Recycling contract renewal on hold

Clark County

Discussion

October 28, 2009

Committee formed to help advise on budgetary issues

By BRADEN LAMMERS The News and Tribune Wed Oct 28, 2009, 10:51 PM EDT

The Clark County Solid Waste Board continued to work on the details of a contract renegotiation with Inland Service Corporation at its meeting Wednesday.

Inland who is attempting to renegotiate its rates — raising from $1.78 to $2.09 per month per household — due to disputes over house counts, accusations of nonpayment for services, an apartment recycling program that was unsuccessful, a previous request for a rate increase and a major drop in revenues paid for recyclables.

A new contract, which would actually be an amendment to the current deal, would be in place until Dec. 31, 2012.

Before a new deal is approved, some stipulations of the deal have to be ironed out, including Inland wanting the contract to be retroactive to August.

Other issues still being worked through are the amount of recycling bins the county would receive and the price guideline being used to determine rates for revenues from recyclable materials.

At the Solid Waste Board’s September meeting, Controller Jeff Cox said the board did not currently have the money in the budget to agree to the increased rates, but if the additional fees were deferred until 2010, the district should finish out the year fiscally solvent.

Before the board was willing to move forward with its negotiations with Inland, it will have to figure out its 2010 budget issues first.

The 2009 budget for the Solid Waste District was $969,000, but there is currently no estimate in place for the 2010.

With the cuts imposed to departments throughout the county, the stability of the district is in question.

“To continue at the rate we’re going...we are going to have to do one of two things: We’re going to have to cut back services or raise the rate,” said Board President Ron Grooms.

Fewer revenues coming from the Clark County Commissioners and a raise in costs paid out to Inland, if approved, could reduce the money available to the district in 2010 by about $200,000.

“We need to deal with that before we deal with contract negotiations,” said Tom Galligan, board member.

Even if Solid Waste has no funding to pay Inland, it would not absolve it of its contractual duties.

“If we can establish that there is less than 55 percent annual participation from the households within the geographical area then that is grounds to terminate,” said John Grannan, attorney for the board. “But just to say we’re broke, I think that could have some ramifications.”

There was another scenario in which the district could terminate its contract.

“If the district incurs a loss of appropriation or funding as a result of pending legislation or federal, state or local ordinance, law or regulation then that gives the district grounds to terminate the contract given sufficient notice to Inland,” Grannan said.

To help answer the financial questions a committee, including board members Barbara Hollis, Les Young and Grooms, was formed.

The committee will come back to the board with a recommendation of what to do at its next meeting scheduled for Dec. 9 at 5 p.m.

After the board decided to table a decision on a contract with Inland it was presented with another option by Adam Koch.

Koch claimed he could provide service to the county at a better rate and create more revenues than Inland.

His proposal, and a previous editorial on a Fox 41, caught the ire of several members of the board and Inland Regional Director Fred Collins.

“Whenever this board decides to issue a request for a proposal that solicits bids for services, we’ll let you know,” Grooms said. “Until that time comes we are in no position to entertain any proposal.”

In other business:

• Executive Director of the Solid Waste District Luke Etheridge said a bailer for cardboard, paper and newspaper will hopefully be up and running by Wednesday.

Electrical work to allow the bailer to operate is near completion and expected revenues when the bailer is in place will be between $800 and $1,200 per month, Etheridge said.

• A one-year contract extension to Unique billing, which included a drop in its rate from $3.95 per account to $$3.60 per account, was tabled for the next meeting to allow the finance committee to conduct its report first.

• The purchase of a truck for the district was also tabled until the next meeting as it will also look into whether or not Solid Waste could purchase an old dump truck from the county or at a county auction.