City receives proposals to operate White Street Landfill

The city of Greensboro has received proposals (link) from seven companies in response to a request for proposals, or RFPs, to reopen the White Street Landfill on a limited basis. Among them are Gate City Waste Services and Raleigh-based Waste Industries, which were finalists in a previous RFP that was abandoned after a judge ruled that the city cannot open un-permitted sections of the landfill without holding a public hearing, researching the socio-economic makeup of the area and considering alternatives.

Advanced Disposal, a Florida company that was eliminated from consideration in the last round of bids, and Republic Services, which currently accepts the city’s household waste at its landfill in Montgomery County, also submitted proposals. Other companies angling for the contract include Triangle Grading and Paving of Burlington, Tennessee-based Santek Environmental, and A-1 Sandrock of Greensboro.

The president of A-1 Sandrock is Councilwoman Trudy Wade’s cousin.

Interim City Attorney Tom Pollard wrote in an e-mail to Wade on Monday:

You have asked if this relationship prohibits you from voting on the possible award of a contract for the landfill operation. You have advised me that you have no financial interest in A-1, and that this relationship will not affect your decision in the matter. In my opinion you are not prohibited from voting on a possible contract award, and you do not meet the statutory standards for being excused from voting.

Pollard distinguished between spousal relationships, which factors in Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan’s recusal, and more distant familial relationships:

You have no financial interest direct or indirect in A-1. Even those provisions of law or policy that address family relationships in defining a conflict do not apply in this situation. GS 14-234 defines direct benefit only in relation to a spouse’s interest in a contract. In addition, the city’s conflict of interest policy discusses a financial or other interest by an officer or “any member of him immediate family.

The new RFP sets a schedule to initiate a contract by Oct. 18 — which falls exactly three weeks before voters go to the polls to elect a new council.

“In the RFP submission responses today, Republic Services has outlined a plan that could save the city over $3.5 million annually in its solid waste disposal costs without reopening the Whites Street Landfill,” said Chris Brook, a staff attorney with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice who is representing landfill opponents free of charge. “This would represent a win-win for the whole Greensboro community, safeguarding both the city’s residents and its budget.”

Republic Services, which currently holds a contract to dispose of the city’s solid waste at its landfill in Montgomery County, submitted a Statement of No Response.

From a letter written by Republic Services of North Carolina Vice President Drew Isenhour last week:

From our perspective, the city is choosing a short-term solution for a long-range project. If the city moves forward with reopening White Street they will deplete the city’s asset in 5 plus years and have no guarantee that the landfill can be expanded for future use. With airspace capacities eroding in North Carolina and the ability to site new landfills is cost prohibitive the existing airspace value of the White Street landfill exponentially increases year after year. Exploiting this asset depletes the city’s airspace and limits the options for a sustainable long-range solution. In view of both economic and political considerations the city could choose to make modifications to current operations and provide the city approximately $3.5 million annual savings without having to proceed with the controversy and litigation required to open the White Street landfill.