Friendswood city staff told the City Council Sept. 8 that a recent survey of municipal garbage and recycling services found widespread satisfaction with current service levels and that council faces a choice between issuing a new request for proposals (RFP) or negotiating a contract extension with the incumbent hauler, Waste Connections.
City Manager Murad Kabiri summarized the outreach: postcards were mailed to 14,309 property owners with a QR code linking to the survey; the city received nearly 1,800 unique property responses (about a 13% response rate) and 801 short-form comments. The survey was tied to the city's GIS database so each property yielded one unique response.
Survey results cited by staff included roughly 82% satisfaction for trash service (satisfied or somewhat satisfied), about two-thirds satisfied with recycling availability and materials collected, and about 92% satisfied with heavy trash pickup. Respondents prioritized (1) twice-weekly trash pickup, (2) curbside recycling rather than centralized drop-off, and (3) continuing heavy trash pickup.
Kabiri said Waste Connections had offered a three-year contract extension during prior negotiations that would maintain twice-weekly trash, weekly recycling and weekly heavy haul service and would include an estimated $2-per-month increase per account. Council members criticized past problems with pickups in growth areas (the Wednesday service area), but several said they preferred to keep the current vendor and negotiate terms rather than risk an RFP that could produce higher costs or changed service levels.
Matt Lowe, Waste Connections district manager, was present for council questions. Council members asked staff to address service reliability guarantees as part of any extension negotiations and to include mechanisms for corrective action if missed pickups recur. The council did not record a formal motion to issue an RFP or to finalize a contract extension at this meeting; staff sought direction and public feedback will remain part of the record.