Republic Services reports service improvements, outlines rate timeline and recycling changes

Republic Services presented a midyear operational update to the Prineville City Council, saying route consistency and customer response have improved and outlining a timeline for a 2025 rate modification request.

In her opening remarks, Erica Heitzbaum, general manager for Republic Services’ Central Oregon team, said the presentation would cover operational statistics, call center performance, the RMA update and finance. Courtney Voss, Republic’s municipal manager, told the council the company acquired the local business in 2020 and has worked with city staff to address longstanding service issues.

Operations manager Tim Long said the company’s first major step was creating consistent routes and holding drivers accountable when routes were missed. He said Republic is fully staffed “with a plus one” and is now focusing on route efficiency over the next three months. Voss and Long reported a year‑over‑year decline in customer calls reporting missed service, which they said indicates incremental improvement.

A resident described multiple missed pickups over several days and said in‑person visits to Republic’s local office were required to resolve the problem. Republic representatives acknowledged the complaint, apologized and said they review call recordings and take corrective action.

On the call‑center topic, Republic said it uses a consolidated contact center with an “Oregon pod” of 33 agents trained for Oregon’s franchise markets; the company reopened a local office in Prineville so customers can also be served in person. Republic said the local office phone number is a 541 (Oregon) number and that staff will try to better promote that local number. Council members suggested routing callers first to a local line that would overflow to the national call center when busy.

Republic described broader cost drivers that will affect future rates: disposal and recycling costs, labor, truck maintenance (parts costs up about 30% year over year), and fuel. The company said recycling markets have been volatile since 2017 but expects stabilization once Oregon’s recycling reforms (referred to in the presentation as the Recycling Modernization Act, RMA) go into effect July 1, 2025; Republic said local funding flows from that law could take roughly two years to arrive.

Republic told the council it will submit its 2024 financial reports and a rate modification request on or before April 1, 2025. Council review must occur within 60 days of that submission, Republic said, and the company requested a target effective date of July 1, 2025; customer notice would go out on or before June 1, 2025. Republic said more detailed 2024 financials will be presented to council in the coming weeks.

Company officials also described community outreach plans (parade participation, library partnerships, waste‑diversion projects) and said they are monitoring call‑center audio for quality control. They offered to investigate adding a dedicated local telephone number that routes customers first to the local office and then to the consolidated call center when busy, and committed to report back within a month.

Councilmembers and staff asked follow‑up questions about call volumes, the split between city and county service territory, the local office workload and the order of cost drivers; Republic provided responses and committed to return with more detailed financial and rate documents.

Republic emphasized it is legally required to provide financial disclosures as a publicly traded company and said it will make its franchise financial reports available to the city as required by the franchise agreement.