The Ponte Vedra Municipal Service District Board of Trustees weighed in on the ongoing garbage collection crisis that is taking place following issues with FCC Environmental Services since taking over in St. Johns County on Aug. 1.
“It’s really been a rough start to the contract,” MSD Chairman Al Hollon said during the MSD meeting on Aug. 12.
St. Johns County Public Works Director Greg Caldwell attended the meeting and responded to questions the board had.
“I issued them a notice of default this past week stating that they had seven days to provide us an action item list or cure everything,” Caldwell said. “They’re better today than they were yesterday, and they were better yesterday than they were the day before, but we know we’re not anywhere where we want to be.”
Trustee Kitty Switkes and Hollon both stated that they have run into confusion when dealing with FCC and its customer service.
“I called Friday, and they said our pickup was Friday, and then I called today, and they said my pickup for yard trash and recycling is Wednesday, so I don’t know what to tell my neighbors because they’re changing it every time I call.”
Caldwell stated that the county is meeting with FCC’s senior leadership each day to go over the routes and the data collected to continue to strive to figure out all the issues faced.
“I worked with the supervisor at Republic (Services, the previous contracted collector) for several years, who was overseeing everything up here, and I happened to talk to him on Friday and he said, ‘you can’t serve the MSD on a three-day schedule,’ and that’s what they’ve been doing,” Hollon said.
If the issues are not corrected, the option of looking into breaking the contract and getting another company to service the county has been discussed.
However, Caldwell stated that route would also have challenges that would come with it.
“That would compound the issue as well, so our hope is that FCC makes it right because continuing this cycle is not good for anybody,” Caldwell said. “Hopefully they can right the ship.”
Caldwell also mentioned to the board the county’s proposal to mill and resurface roughly one mile of the southern portion of San Juan Drive with an expected completion date by September 30.
“Once we start the process and get the contractor on board, it would probably be about a day maybe two days to mill it and then we’ll start resurfacing it,” Caldwell said.
According to Caldwell, the county looking into widening San Juan Drive by an additional foot on either side because it currently stands at 20-feet in width with one section that may stretch to 21 feet.
“We had heard overtime about the speeding that has occurred on San Juan Drive,” Caldwell said. “We feel that if we widen it by any means, it would just increase the ability for people to feel comfortable on the road and that usually increases the speed their going. I know that’s the last thing anyone wants up in this area.”
Trustee Mickey White asked Caldwell about any future plans to resurface the Miranda Road Bridge and mentioned the county’s bridge program.
“We work with the DOT to inspect all the bridges out there, and I believe in the next couple of years we have funds to really look at the Miranda Bridge and see really what all improvements are necessary there,” Caldwell said. “I think Duane (Kent, county engineer) is really looking into spearheading that.”
