Arrecife approves continuing the garbage collection service that expired this August

The City Council of Arrecife has guaranteed the continuity of the street cleaning service and urban solid waste collection in the capital once the current contract expires on August 1st. The Governing Board approved the continuity of the service this Friday, articulating a legal formula that will allow it to be maintained "without interruptions" until the new contract is definitively awarded.

The council explained that this temporary solution will allow "the cost of the service to be adjusted to the real market price" and has included an 8% industrial profit for the concessionaire company, in accordance with the provisions of public procurement regulations and the tender documents themselves.

The councilor responsible for the Cleaning area, Jacobo Lemes (Coalición Canaria), stated that the decision is "good news for Arrecife," as it guarantees the provision of "an essential service" with "legal certainty" and, at the same time, allows "us to begin to correct the shortcomings of a contract that has become outdated given the growth experienced by the capital."

“We are providing continuity and legal guarantees to an essential service for Arrecife. We guarantee that the expiration of the contract will not affect the provision and, at the same time, we can adjust its cost to the real market value and work to dimension the service according to the needs the city has today,” Lemes added.

Coalición Canaria councilors celebrate that Arrecife "is leaving improvisation behind"

In his capacity as Councilor for Procurement and Deputy Mayor, Echedey Eugenio (CC) stressed that the approved solution also responds to a way of managing major municipal services based on planning, administrative rigor, and legal certainty.

“Arrecife is leaving behind improvisations and legal uncertainty. Faced with the expiration of a contract of this importance, we could not look the other way or resort to solutions that did not offer all the guarantees. We had to find the appropriate legal framework to ensure the continuity of the service and, moreover, do so in a way that allows us to begin to improve its provision,” he stated.

Eugenio particularly highlights the work carried out during these months by municipal public employees from the different areas involved, whose efforts have made it possible to reach a solution in a complex situation and guarantee the continuity of an essential service.

“I want to publicly thank the municipal workers who have dedicated many hours to finding a technical, legal, economic, and administrative solution to this situation. Behind the decision adopted, there is enormous work by public employees so that Arrecife can face the contract's expiration with guarantees and a legally sound solution,” highlighted the deputy mayor.

For Echedey Eugenio, this action reflects the model that the City Council should follow in the management of large municipal contracts: “Governing also means foreseeing, planning, and providing solutions before problems end up becoming emergencies. We want well-dimensioned contracts, audited services, and decisions backed technically and legally. That must be the path of a serious and responsible administration.”

A 2014 contract for 15,000 fewer inhabitants and fewer tourists

The contract that is now ending is based on specifications drawn up in 2014 for a city of around 55,000 inhabitants, while Arrecife currently has around 70,000 residents, to which is added the growth of economic, commercial, and administrative activity experienced by the capital over the last decade. Thus, the Governing Group has pointed out that this growth has considerably increased the needs for street cleaning and waste collection, making it necessary to adapt the human, material, and economic resources allocated to the service.

Since his arrival at the department, Jacobo Lemes has been warning that the existing contract "is deficient and insufficient for the current needs of Arrecife and has shown his disagreement with certain aspects of the provision." In recent months, the City Council has reinforced the auditing and monitoring of the service and has "processed several sanctions for detected breaches, increasing municipal control over the obligations of the concession company."

“We cannot demand a clean city without first demanding that the service works and that obligations are met. We have reinforced control, acted when breaches have been detected, and we are ordering an essential area for the day-to-day life of Arrecife,” warned the Councilor for Cleaning.

The extension of the contract under its current terms was not possible, since the 2014 tender established that it had to be accepted by both parties. Given its expiration on August 1, and considering it is an essential public service that cannot be interrupted, the City Council has worked on a legal solution to guarantee its provision until the future contract comes into effect.

Still without the new tender

The approved formula is not limited to guaranteeing the continuity of the service under the same conditions. During the months that pass until the final award of the new contract, the City Council will be able to work on "the reinforcement and sizing of street cleaning and waste collection according to the real needs of Arrecife".

The department is already working on the planning of these improvements and it will be during the month of September when the City Council announces the reinforcements and the new sizing of the services, with the objective of increasing their capacity and providing a more adequate response to the needs of the different neighborhoods and areas of the capital.

The new tender could not yet be finalized due, among other circumstances, to the fact that the collective agreement for the personnel assigned to waste collection and street cleaning services was under negotiation, a determining factor for correctly establishing labor costs and the economic conditions that the future contract must contemplate.

“It made no sense to move forward with a contract of this magnitude while working conditions that directly affect its economic structure were under negotiation. We want the next contract to be correctly sized, with legal certainty and with the human, technical, and material resources that Arrecife needs for the coming years,” explains Lemes.

The value of citizen collaboration

Finally, Jacobo Lemes has appealed to citizen collaboration and recalls that municipal effort and the improvement of resources must be accompanied by a collective commitment to the care of public spaces. “Our obligation is to ensure that Arrecife is cleaned better and better and to provide the necessary means for it, but we also need everyone to help keep it clean," concluded Jacobo Lemes.