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The Harlan County Fiscal Court voted to renew an agreement for waste collection with Waste Connections during the panel’s December meeting. The contract was approved following a few adjustments to the previous agreement.
Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley presided over the meeting.
“This is something we’ve discussed the last few months,” Mosley said. “We’ve talked about it a couple of times. I want to thank Waste Connections for sitting down and discussing this with us and talking about many issues that the Fiscal Court has had related to the delivery of the solid waste service in the county.”
According to Mosley, Waste Connections has always been responsive to the county’s concerns. One of those concerns was the county being required to pick up waste from residents who reside on roads not accessible by Waste Connections’ large packer trucks.
“One of the things they have committed to is they are acquiring a one-ton pickup truck to eliminate the solid waste pickups along county routes where their packer cannot get to,” Mosley said. “They were willing to absorb that. That will take a lot off our solid waste recycling center. At one point, they were picking up at 70 to 80 stops that the packer could not get to. I think it’s down to about 40 now, but that’s still a lot of work on our people.”
Mosley said Waste Connections began those pickups the previous week.
“Another thing they’re going to expand to is offering a service with 2-, 4-, and 6-yard boxes that will be available to be rented by citizens,” Mosley said. “Sometimes the trailers we rent aren’t large enough for someone’s needs, these are, they are a bit larger.”
Mosley went over the pricing contained in the new contract.
“They have agreed to stay with the structure they have had in place with the exception of one minor change,” Mosley said. “We really wanted to stay on the 50 cent increases per year on the residential, that’s been the case for a long time where it would increase 50 cents per month which is $6 per year. We’ve been on that schedule since well before I came here 10 years ago. They were desiring to shift to something different.”
Mosley said the customers have become familiar with the previous pricing adjustment process.
“They have requested that if the CPI (consumer price index) were to go above 5 percent – which it has twice in 10 years – then instead of a 50 cent increase it would be a $1 increase. Hopefully we have made it through the worst parts of inflation and wouldn’t see the type of an increase.”
Mosley said he believes the renewal terms are fair.
“It would be for a five-year period beginning Jan. 1, and expiring Dec. 31 of 2029,” Mosley said.
Mosley recommended the magistrates approve the renewal agreement.
Magistrate James Howard made a motion to renew the agreement with Waste Connections for a period of five years, seconded by Magistrate Bill Moore. The motion passed with no opposition.