SWA adopts service-area map E, rejects vegetation-amnesty fee and authorizes bids for franchise collection

The Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority voted 7-0 to adopt “Exhibit E” as the service-area map for its upcoming franchise collection contracts, to decline a proposed vegetation-amnesty subscription service, and to authorize staff to issue invitations to bid and related solicitation documents.

Staff described eight map options showing theoretical blended monthly rates if boundaries were changed; those blended figures were modeled from existing unit counts and recent bid prices but were not guarantees of future bid outcomes. Executive Director Dan Pelowitz told the board the modeled rates are reference points only: “We have no idea how [haulers] are going to bid,” he said, urging the board to consider the trade-off between larger service areas and bidder uncertainty.

Exhibit E, the map the board adopted, was the option staff and the Citizens Advisory Committee favored as creating the smallest overall disruption while moving several zones closer to each other to reduce disparities. Commissioners said Exhibit E strikes a compromise between minimizing rate shocks and preserving operational feasibility.

On the vegetation-amnesty program — a one-time annual curbside pickup of up to a 15-cubic-yard pile paid by a small per-unit assessment — staff estimated the cost at about $2 per month per curbside unit and recommended against it. The Citizens Advisory Committee had opposed the amnesty, and the board voted not to add it to the bid package.

The board also approved procurement parameters discussed by staff: SBE (Small Business Enterprise) participation goals of 20% for regular service areas and use of an SBE set-aside area with a 51% minimum for SBE proposers where applicable; dual-stream weekly recycling; automated or semi-automated garbage collection twice weekly; bulk and yard-waste collection standards; and customer-service requirements. Staff said NeoGov will be used for posting and that pre-proposal outreach will include trade associations such as SWANA.

Staff described the expected procurement timeline: put the solicitation on the street soon, collect prices in December, and return to the board for contract awards in February so contractors can prepare to begin service Oct. 1 of the following year. Staff also said the bid documents would allow equipment up to about 10 years old at contract start, relax a prior five-year equipment-age limit, and preserve an index approach (water/sewer index plus a fuel component) for future price adjustments.

Public commenters included hauler representative Joseph Sandorra, who urged the board to retain existing zones to keep rates competitive, and residents who said rate disparities were a burden to working families. The board instructed staff to prepare the solicitation language, including some limited flexibility for creative operational proposals where consistent with minimum bid requirements, and voted to proceed. Mayor Mia Marino moved the authorization; Commissioner Buddy Woodward seconded; the motion carried 7-0.