County Moves Forward to Replace Red River Service
By Allen Essex, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas
May 7–BROWNSVILLE — Cameron County officials passed two measures Tuesday aimed at replacing Red River Service Corp. as the contractor in charge of collecting trash in unincorporated areas.
The embattled company gave notice on April 30 it is pulling out of its contract with the county in 120 days.
Commissioners voted to issue a request for proposals, rather than directly negotiate with interested companies, before awarding a new solid waste service contract. They also voted to exempt from the County Purchasing Act the purchases of and contract for trash and garbage collection service due to health and safety reasons.
County Judge Carlos Cascos said it is very important to fix all the flaws in the original request for proposals issued in 2005 and in the contract that will be awarded to a new company.
Because the county has only 120 days to get a new company in place, there can be no mistakes in hiring a new company, Cascos said.
“We want to make sure we do this right so there won’t be any interruption in service,” Cascos said.
Precinct 3 Commissioner David Garza of San Benito read part of a news release issued this week by Red River that said the company intends to continue serving customers in Cameron County after it ends its county contract in August.
It is urgent for the county to get a new contractor in place by Aug. 31, Garza said. It is important that Red River be replaced by then so rural residents can be required to use the new county contractor, Garza said.
“We went to court with them (Red River) over that issue. Customers can continue to be served by Red River until we can offer and require services from a new county trash collection service,” Garza said.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Edna Tamayo of Harlingen said it is important to fix issues that caused problems with the Red River contract.
“We cannot enforce the billing,” Tamayo said. “There were so many changes (in billing procedures). That will be the biggest challenge.”
When the county started its mandatory trash pickup system, it at first attempted to have rural water districts collect the fees for trash collection, but none of those districts were willing to shut off water service to Red River customers who failed to pay for trash collection service, which is a tool available to cities.
Later customers could pay for trash service at the Red River office, the county tax office or some of the water districts, which resulted in confusion.
Precinct 2 Commissioner John Wood of Brownsville said the county must act quickly to ensure the county trash collection program doesn’t fall apart.
“What would happen if we don’t have a garbage collection system?” Wood asked.
Prior to 2005, rural residents could hire major companies such as BFI, Waste Management or small “mom-and-pop” collection companies or just burn or bury trash and garbage on their own property.
Illegal dumping in rural areas had been rampant for years, resulting in small illegal dumps along county roads and ditches clogged with trash, garbage, old furniture, appliances and tires.
“We need to get back and enforce our illegal dump site regulations,” Tamayo said of a program now under the Sheriff’s Department.
Under that program, deputies investigate illegal dump sites and try to identify the source of the trash and then issue citations that can result in fines.
“I know that when Red River started, as a courtesy, they donated some of their time and cleaned up certain colonias,” Tamayo said.
That program gave the wrong impression that Red River would continue such free cleanup work indefinitely, she said.
“Brush (collection) had been the biggest issue,” Garza said. “Some of the individuals who are interested (in obtaining a contract for) solid waste collection are not interested in brush collection,” he said.
Tamayo, who has a relative employed by Red River, did not participate in a closed-door discussion nor did she vote on any Red River issues, Cascos said.
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