The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners authorized the County Attorney’s Office on Aug. 20 to begin terminating its contract with FCC Environmental Services over concerns of the performance of its solid waste management services.
The board added an emergency item to the agenda to discuss FCC’s service, which led to the board unanimously declaring a local state of emergency and authorizing the contract termination process.
The county plans to seek interim supplemental service providers to fill the gap left by the termination.
The commission also unanimously approved St. Johns County Emergency Order 2024-2, directing all available resources to remove yard waste from streets as quickly as possible.
The local state of emergency, required under Chapter 252, Florida Statutes, and St. Johns County Ordinance No. 2021-4, was declared in response to the FCC’s failure to collect household trash, recycling and yard waste.
The emergency order aims to prevent a serious threat to public health and safety.
Under the state of emergency, the deadlines for two current Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for new service providers will be shortened.
“The county has heard from our community about their disappointment and frustrations with FCC,” said County Administrator Joy Andrews.
“Today, our leadership took bold, aggressive steps to clean up this mess. A new journey begins to regain the confidence of our community by ensuring that trash is picked up on time and that residents receive the quality customer service they deserve. It is important to note that under our current contract with FCC, the board’s decision to terminate does not relieve FCC of its responsibility to continue providing services.”