​Clearwater Solid Waste Team Drives Away Competition At State Contest

CLEARWATER, FL — The city of Clearwater's solid waste team swept the awards when it competed Saturday, April 23, in the Solid Waste Association of North America, or SWANA, Florida Sunshine Chapter ROAD-E-O competition against other government and private collection workers.

This year's competition was held in Fort Myers. It gives professional solid waste drivers an opportunity to show off their large-truck driving skills and compete against some of the best solid waste drivers, operators and mechanics in the business.

Clearwater was well represented and took home the top prize and several others.

Among the Clearwater team workers winning were:

• Alex Grant - first place, roll-off and "Top Gun" (best driver in the competition)
• John Garakop - first place, automated side-loader
• Joe Marshall - first place, tractor trailer
• Mike Campagna - second place, front-end loader
• Josh Burdo - third place, rear-end loader
• Terrell Smith - third place/tie, landfill loader

Clearwater solid waste team members Mark Beery and Arnie Retzer served as judges and Clearwater's team coaches.

The competition consists of a written safety test, a commercial driver's license vehicle "pre-trip" inspection and an obstacle course.

For the obstacle course portion, drivers must perform an off-set driving maneuver, a right-hand turn through cones, parallel park their truck, back into an alley dock, drive through a serpentine course forward and backward, put their passenger-side tires through two rows of tennis balls set 30 inches apart (rear tandem tires are 24 inches), and finish on a stop line as close as possible without going over the line.

The Solid Waste Department has competed in SWANA's Sunshine Chapter's Road-E-O consistently since the 1980s and has earned "Top Gun" status multiple times, including: Mark Beery (2007 and 2009), John Garakop (2015) and James Deluca, now with Clearwater Public Utilities, (2016).

Beery went on to win International Top Gun in both 2007 and 2009.

The first- and second-place finishers will compete at the international road-e-o competition Oct. 14 to 15 in El Paso, Texas. SWANA Florida pays for competitors' airfare and hotel.