Tuesday Garbage Discussion: To Sue Or Not?
After giving Republic Services nearly four months to work out a mediated settlement on disputes with the county over compliance with their $13 million-a-year, seven-year contract Polk commissioners...
View ArticlePolk Purpose For Law Firm Hire Now Clearer
County commissioners quietly voted recently to hire a Tampa law firm to assist the county’s lawyers in dealing with “solid waste policy.” The work went to delaParte & Gilbert, a Tampa law firm...
View ArticleLandfill Moratorium Discussion To Resume Monday
Three and a half months after the Polk County Commission imposed a temporary moratorium on processing applications for new landfills and other solid waste facilities, they’re scheduled to get an...
View ArticleGarbage Refunds Response Low; Nearly Half A Million$ Paid
Polk County’s garbage refund effort continues to plug along. As of June 28, 2,183 checks totaling $476,601 had been issued. County officials have sent 5,859 letters to current or former Polk County...
View ArticleDon’t Forget Community Cleanup Saturday In Inwood, Jan-Phyl
Residents in the Inwood and Jan-Phyl communities in the Winter Haven suburbs have a chance to get rid of unwanted construction debris and other non-hazardous materials Saturday morning. The effort is...
View ArticleQuite A Year In County Government
Plenty of stuff happened at the county seat in Bartow in 2013 . In case you missed it, here’s a quick look back. ENJOY LAKES MORE As the year opened in January, future improvements of Polk’s...
View ArticlePolk Hires Brandon For Landfill Case
Polk County officials have hired veteran land-use lawyer Jack Brandon to represent Polk County in an upcoming zoning case involving the expansion of the North Central Landfill. The case will have to...
View ArticleRepublic, County At Odds On Yard Trash
It seemed a few weeks ago that Polk County commissioners made it clear they didn’t want to make any changes in the way yard trash pickups are handled in unincorporated Polk County, but the folks at...
View ArticleSome Polk Recycling Customers Want Better Service
Today’s article on Polk’s lagging recycling rate touched a nerve with a number of readers. The recurring comment was that they’d recycle more if they had carts. That’s because they’d have more room and...
View ArticlePolk Garbage Audit Moving Ahead
County staffers are working on a draft of the proposal that should be on the street soon to select someone to audit compliance with the county’s contract with Republic Services. The County Commission...
View ArticleSome Residents Still Confused About Yard Trash Rules
Polk County’s annual garbage assessment is based on disposal of an average of 500 pounds a year, not 500 pounds a week or 500 pounds a month. Most of us have no problems with that. We bag our waste or...
View ArticleCommissioners Getting Ready For Next Garbage Contract
Polk County commissioners will get a briefing Tuesday after the regular morning session on trends in the waste industry, according to press release that went out Monday. I asked County Manager Jim...
View ArticlePublic Will Be Asked To Weigh In On Next Polk Garbage Contract
Polk County commissioners have agreed to hold public meetings–the number, dates and locations are undetermined–in preparation for sending a request for proposals for the next residential garbage...
View ArticleFuture Garbage Service Changes Topic Of Meetings
If you have ideas of how often you want yard waste and recycling picked up, you might want to attend either of two upcoming public meetings regarding proposed changes in residential garbage service in...
View ArticleGot Views On Future County Garbage Service? Send Them In
The Polk County Commission is holding another public meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Lake Eva Banquet Hall in Haines City to get the public’s view on what kind of garbage service they’re expecting in the...
View ArticleGarbage Customer Survey: Make Recycling Easier
Polk County officials should seriously consider replacing recycling bins with recycling carts. That theme was repeated often in the comments attached to the bottom of responses to a recent online...
View ArticleWhat Lack Of Bulk Pickup Looks Like In One Neighborhood
Tuesday’s Polk County Commission workshop focused on an issue that affects many neighborhoods.That is the lack of collection of yard waste and bulk waste, which is waste that doesn’t normally go into...
View ArticleAs Polk garbage decision approaches, lobbying continues
The Polk County Commission is scheduled next month to finalize what will be contained in the request for proposals that will be issued to seek firms to contract to provide residential garbage service...
View ArticleNew Polk garbage contract will bring change to customers, too
The Polk County Commission will get their homework assignment next Tuesday in the form of the responses from the companies that are competing to get a contract for residential garbage collection in...
View ArticleGarbage contract draws possible protest
Representatives of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and WCA of Florida have filed a notice with Polk County that they plan to protest the bid award for the curbside garbage contract. The County...
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