Lincoln City Council
City extends contract with Area Disposal

 

[October 22, 2021] 

At the Monday meeting of the Lincoln City Council, aldermen approved extending the contract for trash pick-up with Area Disposal for an additional five years. With the resignation of Alderman Ron Fleshman from Ward 2, there were seven members present at the meeting. The motion to approve was passed unanimously.

The topic of extending the contract came into discussion at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, October 12th. Aldermen Kevin Bateman and Rick Hoefle led the discussion. The two aldermen had been working with Area to outline an extension they felt would be good for Lincoln residents financially.

In the past, there have been reports of issues with the service at Area Disposal. Many constituents felt that the company was not doing its job to the best of its ability and there were concerns over the lack of a local call center for the trash company.

Bateman and Hoefle shared that over time, many of the issues with the company have been worked out and they both feel that the company is doing a better job of servicing Lincoln constituents.

They reported that Area Disposal has also been bought out by a new provider, GFL Environment Inc. The new owners are bringing back a local call center at the request of the city. Mayor Tracy Welch added that the return of “Liz” to Lincoln was being done at the request of the city. He said that she had been moved to the Clinton area, but GFL has agreed to bring her back to Lincoln.

Bateman reported that over time, the community will see a subtle change in trash collection. He explained that the trucks currently used by Area will be retired or re-purposed and the city will see new bright green GFL trucks out collecting the trash.

There will be a graduated plan for rate increases, with the current rate holding until March of 2023.

The current standard rate for residential service is $16.33 per month.

Rate changes will occur annually beginning with March 1, 2023
 

Effective Date	Standard Rate	Senior/Disabled Rate
03/01/2022	$16.33	$14.55
03/01/2023	$16.74	$14.91
03/01/2024	$17.16	$15.91
03/01/2025	$18.13	$15.67
03/01/2026	$18.58	$16.06

The multi-family residential rates will be graduated according to the size of the dumpster starting at $75 per month for a two-yard dumpster up to $150 per month for an eight-yard container.

Bateman said that he was aware the council had discussed going out for bid for the trash provided and that is still an option. However, he said that if the city does so, then GFL will not guarantee that they will bid prices similar to what they have quoted for the five-year extension of the current contract. In fact, Bateman said he felt that they would bid it higher.

There was a question about the minimum number of customers that is required in the current contract. Welch said that the city was above that minimum, so that was not a concern at the moment.

There was also a question about the dispute with landlords about ownership of the trash bill. The city had changed their rules to move the financial responsibility of the trash from the tenant to the landowner last year. At that time, there was concern expressed by some of the landlords that they were not being treated fairly.

Bateman said that discussion seems to have died down as the ones seeking to change the rules back to their original language did not have the support of other landlords that they had expected.

The committee of the whole discussion ended with placing the contract extension on the voting agenda for October 18th.

On Monday night the motion was made to approve the five-year extension.
 

During the discussion time following the motion, Alderman Greg Miller said he was concerned about the length of the extension. He said that he was hearing that there are constituents who are still not entirely satisfied with the service they get from Area.

Bateman said that he was good with the five year period because the contract has an escape clause written into it allowing either party to void the contract with “just cause.”

Alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs asked for a definition of ‘just cause.” Welch said that it was not precisely spelled out in the contract, but it would include any of the previous complaints filed by constituents.

Rohlfs asked if the city was made aware of complaints filed with the company. Did the city get any kind of report from Area on the calls they receive? City Clerk Peggy Bateman said that, yes, the city does receive a report. She said that she could say that the report came regularly, such as monthly, but she does receive reports when complaints are filed.

Prior to voting, they were advised that if the motion failed, then the next committee of the whole meeting would include a discussion about seeking bids for a new provider.

When Welch called for the vote, all seven aldermen agreed to approve the five-year extension of the contract as presented.

[Nila Smith]