County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a roughly $25,500 proposal by Southwest Sanitation to continue weekly curbside recycling through the month of October.

In the meantime, the county will negotiate with Southwest Sanitation for an 18-month curbside recycling contract that would run from November 2019 through April 2021. Commissioners also voted for the county to service its own recycling drop sites in the future.

All three motions passed with Commissioners Gary Crowley and Steve Ritter abstaining. Crowley and Ritter said they would not be voting or taking part in discussion of the recycling proposals due to potential conflicts of interest.

Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder said the county had received proposals for three different things — a one-month extension of service at county recycling drop sites, curbside recycling pickup, and service at county drop sites.

“The proposals were very well done,” Schroeder said. He said Southwest Sanitation had the most favorable proposals for curbside and drop site services, and he recommended the county consider contract negotiations with them for curbside service.

Beyond the recommendation for Southwest Sanitation, the county board and county staff did not talk about which businesses submitted proposals for curbside recycling, or the costs of specific proposals. However, on Monday Schroeder said the county had received recycling proposals from Southwest Sanitation, West Central Sanitation, and Waste Management.

Toward the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Charlie Sanow said he wanted to clarify to members of the press that the board didn’t discuss specific costs of the recycling proposals because the county would be negotiating a contract for curbside recycling service.

“At this point, we’re not going to be making it public yet,” he said. Sanow said he expected a contract would be brought before the board later this month.

Some of the discussion did include questions of whether to have weekly or bi-weekly recycling pickup, and whether the county could use its own recycling containers at the drop sites. At Monday’s public hearing, several members of the public said people have a hard time reaching to put recyclables into the containers. Commissioners also said it’s possible collecting recyclables less often might reduce some costs.

Commissioners ultimately voted, with Crowley and Ritter abstaining, to continue negotiating with Southwest Sanitation for curbside pickup on a bi-weekly basis. The contract would run 18 months, starting in November.

Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes said the county had only received one proposal, from Southwest Sanitation, to continue current recycling pickup service in the month before a new contract could start. Schroeder considered that proposal in the decision to recommend negotiating a contract with the company, Maes said. That one-month proposal, with a cost of $25,559.85, could be awarded on Tuesday, Maes said.

Commissioners voted in favor of awarding the proposal, with Crowley and Ritter abstaining. After further discussion on whether to contract for future maintenance of the county’s recycling drop sites, commissioners voted for the county to provide the service itself. Again, the vote passed with abstentions from Crowley and Ritter.

While there was no direct action on it Tuesday, commissioners talked about whether to raise the county’s solid waste assessment fee, which goes to help pay for the recycling program and curbside pickup.

“I think we’re going to have to raise that,” Crowley said.

At a public hearing Monday night, several county residents expressed support for increasing the current assessment if it would allow curbside recycling to continue. The current solid waste assessment is $30 a year for residences in a community, and $20 a year for rural residences.

Schroeder said the assessment was last raised around 2008. The in-town rate was gradually increased from $20 a year to $30 a year, over the course of three years, he said.

Because it would affect the recycling program’s potential revenue and the negotiation process for curbside pickup, Sanow said he thought commissioners needed to reach a consensus on whether they would be willing to raise the assessment. The board wouldn’t necessarily need to set a new assessment right away, as long as there was a consensus, he said. Sanow said he thought the increase would probably be at least $20.

Based on what commissioners heard from county residents at the public hearing, Commissioners Rick Anderson and Paul Graupmann said they were comfortable with a $20 increase for the solid waste assessment.

Courtesy : https://www.marshallindependent.com