Officials in Lee County are not happy with the way the first month of automatic waste pickup has gone in Lehigh Acres.
The county has documented over a thousand cases already where Progressive Waste Solutions has not fulfilled their new contract. And now the County wants some of their money back.
In documents Lehigh Acres Gazette has obtained, Lee County is ready to fine the company over $375,000 and put the company on notice: Pick up the trash or the county void that 7 year, $65 million deal to service the eastern part of Lee County which includes Lehigh Acres
On October 16, just 11 days after service started, Lee County told Progressive Waste Solutions their performance was substandard, and that these failures were happening daily.
And on Monday, the county delivered a letter outlining close to 1,100 incidents since October 5, and that the county would be fining them $375,000.
“That’s inexcusable. You just can’t have that. Trash pickup is trash pickup. The health and safety of your citizens is at stake,” said Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann, who’s district the area falls in.
“They didn’t do their homework apparently because they weren’t ready,” said Mann.
Progressive Waste Solutions released a statement: “We have made steady progress and measurable improvements towards returning to the service levels that we have provided prior to the implementation of this new system, and will work tirelessly until we meet all expectations.”
“Ultimately we can cancel the contract if it’s not up to our standards,” said Mann.
Progressive Waste Solutions will be meeting with the Lee County officials by the November 6.
If that money is recouped, it would go back into the solid waste fund.