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 The LCJSW was formed in 1996 and began operation the following
year. At the completion of a very long planning process, the agency
offered up a 20-year contract for participants. That contract will
expire this summer, and the agency is seeking to renew it with all
the municipalities currently involved as well as the county.
When the issue came before the Lincoln City Council at a recent
Committee of the Whole, questions arose concerning the terms and
conditions of the contract. Aldermen expressed concern over the
length of term for the contract – 20 years. They were also concerned
about a clause that said no participant could withdraw from a
current contact without the consent of all the other participants.
In addition, there was a particular clause in the contract that
appeared to say that if the LCJSW incurred an expenditure that it
could not pay, the membership would have to make up the difference,
in addition to their annual financial support.
On Monday evening, Rohlfs and Struebing addressed those concerns.
 Struebing began by explaining the history of the Agency. In 1996 the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Illinois
mandated that every county would offer a recycling option for its
residents. A committee was formed to address the mandate, which
included the mayors of Logan County municipalities, as well as other
representatives as appointed by the respective communities.
Research done at that time indicated that the committee had the
support of the population as people recognized the benefits of
recycling as being good for the environment by reducing the amount
of trash being deposited in local landfills.
Struebing explained that because this was to be a mandated program
offered to the county, the Logan County Board also supported the
program because approximately 50 percent of the population did not
live within an incorporated area.
Struebing said that creating a contract document was a very long
process with a lot to take into consideration. The committee needed
to decide how the agency would be funded, and what it would do for
the county. In the process, the original idea had been to offer a
five-year contract, but the process became so complicated, that it
was suggested that the agency create a 20-year agreement, so the
contract did not have to be re-written so often.
Struebing explained that in 1996 the city of Lincoln had a
Sanitation Department, and staff from that department was involved
in the design of the agency. The 20-year contract was the suggestion
of the Sanitation Dept. representatives on the committee.
The result was that each member community plus the county would be
required to sign a 20-year agreement, and the LCJSW would be
required to review the agreement with each entity every five years.
The five-year plan went along with what was included in the EPA
mandate, as that agency required a usage report and program update
from the LCJSW every five years.
 Struebing concluded this portion of his talk saying that in the last
20 years there have been no serious issues with any of the members,
and all has gone very well. Because of this, he said he didn’t
understand why the council was now hesitant to sign a new 20-year
contract.
Jeff Hoinacki said one of his biggest concerns is the fluctuation in
the market on selling the recyclable materials. Rohlfs said there
was fluctuation in the rebates received on the product. However, she
said the agency did not count on those rebates as a revenue stream.
She noted that there is practically no revenue coming from
recyclable plastics. Metal products do get some rebate, but it is
very small. Paper products, on the whole, have the largest revenue,
but even that is not significant. She went on to say that the
markets of other goods, such as petroleum have an impact on the
recycling. When petroleum prices are low, it is cheaper to
manufacture new plastic than to recycle old plastic; thus the
recycling rebate drops.
She said another factor that impacts the recycling market is what is
going on overseas. Struebing concluded that the goal of the agency
cannot be to make money from recycling. Their real hope is that they
can run the program without losing money.
Steve Parrott asked if the agency knew how much of the recycling
collected was coming from Lincoln compared to other communities.
Rohlfs said the Agency didn’t track the percentage of usage by
community. Rohlfs later gave an inventory of bins in all the
communities. She noted that when she joined the LCJSW 14 years ago,
the city of Lincoln had one 30- yard dumpster that collected
co-mingled recycleables as well as paper that was emptied about once
a week. It now uses two 30-yard dumpsters, one for each co-mingled
(plastics and metals) and one for paper. The co-mingled dumpster is
emptied every four to five days, and the paper dumpster is emptied
every six to seven days.
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Rohlfs also reported that this year there
would be no glass recycling offered by the LCJSW. She said the local
glass factory has been taking the agency glass collection and has
been paying $.03 per pound. This year she heard from the Ardagh
Glass Company that the price it would pay for glass was going to
fall to $.005 – less than half a cent per pound.
Rohlfs explained that the Lincoln Women’s Club had been a sponsor of the program
and utilized the glass collection as a fundraiser for the club. The Woman’s Club
is no longer interested in sponsoring the glass collection when they stand to
gain so little from the effort.
On the flip side, she said that Ardagh has a recycling collection bin at their
factory in Lincoln, so those wishing to recycle their glass may take it there.
Moving on, Michelle Bauer asked that Rohlfs and Struebing address the clause
about needing membership permission to drop out of the contract.
Struebing said when the committee originally designed the program, they noted
that they would have to have consistency in revenues to operate the program year
after year. They decided that the best way to do this was to include a clause
that would make it a little more difficult for members to opt in and opt out at
will. Struebing said that the committee knew then, and knows now, that Lincoln
is a large portion of the revenue stream, based on a per capita charge; it
compares only with the county and far exceeds the other communities in
population. If a large supporter such as Lincoln or the County withdrew from the
group, the entire agency would suffer. The committee, when designing the
contract, knew this and wanted to limit the ability of any one entity to
withdraw from the program instantly.
Mayor Marty Neitzel asked if there was still a state mandate in place that
requires offering recycling by county.
Struebing said indeed there is. He said that if the city were to withdraw, it
would still have to establish a program of its own, and go through the same
process the LCJSW does, determining how to finance the program providing the
services, and offering reports to the Illinois EPA.
Regarding the third issue about the membership assuming responsibility for a
debt the agency was unable to pay, Struebing said he wasn’t sure where that was
in the contract. He added that the agency was directed not to exceed its annual
revenue amount in its expenditures. He added that it has not ever happened that
the agency exceeded its budget.
Bauer located the condition in the contract and read excerpts aloud. She said
that the contract does state the membership will assume the responsibility for
an extra expense that exceeds the budget, and will pay that expense on the per
capita rate, meaning again, the city would foot the larger portion of the debt.
Bauer commented that at the moment, she had total confidence in the
administration of the agency, but what about in the future?
Struebing said that he couldn’t account for future administration. He said
obviously not everyone involved now would be involved forever.
Bauer countered that was one of the concerns of the council in making a 20-year
commitment. She expanded saying that the aldermen now would be obligating a
future council to adhere to contract it might find undesirable. Thus, the reason
for seeking shorter contract lengths.
She went on to say that the condition regarding paying unmet obligations
appeared to be very broad in its language. She wondered if city attorney Blinn
Bates could review that section in particular and offer his advice to the
council. Bauer said that Bates could come back and say it is a legitimate
condition that is written correctly, but she’d like to know for sure.
Rohlfs and Struebing said they would welcome the city attorney’s opinion and
would be willing to address any issues the attorney might have with the
contract.
With that, the nearly hour-long discussion came to a close. As of the Monday,
April 3rd meeting, there is no action item on which the council will vote. The
contract with the LCJSW expires in June, so aldermen do have time to consider
whether or not to continue with the agreement with the LCJSW.
[Nila Smith] |
