19 - Renewing the Landfill Services Agreement with Waste Connections, Inc.

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a transfer station, we are required to make each individual trash truck take its load directly to the Blossom Landfill, owned by Waste Connection, Inc. Given the amount of trash we pick up each day, it requires each trash truck to drive to Blossom at least twice a day. We typically have four trucks per route, thus we make approximately eight trips to the landfill each day (four days a week). In theory, this would not change even if we went to trash pickup once a week because that would require the citizens to produce less trash.' This memo is designed to present to you factual information on this matter to help with discussion and decision. Recommendation It is the City Manager's recommendation that the City Council pursue a renewal with Waste Connection, Inc. instead of putting this out for competitive bids. The reasoning behind this recommendation will be discussed below. Legal Pursuant to Section 3 of the Agreement, the City should have provided an intent to renew no less than sixty (60) days prior to the expiration of the initial term. This of course did not happen as was discussed in the Background section. As will become clear in this memorandum, Waste Connection is offering to "renew" the contract in accordance with the renewal section of the recently expired contract, which terms are highly competitive. The City may enter into such a contract for landfill, i.e., solid waste disposal, services notwithstanding its failure to give notice of renewal under Section 3 because a governmental entity may procure such services without going through the competitive bidding process. Pursuant to Tex. Loc. Gov. Code Sec. 252.022(a)(2), a city may forego the competitive bidding process when making a purchase or entering into a contract that is necessary to preserve or protect the public health and safety of the city's residents. Awarding a contract for collection, hauling, and disposal of solid waste has been found to meet this criteria, and thus is exempt from the competitive bidding requirements. Browning-Ferris, Inc. v. City of Leon Dalley, 590 S.W.2d 729 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1979, writ ref d n.r.e.); Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM -908 (1988). 1 If the City had a transfer station, we would haul our trash to a central point in town and from there the City would haul it in mass – via eighteen wheeler – to the landfill, thus keeping our trash trucks and staff in town and back on the route sooner; efficiency is gained through this process. However, this is a significant capital investment that the City has not taken on and it is not something that can be done in any immediate sense due to funding, design and construction requirements. The City Manager would like for the City to examine this in the future as it would open up a lot of options.