Current contract is up in September, manager says
By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
OXFORD — The Oxford Village Council discussed residential waste hauling during its meeting on Jan. 14, with the village’s manager and attorney saying they wanted to begin reaching out to garbage companies to talk about possibly providing services to the Village of Oxford.
The village’s current garbage contract is up in September, said Village Manager Joe Madore, adding he would like to request information from garbage haulers to see what prices the village could get.
In July, Priority Waste bought out GFL, the village’s former garbage hauler. During the transition, residents’ experienced problems with garbage pickup, and village officials cited communication problems with getting a response from Priority Waste.
In September, Madore told the Leader that the village was getting eight to 10 calls per day about trash. A frequent complaint being that garbage is sitting out longer than expected. Oxford has around 1,100 stops.
“(Priority Waste has) settled into their new role after the asset purchase from GFL. They had some ruffles. Newsworthy ruffles. And I sat through my share of trying to iron those out,” said village attorney Bob Davis. “That’s one thing about waste hauling: it’s great if you never hear about it. The minute you start hearing about it, it’s not good because it’s something that affects peoples’ lives. It can become a big issue, and you really don’t want to get into that position.”
“I think it’s kind of leveled off at this point. But rather than waiting until summertime and putting it out there and seeing where we’re at I’d like to do it sooner rather than later. Maybe even in the next month or two,” Madore said. “There’s fewer and fewer players all the time. There’s still a few locals around, but then there’s some bigger players across metro Detroit and across the state, Waste Management being one of them.”
Davis advised that the village begin the process of talking to companies sooner rather than waiting until the closer to the expiration of the current contract. Garbage companies need time to finalize the contract and order trucks, if necessary, to cover the additional routes.
“It’s really a changing industry,” Davis said. “The number of entities that are responding to RFPs is getting less and less as you know…Joe (Madore) and I were thinking that we could start some dialogue with some smaller companies, the companies that are not getting into the big bids, and see where the market is.”
Davis suggested that the village not send out requests for proposals just yet, but to let him and Madore “start some dialogue” with waste haulers “and see where the market is for us.”
“You’re actually a desirable community for waste collection,” Davis said.
Madore said he would like to reach out to two or three companies and bring information back to the council in February or March before a formal RFP is issued.
The village uses the single waste hauler form of waste collection, with the village council approving waste collection services for one company to pick up garbage, yard waste and recycling from residents’ homes.
Oxford Township voters turned down a ballot proposal in November for the township to switch to a single waste hauler. Township residents contract individually with a waste hauler of their choice.
A contract would cover residential curbside pick-up only, not refuse from apartment complexes or residents in apartments above the buildings downtown.