Tamarac Commission Backs Waste Management For $80M Garbage Hauling Contract

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The Tamarac City Commission voted Wednesday to keep Waste Management as the city’s waste service provider, defeating Commissioner Marlon Bolton’s push to replace the company with competitor Coastal Waste & Recycling.

Bolton’s politicking on behalf of Coastal, including a resident email blast and a video critical of Waste Management, drew controversy due to the $20,500 in contributions Coastal has made to PACs tied to Bolton since 2022.

Bolton’s efforts were countered with a robomessaging campaign by the Florida Committee for Accountability. The committee texted residents Monday, urging them to back Waste Management. It remained unclear Wednesday who put the committee to work on the messaging campaign.

The dueling appeals resulted in a 3-2 vote by the commission Wednesday in support of Waste Management, with Commissioner Elvin Villalobos, Mayor Michelle Gomez, and Vice Mayor Morey Wright backing the city’s longtime waste hauler. The city’s selection of the company still requires another vote for final approval.

Tamarac’s waste hauling contract is valued at around $80 million over seven years, city officials said.

As he has done at previous city meetings, Villalobos on Wednesday asked Bolton to recuse himself from the waste contract vote due to Coastal’s contributions to PACs linked to Bolton. Bolton, as he has done at prior meetings, declined.

Tamarac City Attorney Hans Ottinot said Bolton did not have a “legal conflict” and therefore had a duty under state law to vote on the waste hauler contract.

Tamarac Talk previously reported that Broward Vision PAC—an entity tied to Bolton—received $20,000 from Coastal between 2022 and 2023. Campaign finance records show Coastal made the largest single contribution to the PAC, $15,000, in February 2023. The company donated another $5,000 to the PAC in January 2022.

The records show that Coastal also made a $500 contribution to the Friends of Marlon Bolton PAC in December 2023.

Tamarac city law bars city officers or employees from accepting compensation in exchange for a benefit. It does not specifically bar vendors with business before the city from contributing to elected officials.

“Pushing and being a lobbyist for a company that donated over $20,000 … it’s unethical,” Villalobos said during the meeting. “You’re hurting our residents.”

Responding to the criticism, Bolton provided his colleagues with a letter from his attorney and a bill analysis from the Florida House of Representatives detailing allowable PAC donations.

“I hope that my colleagues would read this and understand that there’s no impropriety in asking for donations of any amount from people regardless if it’s a PAC or a regular campaign,” Bolton said.

He said his opposition to Waste Management for the contract was based on residents’ complaints about the company – several of which he read into the record – along with Coastal’s offering a better price on the second bid submission.

“Don’t come here arguing this fallacy that someone is taking bribes and that sort of stuff,” Bolton said. “No, how dare you.”

Wednesday’s vote was the culmination of a drama that began at a previous commission meeting on May 8, when city officials said Coastal had edged out Waste Management by one point in the city’s scoring process for proposals.

Waste Management, however, beat out Coastal by around $1 million annually on pricing. The difference led city procurement officials to recommend that Waste Management keep its role and receive the new contract.

Going against the experts’ recommendation, Bolton and Commissioner Kicia Daniel pushed for Coastal instead. The pair’s efforts led to a vote for the city to scrap the contract recommendation and go back to the companies for their lowest, final bid proposals.

Officials said Coastal and Waste Management then submitted new prices, around 11.4 and 11.9 million per year, respectively. Waste Management officials at Wednesday’s meeting said they would match Coastal’s bid. If the commission finalizes its selection of Waste Management, the final contract price will be negotiated between the company and City Manager Levent Sucuoglu.

The city’s contract with Waste Management for solid waste and recycling services began in 2011 and was renewed in 2019, records show.

The new contract would run for seven years, from October 2024 through September 2031, with an optional three-year renewal.

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Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.