Tuesday, May 19, 2009

In response to what I consider unfair and inaccurate comments by The Citizen's Sunday editorial.

Perhaps you should consider a board with a makeup that lives beyond Cow Key Channel if they are going to comment and recommend to other communities within the county.

And would you comment on which "no-bid" contract(s) unseated two commissioners in November?

What the County Commission will be voting on is a contract extension that is allowed within the existing contract to incentivize the service provider for exemplary service.

The cost to the residents for curbside pickup has remained constant for 13 years. The proposed increase is up for discussion and vote at a later date for the commission.

The $292 that the county collects does not all go to the service provider -- $197.88 and $186.84 (Waste Management and Marathon Garbage) goes to the service providers respectively. The remainder goes to the county, which generates a restricted fund balance for administration, emergency cleanup and other ancillary costs. And yes, the service providers have built within the contract a CPI increase, as do almost all similar contracts. However, with unprecedented inflation of fuel, insurance, labor costs and expenses to the county over those 13 years, an unsustainable fund balance exists.

The new proposed rate would equal less than a 2 percent increase annually over that 13-year time span. The county has gone from a 2 percent to a 5 percent franchise fee, generating additional funds for a recycling focus.

If you think technology should have produced cheaper rates, then ask that question to the municipalities who have signed contracts over the last 13 years for more money than the county has contracted for. Marathon, Key Colony Beach and Layton have all stated that they would renegotiate a new contract with Marathon Garbage Service if the county were to go out for an RFP. Eleven thousand units would then be excluded from the existing economy of scale, which contributes to our fund balance. And don't you think good partners should be rewarded in the best interest of the partnership. Waste Management has gone the extra mile on more than one occasion with contract amendments, hurricane cleanups and community cleanups at no charge -- ask Sheriff [Bob] Peryam about the 15th Street clean up at no charge.

There has been a tremendous clandestine effort by a few, most who live in Key West, to dump the county's contract. Why are people who live in Key West and sit on the Editorial Board of the The Citizen lobbying for Bubba? You should know this -- the state attorney does.

Clandestine meetings have been held to set the stage for a major corporation, which has made large political contributions, to move into town -- meetings to transfer control to buddies.

And the Key West Citizen has the audacity to question the veracity of this commission?

As The Citizen correctly pointed out, this contract extension has been on the table for months -- so why at the eleventh hour, before it comes before the board, does this Editorial Board attempt to undermine the extension with misinformation. Why has not the administrator had this contract extension fine-tuned months ago for presentation, as the commission directed him to do? Why has not one recommendation, which may have been rejected by staff, been brought to the commissioners for review.

Why would someone send a memo to the administrator and ask if that was enough "cover" by the article printed in your newspaper ripping the commission for supporting the extension. Why recommend covered pickup containers for the county when in Key West, where all of your Editorial Board lives, they don't have covered containers. Privacy for garbage? Why, in the city, do they charge substantially more for garbage service than in Marathon, Key Colony Beach, Layton and Unincorporated Monroe County -- and you get upset with the county.

Something just doesn't smell right here, and it ain't the garbage?

If Veolia can provide cheaper and better service to unincorporated Monroe, why don't they do it in Islamorada?

Our focus on improving recycling is clear within the proposed contract. I spent a couple of hours with GLEE going over their questions. I feel most, if not all, of their requests were in the contract and any new changes can be addressed in future amendments -- we've done this in the past. We are on our way to vastly improving our recycling efforts. As for Waste Management, who can provide more experts on the issue than them? For sure, it won't be Latitude 24.

If The Citizen's Editorial Board and GLEE are sincere (and I hope they are), why would they not recommend that Key West and the all municipalities join Monroe County in going out for a single RFP, together, at the first opportunity. (They won't because its all about turf and control, not the taxpayer.) You say in your editorial, "this is not criticism." You're right, it is hypocrisy and cheap shots. For me, from an arms-length friend to an arms-length friend, you've been duped into misrepresenting information by people who know not of what they talk. They don't want to go out for RFP -- they want to sole source it to Bubba.

George Neugent is mayor of Monroe County and represents District 2 on the Monroe County Commission. He can be reached at Neugent-George@monroecounty-fl.gov.