, said Thursday night at the microphone that one doesn’t need to be in the trash business to understand that adding 8 more trash runs a year in return for eliminating 26 runs is not a fair trade (watch here).

Another concern was about the proposed reduction of recycling service, best enunciated by citizen Linda Grace. “My recycling bin is full every week because I do recycle, and of course, I wish we’d be able to recycle glass... I do not support cutting back recycling to every other week. If the City decided to do that, then I strongly feel that my bill should be reduced by about 25 percent because the service to my house, the trash pickup and recyclable pickup, is reduced 25 percent,” she said.

Concerns about the service cost to commercial trash customers were not addressed at length.

But TDS came to Thursday night’s meeting armed with a cost comparison of San Angelo’s commercial trash service pricing with neighboring cities. According to the information Beard handed out at the meeting, San Angelo’s commercial trash pickup service is nearly three times greater in price than Abilene’s, while Abilene’s residential trash pickup fee is only $1.31 more per month. According to his handout (download it here), an Abilene business will pay just $56.05 per month for a 3-yard dumpster picked up twice a week. In San Angelo, that same service costs $158.56 per month.

TDS appears to be aiming to open the bulk trash pickup and commercial trash service to an open market. Currently, the City’s contract with Republic gives Republic the exclusivity, with a city ordinance codifying rates. Now that the contract is under renegotiation, opponents of the contract hope more changes can be made, up to and including creating an open market for commercial trash collection.

Beard said after the meeting that TDS is always looking for more customers, but the San Angelo trash war has larger stakes. Bob Gregory, TDS’ CEO is from San Angelo, and he doesn’t want his hometown to be taken advantage of, Beard said.

After the meeting, the Mayor explained that he looked up how much trash service similar to San Angelo’s residential service costs in Austin. He claimed it was about $55 per month. In San Angelo, it is $15.29 per month, he said.

The comments from the citizens will be chronicled on the City of San Angelo website, Kelton promised.

Ray Grothaus, area manager for Republic Services, said after the meeting that his company is attempting to find a suitable solution for all parties involved. He was skeptical that things would have been smooth sailing if Republic returned to the old style 3-man trucks transitioning down alleyways, either.

Morrison was overheard explaining to a citizen that his trash has always been picked up at the front of his house.

“We have no alleyways,” he said. Assuming the cost of keeping non-automated residential trash service would be $10 higher for everyone, he asked, “How is that fair to the other half of town that doesn’t even have an alleyway?”