TO: The Solid Waste Disposal District Board of Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
THROUGH: Sean C. Lieske, Director of Utility Services
FROM: Himanshu H. Mehta, PE, Managing Director, Solid Waste Disposal District (SWDD)
DATE: November 25, 2025
SUBJECT: Second Amendment to Solid Waste and Recyclables Collection Franchise Agreement between SWDD and Waste Management, Inc. of Florida
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BACKGROUND
On July 2, 2024, the Indian River County (IRC) Solid Waste Disposal District (SWDD) approved the Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Franchise Agreement (Agreement) between SWDD and Waste Management, Inc. of Florida (WM).
On December 17, 2024, the SWDD Board approved the First Amendment to the Franchise Agreement providing clarifications and reduction in certain fees to residential, multi-family and commercial customers.
June 17, 2025, the SWDD Board approved staff recommendation to approve the implementation of an earlier cart swap program and to allow the Contract Manager to grant yard waste cart delivery and service exemption to Homeowner’s Association (HOA's) and Condominium Owners Associations (COA's), within Unincorporated IRC with direction to staff and the County Attorney’s office to return to ratify an amended Agreement for these approved changes.
The purpose of this agenda item is to amend the Franchise Agreement to provide further clarifications and to accept certain negotiations that enhance and provide an additional reduction in certain fees to our residential, multi-family and commercial customers.
ANALYSIS
The following highlight the primary changes within the Second Amendment.
Yard Waste Cart Exemptions
The original franchise agreement required that a 95-gallon yard waste cart be delivered to every curbside service resident within Unincorporated IRC; however, based on requests from numerous HOA's, COA's and Property Owner's Associations (POA's) that do not allow curbside yard waste collection, the SWDD Board directed the Contract Manager to grant exemptions to communities that agree in writing to certain provisions. Overall, it is estimated that less than 50 communities totaling less than 5,000 residents requested and received the carted yard waste exemption. These communities have acknowledged that their residents are paying for the yard waste services and that the franchise hauler is being fully compensated by SWDD. They have further acknowledged that this exemption is binding for the entire community for the first five (5) year term and any subsequent approved terms of the Franchise Agreement. In return, WM has agreed to waive the one-time $100 fee per cart and distribution for an equal number of additional yard waste carts to those residents in Unincorporated IRC that wish to have an additional yard waste cart and agree to pay the extra $120 per year ($10 per month) per cart fee directly to WM. This offer is good for one year thru September 30, 2026 or until the total number of yard carts matching the number of exempt homes is reached, whichever comes first.
Standardized Carts and Cart Swaps
To address the issue of delivery of standardized carts (65-gallon recycling, 95-gallon yard waste and trash carts) and the subsequent request for cart swaps starting on January 2, 2026, staff and WM have agreed to initiate the roll cart size swap program earlier by WM beginning to accept and process resident requests for recycling and trash roll cart size changes starting on October 1, 2025. This is the best compromise that can be achieved at this time as all the standard cart sizes have been manufactured and the recycling cart deliveries have started as of June 2, 2025. Please note, there is no alternative cart size option for the 95-gallon yard waste cart as the current service level of 4 cubic yards per week is being reduced to 1 cubic yard per week.
In return for the earlier start, WM has requested that IRC apply a dollar-for-dollar credit for cart swap expenses against Administrative Charges beginning October 1, 2025, until the full value of the cart swap costs has been credited. Staff support this approach as it does not increase the cost for our residents.
Supplemental Fees
Unlike the previous franchise agreement, the current franchise agreement solicitation process and subsequently the current agreement included certain "Supplemental Fees" that WM could charge their multi-family and commercial customers. The overall intent was that these fees would only apply to those customers that wanted the specific a la carte services such as opening and closing gates or rolling out and returning the dumpster. During the solicitation evaluation process, staff and our consultant did not fully comprehend the implementation of the "Supplemental Fees" and as a result we did not present to the SWDD Board the full impact that these supplemental fees would have on our customers.
Once WM started issuing the new invoices to multi-family and commercial customers that had the new supplemental fees, it quickly became evident from the number of phone calls and emails from communities and local businesses that not only were they upset with the dramatic increase in their collection fees; however, these supplemental fees were in some cases higher than the actual collection cost. In reviewing the competitive pricing results, WM's commercial rates did increase by 93% ($5.58 per cubic yard to $10.79 per cubic yard); however, there were two companies that were lower ($9.42 and $10.06 per cubic yard) and two other companies that were higher ($11.88 and $12.49 per cubic yard).
Staff had several meetings with WM including a final negotiations meeting with the County Administrator. As a result, WM agreed to completely remove the recycling cart roll-out fee for multi-family communities, agreed to reduce the opening and closing of doors and gate fees to "per month cost" rather than " per event cost" as well as cap the total cost to 5 or more gates. At the direction of the County Administrator, WM has also agreed to obtain approval in writing from each of their customers that they want the supplemental fees and if the customer does want these services than the WM will provide a full rebate back to October 2025.
The Contract Manager accepted these reductions and authorized WM to implement them starting the November 2025 invoice period. As a result, our multi-family communities and local businesses have seen reduction in their new invoices.
Other Changes
Exhibit 1 with the updated in its entirety to include the changes in the First Amendment and the Second Amendment. Also, Exhibit 8 for Recycling at Government buildings and facilities was updated to reflect that 95-gallon recycling carts will be provided.
BUDGETARY IMPACT
This item has no budgetary impact.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIONS
On December 17, 2024, the SWDD Board approved Amendment No. 1 to the Agreement to clarify certain definitions and the self-hauling provision, provide 95-gallon recycling carts to multi-family communities, gravity locks for multi-family and commercial customers was clarified and WM was authorized to implement their CLEAN program, yard waste cart purchase, delivery and service exemption was granted to certain communities within the Town of Indian River Shores, an exemption was granted to Blue Cypress Fishing Club, and a nine-month grace period was provided for residents that purchased a second garbage cart. As part of this process, these changes have been translated into a reduction in certain fees for our residential, multi-family and commercial customers.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Infrastructure
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Solid Waste Disposal District (SWDD) Board approve the Second Amendment to the Solid Waste ad Recycling Collection Franchise Agreement between SWDD and WM; and authorize the Chairman to execute the agreement.