Solid waste proposal turned down

TDS, a solid waste management company out of Torrington, WY, was brought before the town council by former mayor Steve Sproul as an option for operating the landfill almost a year ago. The contract the company has been preparing for the last several months has been given to the town for consideration, and, at last Monday’s council meeting, the governing body discussed and decided to forego contracting with TDS at this time and will continue the day-to-day operation of the landfill in-house.

Mayor Dick Claar asked for thoughts on the situation from his council.

Councilman Owen Mathews said, “I guess the only reason I see to bring them in is for that outside business. Right now, we’re getting $60 a ton and if we go to them, we’ll get $15 a ton under what was proposed. The difference is, right now, we’re looking at 3500 tons a year as opposed to 12,000 tons a year that they were talking about. I’m good at putting it off for a little bit and seeing what the cash flow is.”

Town Attorney Jim Peck concurred, paraphrasing a conversation between himself and DEQ landfill remediation supervisor Craig McComie. “He seemed to think that you guys trying to run it yourselves, as long as you had a good person out there who knew what they are doing, would probably be better financially,” he said.

The entire body agreed.

If there is an issue with this decision, it will be that the agreements made with the DEQ, including the current and future extensions, have been made with TDS as a part of the equation. TDS and the town had previously met with DEQ applying and receiving extensions for the existing cell and entertained discussion of other potential future improvements. In the interest of this effort, the DEQ allowed for said amendments.

Heath Turbiville of HDR Engineering advised the council to report their decision to continue operating the landfill without privatization to the DEQ as soon as possible.

Claar said on Monday that he has attempted to reach the proper representatives of the DEQ in Casper several times since that meeting to explain that the town has chosen to move forward without privatization at this time, without success. While Claar is still waiting on a call back from the DEQ, TDS was informed of the change in plans last week.