ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Corey Gwinn collects trash in Swampscott.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
Life could soon become messy for several North Shore communities.
Officials from several municipalities were stunned after being informed that Gloucester-based Hiltz Waste Disposal will stop collecting trash at the end of September.
“I was very surprised,” said Thomas Younger, Swampscott town administrator. “It came out of the blue. I’ve never, that I can recall in my history, had a trash service terminated mid-contract.”
As a result, Swampscott, Hamilton and Wenham are rushing to find a new contractor. While the trash disposal company continues to honor its contracts in Marblehead and Manchester-by-the-Sea, officials are weighing their options. Gloucester, the largest municipality in the Hiltz deal, recently terminated its contract, a little more than a month into its new five-year deal. The city was on the hook for $1.1 million this year, in a contract that was scheduled to end in 2021.
Swampscott has used Hiltz for 10 years and is in the midst of a four-year deal, which was set to end in 2018. This year, the town is paying $612,000 for the services, and the cost increases by about $12,000 each year, said Jeff Vaughan, Swampscott director of public health. The town was notified last week that it would soon be left without a trash collection service.
Hiltz did not return a call or email seeking comment.
But in a letter to Swampscott, Hiltz wrote that they could not meet their financial obligation, Vaughan said. Younger said the company had recently lost its performance bond, which is issued to guarantee completion of a project by a contractor.
Part of the surprise, Younger said, is that before the announcement, the company’s trash service has been “exemplary.” Now, the scramble to find a new trash collector is on. On Monday, Vaughan is scheduled to meet with the town’s procurement officer, to request quotes from various companies.
Town officials said they would like to see if Hiltz would stay on the job until year’s end or the fiscal year that ends in June of next year.
“We’re leaving the door open,” Vaughan said.
Another option being floated in Swampscott is entering a new deal with Hamilton and Wenham, towns that share trash collection services and have also seen their trash contracts terminated, Younger said.
But the option may not be feasible because Swampscott is further down south from the abutting towns, Younger said.
Hamilton Town Manager Michael Lombardo said before being notified Hiltz was terminating service, the town was in the final year of its contract, set to expire next June. Hamilton had been paying $255,000, with Wenham pitching in about $177,000 in the shared deal.
Lombardo said the announcement was “completely out of the blue,” and ceasing service in the middle of a contract is “highly unusual.” To find a new company, the two towns will go through a bid process next week, and expects to have a quick turn-around, with hopes that a new service will be in place by October.
In Marblehead, Town Administrator John McGinn has not received a termination notice, but said “we’ll obviously keep a close eye on it.” He is planning to discuss the town’s options with Andrew Petty, director of public health, because any decision on trash collection service is up to them, he added. The town is paying $764,488 in a deal that expires in June 2018.
“Hiltz has been our trash hauler for many years,” McGinn said. “Right now, we have a valid contract. Obviously, we’ll be discussing what’s going on with other communities … Obviously, we’re concerned with what’s going on with Hiltz and we’ll be discussing it.”
Manchester Town Administrator Gregory Federspiel has also not received a termination letter. He said he’s talking with other communities about what they’re doing. The town is in the third year of a five-year contract and pays about $244,000. He hopes to have a decision from Hiltz next week, but is looking at other companies.
“I need to see what my options might be,” he said. “We’ve started to make some initial inquiries and will be continuing that.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.