Red River Plans to Pull Out of Contract: Company Gives Cameron County 120 Days Notice

By Allen Essex, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

May 6–HARLINGEN — Red River Service Corp. has given Cameron County 120 days notice that it will pull out of a contract to collect trash and brush in rural areas.

The company intends to continue serving customers who want its services and who will pay for it, spokesman David L. Cooper said.

Citing the county’s inability to enforce its order that all rural residents use the service and the lack of any means to require payment, Red River said it cannot profitably serve the unincorporated areas of the county under its contract.

Cameron County Commissioners Court will consider two measures on its agenda today that may clear the way to advertise for new proposals from trash collection companies.

County Judge Carlos Cascos said Monday that county officials intend to continue requiring rural residents to have trash collection service, but may try to devise a system that requires rural residents to notify the county which company will pick up their trash.

“We want people to take responsibility for their trash collection service,” Cascos said. “How we’re going to enforce that, I don’t know yet.”

The current system was devised during County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa’s administration and is flawed because county officials rushed to put it into operation, Cascos said. Red River officials weren’t ready to begin collection service, Cascos said.

“We’re going to take our time and think it out and do it right this time,” Cascos said.

Red River did not have new equipment available when its service was supposed to begin in June, 2005, delaying the program’s launch until August of that year, county officials said at the time.

Cameron County was one of the first Texas counties to begin mandatory trash pickup, after years of attempting to crack down on illegal dumping, county officials said.

Some rural customers were outraged that the county was trying to force them to end trash pickup from other companies such as BFI or Waste Management, while other rural residents wanted to continue burning or burying trash on their property.

Some rural water companies refused to collect for trash service through water bills or to shut off water service for non-payment of trash pickup.

Red River will continue to collect trash and brush service for cities with which it has contracts and for individual customers who wish to continue the service, Cooper said.

“On April 30, Red River exercised its contract right to give 120-day notification to end its contract with the county on Aug. 31, 2008,” Red River said in a news release.

“This decision was made after much deliberation of the conditions affecting the company’s performance for waste collection in Cameron County. … Red River’s contract was based on and depended on a greater level of participation througout the county and significantly more reliable and stable payments than what was ever realized,” Red River officials said. ” Red River regrets having to take this necessary action.”

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Copyright (c) 2008, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

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