West Melbourne city leaders pressed representatives of Waste Management about repeated resident complaints that yard-waste piles are not being collected reliably, and asked the company and city staff to pursue a mix of education, operations changes and a possible hybrid pickup model.

Council members described multiple reports — including posts on Nextdoor and direct resident calls — of yard debris left at curbs for weeks. Deputy Mayor Bentley and Public Works staff said many residents do not know that small yard waste must fit in the brown-lid cart and that larger “clam-truck” pickups must be called in to Waste Management’s call center.

"We have started some conversations with Waste Management that maybe looking at a little bit of a hybrid option of keeping the brown carts, but then having more of a routed clamp truck," Bentley said. "Either way, we gotta continue to get the word out." (Deputy Mayor Bentley, public comment during agenda item)

Jordan Chandler, government affairs manager for Waste Management, acknowledged complaints and said he had been in the role about four months. He told council the company will monitor Nextdoor posts, work with city staff and inspect the customer-service knowledge base to reduce ticketing errors that delay dispatch.

"Sometimes tickets are put in ... and unfortunately they may not have dispatched it until a week and a half, two weeks later, which is an issue," Chandler said. "We're ultimately working with this regional office, customer service office to remedy that and make sure that they have the correct language per the contract to make sure that they're servicing these piles as expeditious as possible." (Jordan Chandler, Waste Management)

Louie Gipase of Waste Management explained that tickets entered with incorrect close dates can fall outside contractual dispatch windows and trigger internal metrics that obscure real delivery performance. He said some system problems have been corrected and that the company was reviewing pending open tickets for West Melbourne.

Council and staff walked through the practical details residents report: trucks pass but do not pick up nearby piles that were not called in, drivers cannot pick an uncalled pile without potentially delaying scheduled stops, and routed service would let drivers collect piles encountered along a route rather than only picking up individually called jobs. Council members described multiple outreach efforts — newsletter inserts, water-bill flyers, door hangers and a planned cart-hanger program that leaves instructions at addresses with uncollected piles — but said those efforts still miss many residents.

Waste Management reported about 1,700 clam-truck pickup requests year-to-date; council members estimated the city contains roughly 10,000–11,000 homes and said even a small share of noncompliance produces many uncollected piles citywide. Chandler said the company would continue proactive outreach and follow up with the city on data about open tickets and routing options. Council asked staff and Waste Management to return with cost estimates for a hybrid routed clam-truck service and to keep pursuing systems fixes (knowledge-base dispatch dates) and customer-service responsiveness.

City staff said code enforcement has been using door-hanger-style notices to residents with piles to encourage them to call Waste Management or remove debris, and acknowledged the issue will require a multi-pronged response by the company and the city.

Council members and Waste Management commissioners agreed to continue coordination and to bring a recommendation back to council if a hybrid routing option and associated cost were feasible.

The discussion did not include a formal council vote or ordinance amendment; council directed staff to continue working with Waste Management and asked the company to provide a schedule for system corrections and an estimate of costs for a routed pickup option.