The City of Fishers took another step toward a city-wide trash collection service Tuesday morning when the Board of Public Works and Safety unanimously voted in favor of the final version of a 10-year trash collection service agreement with Republic.  The board consists of the mayor and his two appointees, Jeff Lantz and Jason Meyer.

The board held a public hearing on the proposed contract with Republic earlier in August.  The pact is now in its final form and that is the version approved by the board Tuesday.

Board members discussed what happens if local residents are not happy with the service provided by Republic.  City Attorney Lindsey Bennett said there is language in the contract if Republic fails to perform under the provisions of the agreement, if the city “reasonably believes” the vendor is not capable of providing the services.  There is also an opening to to terminate the pact at the 7-year mark of the 10-year contract.

The earliest start date for the city-wide trash collection service is January 15, but Mayor Scott Fadness made this clear – “We don’t start until we can deliver the services.”

The mayor had asked his Chief of Staff Jordin Alexander to look into surrounding communities on how they handle billing and customer service costs.  She said McCordsville has recently taken trash collection contract bids and vendors are charging $2 per month, with annual inflation adjustments.  “Our $2 admin fee seems on par with what the market is,” Alexander told the board.

Craig Lutz of Republic Services told the board his firm is ramping-up for the contract with Fishers.  Republic has been serving the greater Indianapolis area for 30 years.

The company is looking at current routes running in this area.  “There will be change and there will be adjustments we go through,” said Lutz.

Fadness emphasized that both the city and Republic have a lot of work ahead of them to get this rollout right.  He cited a recent conversation with a local Homeowners Association (HOA) that told him their trash collection costs have risen 70% over the past three contracts.

The mayor says he will ”look forward to saving hopefully a whole lot of money for our residents here in the City of Fishers.”

This action by the Board of Works is final approval of the contract language.  The City Council plans a public hearing and vote September 9, but that is limited to the rate schedule for this contract with Republic.

The contract language is available at this link.

For more details on the trash collection service, use this link.