Residents given no warning of waste collection change

CRESTVIEW — Residents on Cassady Lane recently saw an unexpected change to their trash service.

Resident Caroline Miller said her waste was being collected by Okaloosa County’s waste company, Waste Management, until April 6 when the bins were picked up without notice.

“I called the number on my bill and spoke with a county representative with Waste Management and said ‘Hey our bins were picked up. What’s going on?’” said Miller. “He said the county and city got together. A couple weeks ago was the time frame he gave, and they decided that services for garbage were going to be through the city, not the county.”

Jason Autrey, director of Okaloosa County Public Works, said a mistake was made regarding provider services.

“There was an error on who was providing the service and it wasn’t discovered until recently,” Autrey said. “It was brought to the city of Crestview’s attention and there was a coordinated effort between our staff, their staff and our vendors to make the change.

“At the end of the day, there wasn’t good communication to the residents,” Autrey added.

The neighborhood will now be serviced by the city’s waste company, Waste Pro.

“It was my understanding when we moved into this house that we lived just outside of the city limits, hence why we were paying the county for services,” Miller said.

Miller called the city to find out why the decision was made and no warning was given. She said she spoke with someone in the billing department.

“She said that as it turns out, we are in the city limits and the county was outside of their rights servicing us for garbage and that they were in the wrong,” Miller said. “I told her I really don’t care; I really don’t. What bothers me is we weren’t given any heads up by anybody.”

Miller said she emailed Wayne Steele, Director of Public Services for the city, regarding her frustration with the lack of communication and how the change was handled.

Steele replied to her email saying the city became aware of the issue on April 6.

When asked about the way the change was handled, Steele said the city had "asked that they (county officials) please contact the residents and let them know what occurred and a mistake had been made. We requested a grace period and asked to make customers aware of the change before they discontinued their service.”

“I was disappointed to find out about it,” Steele added.

Miller said new bins arrived about a week and a half later, and the cost of waste service went from $10 to $26 per month, along with a $60 deposit for the new service.

“It’s one of those things where we just don’t have a choice and that to me is just so wrong,” Miller said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Residents given no warning of waste collection change