Ocala’s $1.1 million garbage compactor purchase passes despite opposition from private sector

The Ocala City Council approved the purchase of trash compactors and trucks to serve the downtown area, a shortfall that multiple private companies argued they should have been contracted to take over instead.

The $1,129,587 purchase will allow the city to acquire three solid waste roll-off compactor trucks and 10 compactor units, said Public Works Director Darren Park.

“This item will allow us to … provide efficient and cost-effective service in the downtown area that has become increasingly dense and continues to grow,” Park said. “It’ll also enable us to provide collection at future multifamily complexes that are requesting compactors, which we’ve seen an uptick in as of the last couple of years.”

The city purchased three trucks from Cumberland International Trucks for $616,350, four compactors from Tampa Crane Body for $209,806 and six other compactors from Tampa Crane Body for $303,429.

Representatives from local trash hauling and compacting companies disagreed with the city’s decision to purchase the items, saying that if the city has a shortcoming in its ability to collect garbage, then it should hire private companies to do the work.

John Paglia, CEO of Florida Express Waste and Recycling, told council that one of Councilmember Barry Mansfield’s clients through Cullison-Wright Construction came to Paglia saying that he wanted a trash compactor for the apartment complex he owns rather than relying on the city for trash pickup.

“(Mansfield’s) client came into the city to build an apartment complex. They don’t want city Dumpsters. They want a roll-off compactor,” Paglia said.

Paglia said that roll-off services are unique, noting the city should rely on Florida Express for that work rather than purchasing their own machinery to do so.

For many downtown businesses and apartment complexes, clients have expressed interests in having trash compactors on site rather than Dumpsters so that trash can be more quickly eliminated and not cause smell or disruption in busy areas.

Paglia said that for Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille downtown, the late owner Kirk Boone asked Florida Express to request a permit to place a trash compactor there, but the city denied their request.

Three years later, Paglia believes it to be unfair that the city is now purchasing its own equipment to compact trash when his business and others recognized the need for compactors downtown long ago.

“I think it’s unfair. I think you guys ought to hear the private (sector) and listen to what we have to offer,” Paglia said. “I think you guys are going to be impressed and surprised what we could offer and allocate those million dollars someplace else.”

City Manager Pete Lee assured the companies that the city does not intend to interfere with existing contracts with businesses and private sector trash disposal companies but that purchasing the compactors and trucks was a necessity and could not be put off long enough to revise the city’s ordinances.

The council agreed that a workshop should be scheduled to discuss the issue in depth for any issues that may come up in the future.

Councilmembers Kristen Dreyer, Ire Bethea, Jay Musleh and Mansfield voted in support of the purchase, with Jim Hilty dissenting.

Hilty suggested the city start by purchasing only one or a few compactors as he felt that purchasing 10 would be an intrusion into the private sector’s business.

“If we get spares, it’s because we want to be expanding and getting into other people’s business,” Hilty said. “Those people are the taxpayers that pay our salaries. If we start cutting into them, we start losing revenue.”

Lee reiterated that in the downtown area, efficiency is key and that the city relies on its own Public Works Department to perform cleanup operations quickly, such as cleaning up after large events before businesses open the next day.

The city’s statutes say its own departments will take care of trash disposal and that contracts with the private sector will only be considered when the city is unable to effectively keep up certain operations, Lee said.

“I think that our Public Works Department, our Sanitation Department, has done a great job,” Lee said. “We will not pursue any contract that anyone has in place. We’re not going to do that. The start of this will be downtown.”