Commissioners debate 100% service goal as county tightens bulk-pickup tracking

Clay County commissioners questioned whether a 100% on‑time residential solid‑waste service target is realistic and directed staff to develop a more informative metric set, including confirmed misses, weekly/monthly breakdowns and bulk‑pickup counts.

Staff said earlier figures show the county reached high on‑time performance in recent months. "We reached 99.637% on time collection," a county solid-waste staff member reported while noting that figure included transition months and that current year‑to‑date performance is higher.

Commissioners argued that an absolute 100% target sets the county up for failure and recommended tracking a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly allowable misses metric or reporting absolute counts rather than a blunt percentage. Staff agreed to return with a metric proposal that includes both percentage and absolute thresholds.

On bulk pickup, staff said the contractor (referred to by its contract shorthand FCC) schedules bulk collections "no later than the next week" after a call and that the county can report counts of bulk pickups; staff said they will check whether contractor confirmations differ depending on whether residents call by phone or use an online portal.

County staff also described a verification process: confirmed misses are only counted when the contractor’s system or camera footage validates a missed collection. Commissioners asked for additional transparency on contractor confirmations and the county’s spot checks of the complaint-tracking system (Trackies).

Next steps: staff will add bulk‑pickup counts to the KPI set, attempt to provide time‑to‑pickup reports if contractor data permit, and return with a refined definition for on‑time service reporting.