Following increased reports of missed trash collections in Fort Worth, city staff are proposing revisions to their $479 million contract with Waste Management that would no longer require the company to hire minority- and women-owned businesses.
The changes, which will come up for a Council vote May 14, would reduce Waste Management’s requirement to subcontract with a minimum of 25% minority businesses to zero. Waste Management requested adjustments to the contract, according to the Council agenda item.
Fort Worth has worked with Waste Management to review data and identify strategies to improve route consistency, increase service levels and improve customer service for residents with disabilities who require carryout service, said environmental services department spokesperson Lola McCartney. Adjusting the terms of the agreement will allow the city to cover more routes and have more options to meet service demands, McCartney said.
The contract amendment stands to impact Fort Worth’s Knight Waste Services, a Black-owned company that has served as the exclusive minority vendor for Waste Management for more than two decades. The business is run by brothers, Marcus Knight and Richard L. Knight, who took over the company from their late father, former Dallas city manager and businessman Richard Knight Jr.
“It’s unsettling to know that the Council is considering action that could ultimately endanger the existence of Knight Waste and our nearly 40 employees and the families they provide for,” Marcus and Richard L. Knight said in a joint statement.
Waste Management did not respond to a request for comment. McCartney said she could not speak to the specifics of Waste Management’s plans for subcontracting with Knight, nor how common it is for the city to waive business equity requirements in its contracts.
The move follows weeks of criticism directed at Knight Waste Services. In a May 7 presentation, Fort Worth’s environmental services director, Cody Whittenburg, said Waste Management and its contractors make about 1.1 million service attempts each month. Between October and March, the city recorded about 1,600 missed collections per month. If Waste Management was meeting industry standards, that number would not exceed 1,100, Whittenburg said.
When complaints of missed trash pickups rose last year, the city gave Waste Management a six-month waiver of its equity requirements so the company could take on some of Knight’s trash collection routes, Whittenburg previously told the Report. That waiver expired May 8.
Since then, city staff reviewed Waste Management’s contract in accordance with Fort Worth’s business equity ordinance and “determined that the marketplace does not support a business equity requirement,” according to the proposal.
City Council member Charlie Lauersdorf has been a vocal proponent of removing the requirements entirely because he believes it will allow Waste Management to take over more routes and improve service for his north Fort Worth constituents. He expects his Council colleagues to support the measure as well, citing Knight’s poor performance.
“They’ve been told time and time again, and they’ve had ample opportunity to improve the service,” Lauersdorf told the Report. “I would say leave the requirement if there were enough (equity) waste disposal companies in the pool of applicants, but there aren’t. There just simply aren’t, and so by keeping that requirement, it’s only shooting us in the foot.”
The Knights said they have had routine meetings with city staff and Waste Management in which they have been communicative about the root causes of issues with service delivery and what measures are being taken to cure those problems.
“Our commitment to service has never wavered, and we acknowledge that at times we’ve not met that commitment,” Marcus and Robert L. Knight said, adding that service has improved recently.
The waste industry as a whole is facing challenges, and to suggest that Knight Waste Services is alone in that regard is a misinterpretation, the Knights said.
“Ultimately, for the city to consider removal of contractual support for (equity) firms would send a disappointing message to the (equity) business community,” they said.
Alex Jimenez, former chairman of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said he thinks Waste Management and city staff should be held accountable for ensuring contractors operate smoothly. He added that he’s worried blaming minority entrepreneurs for any hiccups or glitches and subsequently eliminating the minority business requirement would send a clear message to other minority-owned businesses.
“The relationship between the minority community and the city is divisive. I haven’t seen it this bad in a while,” Jimenez said. “If they did something like this, it would tell the minority community, ‘You don’t mean a thing in this city.’ The divisiveness will get worse.”
Lauersdorf, a combat veteran and Marine Corps reservist, said he has pushed for veteran-owned businesses to get more contracts on the city level. If a veteran-owned company was not providing service up to the city’s standards, he said he would tell the executives the same thing that Knight has been told: If you can’t do what we’re paying you to do, we’re going to go with somebody else.
“Simply being a minority- or woman-owned business doesn’t get somebody a free pass to not provide the service they’re contracted to provide,” Lauersdorf said. “Ultimately, they need to take accountability and they need to take responsibility for their actions.”
Council members discussed changes to the Waste Management contract during executive session April 30. Council members Elizabeth Beck, Gyna Bivens, Alan Blaylock, Michael Crain, Carlos Flores, Macy Hill, Jeanette Martinez, Chris Nettles and Jared Williams were unavailable for comment by the time of publication Monday.
Labor shortages and shrinking profit margins in the waste industry have made it difficult for smaller contractors like Knight to meet service expectations, said Val Familo, a former solid waste contract services administrator for the city. While Waste Management has resources and the ability to hire more workers to address missed collections, Knight does not, she said.
“I kind of feel like they’re being made a scapegoat” for collection issues, Familo said. “They’re really good people to work with. They’re honest. I just feel like it’s so much easier to point the finger at them.”
When other trash contractors were struggling to meet performance expectations, city staff pointed to Knight Waste Services as an example of excellent service, Familo said.
“They were amazing,” Familo said. “And I feel like they could be again, if they’re given the opportunity.”
Waste Management’s contract, which was extended in 2021 without a competitive bid process, is next up for renewal in 2033. In addition to removing equity requirements, the Council will also vote on requirements that allow access to more equipment and create consistent timelines for fixing missed collections across all lines of service, including garbage, recycling, yard and bulk waste, McCartney said.
Reporter Cecilia Lenzen contributed reporting.
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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