From:
To: Mary Gourley; [email protected]
Subject: Time for a change from Recology
Date: Monday, January 6, 2025 3:57:33 PM
Dear council members and Assistant City Manager Gourley, I don’t usually make any public comment on agenda items, but there seems to be a lot of discussion and comment on the awarding of the garbage contract. As I sat here and read through the numerous comments, I can only ask myself if people were asked to submit these comments. Some of the emails sound almost the same, as if someone sent them what to say. I also spoke to a friend of mine who owns a local business, and he told me that he and a bunch of other businesses were “notified through email” about the increase in costs if SCRR is chosen. I could be wrong, but if this came from Recology, or the Chairperson of the Commerce (who works for Recology), this is a terrible way to do business. Recology already got into big trouble in San Francisco for bribing the Public Works Director, and then knowingly overcharging their customers.
Has everyone been living under a rock? Recology has horrible service. The wait times for customer service are excruciating, and you must go through a phone tree. Only certain representatives can take care of certain things. Furthermore, has anyone not seen the cans knocked on the ground from the drivers throughout the city? When a can is missed, it is not picked up sometimes for days, and that is after waiting on hold for an hour just to get a customer service representative on the line.
While I do not live in Windsor, I have many friends that do and spend a lot of time there.
Windsor is clean, there aren’t carts laying all over the ground, and everyone I know is happy with SCRR. So many people are saying some crazy accusations that are so absurd and false. I saw that some Yelp snapshots of SCRR from 2018 were sent in. I took it upon myself and checked Recology’s Yelp reviews. They have all mostly negative reviews, and I would encourage the council to review these as well.
Recology is not the right choice for Sebastopol. Rates are going to rise with both vendors, but it sounds like we will get more bang for our buck from SCRR. As the old say goes, hiring the cheapest contractor isn’t going to give you the best work. Recology lost fair and square. They had a year to try to get a new contract, and our council determined it needed to go out to bid. I commend the hard work of the council members, but I am confident that with time, we will all grow to like and appreciate SCRR, that is if the right decision is made and you award the winner the contract.
Thank you for your time.
Michelle