Sun just keeps rising to new lows

Comment Up

Patti Hamilton, Exec V.P. and
Charles Gusmano, founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems

We have to know who we are partnering with...we found that out the hard way when we got involved with Greater Bay without doing any due diligence or even reading the Contract. Thanks to insurrection on the dais and Vice Mayor Retha Lowe signing the Greater Bay contract initialing every page of the Development Agreement, Ground Lease and Construction Contract, it caused  a series of events that led to a $1.6 million legal settlement. The Commission of Lowe, Burns and Vespo made a grave political and stupid mistake.

But we also found out about Sun Recycling in one of those "deals" even though the city had been warned over and over again by this blogger as well as Lake Worth Media. It was reported to the then Public Works Director who later wanted to become our city manager after Stanton, to the City Manager and to the City Commission. We eventually kicked them out of town too but by that time it was a little late--our landfill was used as a dumping ground when Sun dumped over 6,000 truckloads of questionable construction material on it, some of which was 3.6 or 3.8 feet thick, hauling in material from south Florida construction sites.

For a little background on Sun and Republic:  Back in June 2011, Recycling Today stated that "Southern Waste Systems (SWS), Lantana, Fla., was awarded, through a subcontract agreement with Republic Services, a five-year franchise to provide waste removal services in the city of Lauderhill, Fla. It allows Southern Waste to pick up garbage and bulk materials from 20,000 multi-family residential units within the city limits. In addition, SWS will provide the bulk pickup for 12,500 single-family homes and all commercial roll-off activity will be exclusive to SWS. The deal involves collaboration between Southern Waste Systems and Republic Services, who will be handling the residential and commercial portion of the contract. The contract began on July 1, 2011."

In a news release back then, Charles Gusmano, president of SWS and Sun Recycling, said, “We are really excited about the partnership on this contract with Republic Services and to have city staff and commission support on the collaboration.” The contract will be handled by Sun Disposal, a division of Southern Waste Systems. Tony Badala, general manager of Sun Disposal, says, “It’s our intent to provide the same outstanding service to Lauderhill that’s enjoyed by the other customers and municipalities we service in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.”

Back in 2010, in spite of residents' protests as well as Cara Jennings speaking out against Sun, the PB County Commission voted 5 to 1 with Santamaria dissenting to give Sun an extension of its contract.  The Solid Waste Authority's Staff recommend only a 6 months permit but the County Commission didn't listen to them. The County gave them one year.

Sun knows how to play the political game and continues to give campaign contributions to some in this city.  They say they are a good neighbor. Now Sun Recycling is back in the news because of its  partner, Republic, that was hired by the Solid Waste Authority and PB County to remove garbage in the unincorporated areas of the County. After an investigation by the Inspector General's office for diverting waste to a Broward County subsidiary to avoid the dumping fees here and then followed by an audit, they have been charged with over-billing nine commercial customers by $121,169.

After Sun's contract was not renewed in Lake Worth, the city manager, Susan Stanton, insisted in her June 2010 letter to Mr. Gusmano that Sun's "improvements" to the property, including the work platform, access road and ramp constructed from RSM be removed and the landfill property be restored to its original condition per the Contract. This request has fallen silent and the citizens are still wondering why it was all swept under the rug. We suspected at the time that it would have cost multi-millions to remove all the debris that was dumped on our landfill.

As the City had just as many lawsuits back then as it does today, the mindset started to change about law suits when Lake Worth got in more and more of a financial crunch. Everyone knew they could sue us and walk away favorably as we would roll-over to just the threat of any legal action, cowering in fear. Think billboard blight, one of Clemen's claim to fame.

Is this what happened in the Sun Recycling situation?  Did we capitulate like we did in the Greater Bay suit and justify it by blaming all of the wrong people?  We don't know. It's still under the rug.