From: Slote, Peter

To: Lammers, Greg

Cc: Parnes, Rebecca; Gagliardi, Mark; Redic, Wanda
Subject: Late Fees Charged to Oakland Commercial Customers
Date: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 10:54:49 AM
Greg In the course of the discussion of the Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills
(below) it came to the Citys attention that WMAC began in 2012 assessing and collecting
fees for late payment of commercial customer invoices. Subsequent research by WMAC
and City staff uncovered that although such fees may have been briefly discussed in 2001
or 2012, there is no documentation of an agreement between WMAC and the City to
implement these fees. Such an agreement would at a minimum require a formal letter of
approval from the City, and would likely require approval by the Oakland City Council prior
to that. It appears that the implementation of these fees may have been a unilateral action
by your predecessor.

As such, please cease assessing Oakland commercial customers these fees, effective as soon
as practical.

Finally, I want to acknowledge WMACs diligence in bringing to our attention the issues
with the corporate message, and the subsequent research and discovery about the late
fees. WMACs diligence and transparency during this discussion is noted and appreciated.


Peter Slote
Senior Recycling Specialist, Environmental Services Division
City of Oakland | Public Works Agency | APWA Accredited Agency
250 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Ste. 5301 | Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 238-7432 | (510) 238-7286 Fax
pslote@oaklandnet.com

Recycling Hotline | (510) 238-SAVE (7283) | recycling@oaklandnet.com
www.oaklandrecyles.com

Report A Problem | Public Works Agency Call Center | (510) 615-5566
www.oaklandpw.com | pwacallcenter@oaklandnet.com | Mobile app: SeeClickFix




From: Parnes, Rebecca [mailto:RParnes@wm.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 4:23 PM
To: Slote, Peter
Cc: Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: RE: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills

Hi Peter,
We anticipate we will be able to remove the message from the next cycle of bills. The plan is for
them to begin working on that this week so that the coding in our billing system is changed 3
weeks in advance of the next cycle of bills.

I wasnt able to find anything regarding the agreement to add the late fees to commercial
accounts. I am hoping to connect with Dave Horn on this again. He mentioned finding some email
communication he had with Becky. Dave was out of the office Friday, so I am hoping to connect
with him tomorrow and follow up with you as soon as I have an update.

Thanks,
Rebecca

From: Slote, Peter [mailto:PSlote@oaklandnet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 2:21 PM
To: Parnes, Rebecca
Cc: Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: RE: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills

Rebecca,

1. On 8/27 you wrote WM Corporate has put a new message on all bills. We are working to
remove the message, but we wont be able to make it happen fast enough to be removed
for this upcoming cycle of bills. Do you expect that you will be able to confirm that the
message will be removed from Oakland bills for the upcoming monthly commercial and
quarterly residential billing cycles? Thought I raise this earlier rather than later.
2. Have you found any documentation of the current fees assessed to Oakland
commercial accounts?

Thanks - Peter

From: Slote, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:10 PM
To: 'Parnes, Rebecca'
Cc: Dowdakin, Becky; Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: RE: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills

Rebecca As you and I just discussed, WMAC will include the below message on the bills in
question, even while we research WMACs current practice of charging late fees to
commercial customers. As we agreed, the below message remains true, as the particular
fees described on the bill are not the same fees WMAC currently applies to Oakland
businesses. I look forward to seeing any documentation you may find that would shed light
upon the late payment fees WMAC charges Oakland businesses. Thanks for handling this
time-sensitive issue in a prompt way.

Peter

From: Parnes, Rebecca [mailto:RParnes@wm.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 4:23 PM
To: Slote, Peter
Cc: Dowdakin, Becky; Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: RE: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills

Thank you Peter. We will include that message.

From: Slote, Peter [mailto:PSlote@oaklandnet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 4:11 PM
To: Parnes, Rebecca
Cc: Dowdakin, Becky; Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: RE: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills

Rebecca Please include the following 88-character message:

OAKLAND CUSTOMERS: LATE, RETURNED CHECK, & RESTART FEES LISTED ON THIS PAGE DO NOT
APPLY.

Thanks Peter

Peter Slote
Senior Recycling Specialist, Environmental Services Division
City of Oakland | Public Works Agency | APWA Accredited Agency
250 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Ste. 5301 | Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 238-7432 | (510) 238-7286 Fax
pslote@oaklandnet.com

Recycling Hotline | (510) 238-SAVE (7283) | recycling@oaklandnet.com
www.oaklandrecyles.com

Report A Problem | Public Works Agency Call Center | (510) 615-5566
www.oaklandpw.com | pwacallcenter@oaklandnet.com | Mobile app: SeeClickFix


From: Parnes, Rebecca [mailto:RParnes@wm.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 12:45 PM
To: Gagliardi, Mark
Subject: Corporate Message on September's Commercial Bills
Importance: High

Hi Mark,
WM Corporate has put a new message on all bills. We are working to remove the message, but we
wont be able to make it happen fast enough to be removed for this upcoming cycle of bills. We
will be mailing out bills to commercial customers and roll off customers who get building monthly.
The Corporate message will read:
If full payment of the invoice amount is not received within 30 days of the invoice
date, you will be charged a monthly late fee of 2.5% of the unpaid amount, with a
minimum monthly charge of $ 5.00, or such late fee allowed under applicable law,
regulation or contract. Additionally, if your service is suspended for nonpayment, you
may be charged a resume fee to restart your service. For each returned check, a fee
will be assessed on your next billing equal to the maximum amount permitted by
applicable state law.

We will still be billing correctly and in accordance with the contract guidelines.

Would you like to include a 90 character message to contradict this message? If so, please let me
know what you would like it to say. We need this by 8 AM tomorrow so we can run the bills. Sorry
for the short notice, we had been working with Corporate to remove the message in the hopes of
avoiding this problem.

Thanks,

Rebecca Parnes
Recycle Program Coordinator
Contract Compliance
rparnes@wm.com

Waste Management
172-98
th
Avenue
Oakland, CA 94603
Tel 510 613 2104

Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails.