ED. NOTE: After publication of the below story, Darren Gruendel, chief executive officer of Gold Medal Environmental, said in an interview that the company did not have an option on the 2022 contract, rather it was a city option, which North Wildwood exercised. An excerpt of the contract, sent by Gruendel appeared to support that position. North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said in a subsequent interview that he stands by his comment and that Gold Medal could have gotten out of the contract prior to 2022 if they wished. Gruendel also objected to Rosenello’s comment that the trash company was asking the city to break the law in negotiations. He said they have never and would never ask the city to break the law. Rosenello said in response that he stands by the comment.
NORTH WILDWOOD – The city announced it will fire its solid waste removal contractor just weeks before summer after it said one of the company’s top officials insisted the city pay two to three times more than the agreed-upon rate, or it would leave the trash in the streets.
North Wildwood will terminate the services of Gold Medal Environmental and has hired Pinelands Recycling to perform solid waste removal through the remainder of 2022.
In an interview May 2, North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said the timing of the maneuver was intentional on the part of the contractor to exert maximum pressure on North Wildwood with an influx of summer visitors coming, so the company could try to take advantage to get more money from the city.
“While we have been sympathetic to the plight of all businesses dealing with the impacts of the Covid pandemic and other economic issues,” we will not make agreements under duress, Rosenello said in a statement released April 30 announcing the move.
In the news release sent over the weekend, North Wildwood said it has tried to renegotiate with Gold Medal at the contractor’s request for two months but has been met with threats and ultimatums.
In an April 25 email obtained by the Herald sent from Gold Medal Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Darren Gruendel to multiple North Wildwood officials, Gruendel laid out several of the economic challenges the company faces and said the company would no longer pick up trash and recycling in the city at the agreed-upon rate of $5.78, per unit, per month.
“Let’s get this done before it gets ugly,” Gruendel wrote toward the end of the lengthy email, which also indicated he would appear the next day to meet face-to-face on the matter.
In an email to the media, Gruendel acknowledged the uphill public relations battle he faces. He did not respond to an interview request from the Herald.
“I know it’s hard to start with the perception that a garbage company is the one leading from the ethical high ground,” Gruendel wrote to members of the media May 1. “Without the pandemic or the war in Europe driving 200+% fuel price increases, perhaps it would have been possible to suffer through what is so very clearly an unfair rate structure… So, if rates do not go up and/or service levels do not go down – yes, something will get left in the streets. It’s not a threat – it’s math and in this case, it’s caused by a set of conditions that were not contemplated in the current contracts.”
Gruendel became the company’s CEO after the current contract was negotiated and after it was acquired by Kinderhook Industries, a New York City hedge fund.
Rosenello said in an interview that Gold Medal elected to exercise an option for 2022 in October 2021 and was well aware of the conditions of the agreement at the time.
“This was gamesmanship,” he said.
Other local municipalities have rewritten contracts with the waste management company that includes an increase in pay and other time-saving measures, like in Avalon, where the borough not only agreed to pay more, but eliminated a service where empty containers will no longer be returned to the side of homes, but instead left curbside.
Gruendel highlighted Avalon as an example of a town that understood the company’s concerns and the economic realities and worked toward an amicable resolution. In long-winded and frequent emails, Gruendel provided significant amounts of information to the municipalities to justify the ask.
In an emergency City Council session April 29, North Wildwood officials took a different approach and voted to terminate the contract by a letter from City Solicitor Michael Donohue to Christopher V. Della Pietra, counsel for Gold Medal.
The four-page letter lays out the legal basis and reasons for the city’s decision and indicates North Wildwood will attempt to recoup monies because it says Gold Medal breached the contract.
In Ocean City, Gold Medal announced April 29 that it will no longer pick up recycling or yard waste from homes after the city did not acquiesce to the contractors’ demands to renegotiate.
However, an April 30 release published on Ocean City’s website indicated, “Ocean City trash and recycling collection will continue on its normal schedule.”
“Ocean City fully expects the company to uphold its contract and will continue to pursue good-faith negotiations,” the release continued. “However, we are prepared for the possibility that Gold Medal could breach the agreement. We are ready to provide uninterrupted trash and recycling services through a combination of shared services with Sea Isle City and contracted services with vendors outside Gold Medal.”
There appear to be ongoing efforts to negotiate in Wildwood and West Wildwood, though a shared services agreement to try to streamline the process for Gold Medal and make things more efficient on the island has now been thrown in turmoil with North Wildwood’s announcement.
Rosenello said some of the logistics of getting Pinelands on board to take on such a large project took hard work, but he is happy they got it done. He said there could be minor hiccups but does not expect any changes to the pickup schedules or scope of services.
North Wildwood will pay Pinelands $200,000 more than it would have paid Gold Medal over the eight-month duration of the contract.
A representative for Pinelands Recycling said May 2 that their workers were in place in North Wildwood that day. Rosenello said Gold Medal had already been removing some of its dumpsters and other equipment.
“Public contracts are sacrosanct because they’re dealing with public funds. We’re not a private company and we can’t say, you know what, we’ll just take less profit this year, with public money. This was a publicly bid contract and there are very, very strict rules and regulations as to what you can do with a public contract,” Rosenello said. “We were going to the limit of what we could do within the law and their position was, we want you to break the law and give us more money. We simply weren’t going to do that.”
Gruendel said generally that the allegations are “frivolous.”
Rosenello said he understands the business side but was surprised by Gold Medal’s brazen approach.
“I’ve been involved in municipal government for 25 years and I’ve never seen a public contractor behave this way,” the mayor said.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
