ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Trash bins are piling up across St. Johns County and neighbors say the county’s new trash hauler hasn’t picked up their garbage for days. Now, county commissioners are taking action.
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The trash pickup problems started after St. John County announced its new trash hauler, FCC Environmental Services which submitted the lowest bid for trash pickup.
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The County Commission approved a seven-year, $28 million contract with the company.
“It’s been an unmitigated disaster,” St. Johns County Commissioner Sarah Arnold said.
County commissioners like Sarah Arnold are furious with the new hauler. She said her emails were flooded with residents complaining that their trash had not been picked up after the company launched the service on Aug. 1.
“It’s frustrating, and it’s been really poor service to this point,” neighbor William Roberts said.
“FCC had months to prepare for this starting August 1st,” Arnold said.
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Arnold said she was given reason after reason of why this company hasn’t provided service.
“We heard everything from lack of driver, trucks, to GPS failures,” Arnold said.
So, commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to issue a notice of default to the FCC. Arnold broke down what this means for the company.
“It means they have seven days to fix this problem with the clock starting yesterday. They have not remedied the situation in that time. We will be holding them accountable to the highest letter of the law.”
“It should have been a better performance. We are looking for them to step you to the plate,” Roberts said.
Arnold mentioned FCC Environmental Services claims 2,000 homes were missed starting Thursday, but she doesn’t believe anything they’re saying.
Arnold adds the county had to use 900-man hours of employees from its Road and Bridge Division to pick up residents’ trash. The county is seeking to be reimbursed for the work those employees had to put in.
Action News reached out to the company but haven’t receive a response at this time.
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