At Tuesday's Fiscal Court meeting, Solid Waste Coordinator Debbie Nelson informed the court that the bids had been received and opened. She said the franchise committee had studied them and recommended Scott for the job. Nelson said only one other company (Waste Management) had turned in a bid.
Nelson got the go-ahead from the court last year to obtain bids for a countywide franchise agreement. She told the court at that time that an agreement would drive down the monthly rates for trash pickup service.
She contacted the four cities in the county asking them if they wished to participate in the agreement. Adairville, Auburn and Lewisburg all jumped on board; however Russellville declined the offer. stating they couldn't receive the amount of revenue they were used to getting from a franchise fee from their own contract with Waste Management.
Russellville recently renewed its contract with Waste Management. Cost to residential customers is $11.14 per month. Russellville no longer bills for commercial service, which last year was on an average $4.30 per cubic yard but has since risen 18 percent.
David Bradley, Waste Management's public sector representative for Kentucky, said his company had to raise its Russellville rates for commercial service because Russellville raised its franchise fee by 7 percent in the new contract. Plus, said Bradley, the city agreed to a fuel surcharge, which is also being added to commercial services.
Another factor of the increase, said Bradley, is that Waste Management took a CPI increase but only for 3 percent. Bradley said Waste Management could have taken a 4 percent increase but they wanted to keep the impact down to the customers. Bradley said there hadn't been an increase in costs to the customer since 2003.
Nelson told the court Tuesday that the committee, which consists of Nelson, County Attorney Tom Noe, Magistrate Curtis Watkins, businessman Ken Knight, Adairville Mayor Jim Wilkerson, Auburn Councilman Wayne Thomas, Auburn Mayor Dewey Roche and Logan County Judge/Executive John Guion, researched the bids extensively and that a lot of talk ensued before making a final recommendation.
Both Waste Management and Scott have provided services within the county. Last year's cost per month for both companies was approximately $16.50 for residential. According to a bid recap, a substantial savings will be had by going with Scott. For example; the school systems will save $14,437 annually, Adairville commercial customers will save $9,468 annually, Auburn commercial users will save $12,829 annually and Lewisburg commercial users will save $9,144 annually.
Scott Waste Management's bid for monthly service:
Residential $12.75
County Commercial $2.65 per cubic yard
County Roll Off 4-tons $225 (any size container)
Cities Residential $10.25
Cities Commercial $2.49 per cubic yard
Cities Roll Off 4-tons $225 (any size)
The residential rates for the county and cities are contingent upon Scott taking the waste to a landfill out of Logan County. If they take the waste to the local landfill the county residential rate will be $13 per month and cities $11 per month.
Waste Management's bid for monthly service
County Residential $11.44- $10.44 seniors
County Commercial $5.09 per cubic yard
County Roll Off 4-tons $350- 20 yard container
County Roll Off 4-tons $385- 30 yard container
County Roll Off 4-tons $420- 40 yard container
Cities residential $10.44
Cities Commercial $5.09 per cubic yard
Cities Roll Off 4-tons $350- 20 yard container
Magistrate Watkins moved to accept the committee's recommendation Tuesday and chose Scott Waste to serve as the county's provider. His motion passed with a five to one vote with Magistrate Ranny Adler voting no. Adler said he didn't have anything against Scott but said he represents the citizens in the county and when he voted to explore a countywide franchise agreement he wanted to choose the lowest bid for county residents and said that Waste Management was the lowest bidder for residential service.
Adler also declared during Tuesday's meeting that both Scott and Waste Management have gouged the citizens of Logan County. He asked how these companies could bid so low when they have been charging so much more.
The franchise agreement is for five years, said Nelson, who urges the court and cities to pay close attention when it is time to rebid.
Bradley said he is very disappointed in the Logan County magistrates and felt their recent decision to choose Scott Waste was short sighted. He said it was Waste Management's understanding that the county wanted the lowest possible costs to its residential customers. “We are dumbfounded,” said Bradley, who says Waste Management wanted to give the biggest benefit to the most people. He said there are 5,000 residential customers in the county and only 200 commercial customers. He said Waste Management felt it would be the biggest benefit to the individual customer would be to give them a lower rate instead of the commercial user.
Bradley said it will now be the senior citizen who will get gouged because of this. He said they will now have to pay $2.64 a month extra by the county contracting with Scott. He said that he understood that the commercial users would save a lot of money but said it will be at the cost of the residential customer. He also said that Logan County jobs will be effected by this as well. “We wanted to give the maximum savings to the maximum amount of people,” said Bradley who added, “If I can give a better savings to the largest amount of people, I'm going to.”
Apparently there is also some controversy surrounding the disposal of waste that will be picked up. Bradley contends there is an agreement between the county that whoever provides waste pickup service in the county must take that waste to the landfill, which is owned by Waste Management.
According to information obtained by Nelson, Scott wants to challenge that agreement and possibly take the waste picked up in Logan County elsewhere.
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