Solid Waste Collection Contract Award
At a glance
Based on human-made captions; names, votes and numbers may be misspelled or garbled.
- What: the award of the citywide solid waste, recycling, horticulture and bulk collection franchise (about 100,000 households; ten years plus a possible five-year extension). FCC Environmental Services was ranked first by the evaluation committee; the current hauler Waste Pro Florida and Coastal Waste and Recycling both filed formal protests.
- Where it stands: on October 7 council referred the protests to the state's administrative hearings division. On October 21, 2026 it reconsidered and reversed that referral on 5-3 votes, then approved resolutions continuing the award and denying the protests (Resolutions 285-26 and 284-26). Waste Pro's representative said it would sue in circuit court if denied without a hearing.
- Next: the new contract is to start October 1, 2027, and the protesters' next steps are unknown.
Council reasoning
- Dr. Derrick Donnell (who had voted for the referral) cited the transition time, the non-binding nature of an administrative judge's recommendation, and outside counsel's finding that the process was sound. Another councilmember who had also voted for the referral said he met with the outside counsel and that the winner won "by several lengths."
- Keith Long, Jennifer Nelson-Lastra and Rachel Kaduk opposed: council is not the hearing officer, only staff was heard, a judge was already assigned, Waste Pro had offered to extend, and the city holds about $30 million in solid waste reserves. Kaduk said the request for proposals was withdrawn and reissued with a design-build-operate transfer station requirement without council direction.
- The City Attorney said the cone of silence bars bidders from lobbying officials until award, and that reconsideration is lawful because the referral is not final.
Public comment
- A former council member and others urged independent review; a resident asked who requested the reconsideration and what emergency justifies it; FCC said its price is 14 percent lower (about $50 million over the contract) and that it needs time to buy over 100 vehicles and hire over 120 employees; Coastal asked council to consider cancelling the request for proposals.
Transfer station
- Kaduk moved to direct staff not to exercise a transfer station option; Mayor Gunter called it premature without data. Staff confirmed nothing in the FCC contract authorizes a transfer station, so a future council would have to approve one; the motion was withdrawn.
Sources
- City Council video, October 21, 2026: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gek3m_aGzns
- City Clerk agendas and videos: https://www.capecoral.gov/departments/city_clerk/agendas_videos.php
Discussion time
About 53 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-21 - City Council | 53 |
Log
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2026-11-02 - City Council Regular Meeting — Ordinance 64-26, the franchise award to FCC Environmental Services Florida (RFP RPW2664KMR), was introduced; public hearing set for November 18. Votes are not available yet.
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2026-10-21 - City Council — Council reconsidered and reversed its October 7 referral of the bid protests on 5-3 votes, approved continuing the FCC award and denying the protests, and discussed the transfer station option.
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2026-10-07 - City Council — Bid protests from Coastal Waste and Recycling and Waste Pro were taken up after the City Manager stepped away on advice of counsel. Resolutions to deny the protests failed (285-26 failed 3-5); resolutions referring them to the Division of Administrative Hearings carried 6-2 (Coastal) and 7-1 (Waste Pro). Staff noted the current contract runs to September 2027 and the recommended vendor wanted an award by about December 1.