Residents and council members pressed Waste Connections and city staff Wednesday over missed bulk pickups, late delivery of secondary service carts and confusion after the city’s transition to a new hauler.

Councilwoman Norma Sanchez Stevens led questions about missed bulk collections in small neighborhoods and late delivery of second carts for residents who had purchased extras. Residents described trash left at curbs for days, and several council members recounted personal checks with drivers and follow-up. Waste Connections representatives said routing data (“breadcrumbs”), vehicle cameras and extra crews were used to investigate missed areas, and the company dispatched additional trucks over the weekend to catch up. The company told council it would run extra passes and pick up leftover Republic (previous hauler) carts that remain in neighborhoods.

City Manager Brian Reid summarized the staff and hauler response and presented a proposed franchise amendment requested by Waste Connections to add commercial recycling container-size options and some front-load commercial containers. Reid also reported that Waste Connections agreed to provide, at no charge, a 4‑yard front-load container for the city’s fire stations (a change requested by staff to replace multiple 95‑gallon carts). “They said yes,” Reid said, describing a direct request for the city’s operational needs.

Council members asked specific operational questions about routing, GPS records, driver training and customer service response times. Waste Connections acknowledged early-week routing mistakes in limited areas and said it monitors routes through GPS and truck camera data but had not reviewed certain routes that same day — a lapse the company said it corrected.

Councilwoman Sanchez Stevens asked for a short-term remedy so residents did not face repeated overflow; Waste Connections said it would run an extra rear-load bulk truck and pick up residual bags and orphaned carts during a follow-up sweep and set up additional staff to address missed collections.

The council later adopted by ordinance the requested franchise changes to allow more container-size choices for businesses and to formalize the commercial recycling options; the council vote on the franchise amendment passed (agenda 11G). Reid said commercial customers will be able to choose appropriately sized recycling carts rather than defaulting to an oversized option. He said the franchise amendment will also preserve a 10 percent franchise fee on commercial accounts retained by the city in the new billing arrangement.

Why it matters: The transition affected tens of thousands of residential accounts; missed service in neighborhoods and slow customer-service response times generated multiple complaints. The ordinance amendment aims to provide businesses flexible container sizes and a practical container solution for city facilities.

What’s next: Waste Connections will run extra recovery routes, pick up abandoned carts and provide follow-up to the city. City staff will monitor performance metrics and report back to council if problems continue.

Votes at a glance
- Ordinance amending franchise agreement with Waste Connections (Agenda 11G): approved 5–0 (motion carried; amendment includes additional commercial recycling sizes and provision of a 4-yard container for fire stations at no charge).