Talking trash in City of Sisters

The Sisters City Council is getting ready to make a decision on who controls trash collection within the city limits.

City staff is reviewing High Country Disposal's latest franchise proposal effectively taking the City of Sisters out of the refuse business (see "City mulls contracting out for refuse collection," The Nugget, June 24).

One city councilor is not on board with letting this function go to an outside contractor.

In a guest opinion column printed in last week's Nugget ("Reject public resource giveaway," page 2) Sisters City Councilor Len Kellstrom wrote, "Accepting HCD's last proposal would be the worst public policy decision in the 10 years I have been on the Council."

Mayor Brad Boyd disagrees with that statement, and is not happy about Kellstrom's Nugget op-ed.

"It's very frustrating. Lon has the facts wrong, and scaring people doesn't help us move forward," said Boyd.

Sisters is the only municipality in Deschutes County that has an in-house refuse operation. Redmond, Bend, and Deschutes County all contract with High Country Disposal (HCD) for their refuse services.

Earlier this year an "improvement analysis" was done on the city's refuse operation. One of the key findings was the need to lease or purchase a new front-loading truck, making collection safer and more efficient. The city subsequently included the lease/purchase price of $240,000 for the vehicle in the FY 08-09 city budget.

The improvement analysis caught the attention of High Country Disposal, who expressed a desire to become the provider of Sisters' refuse operations. So, in January, HCD formerly proposed becoming Sisters' franchisee. Since that time there have been two rounds of proposals presented to the city.

Sisters city staff and city attorney are reviewing the revised proposal now. This proposal will be discussed at the next council workshop Thursday, August 14, at City Hall at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to Council workshops, and the regular Council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m.

HCD's Merle Irvine, in a memo written to Sisters city staff dated July 30, 2008, stated, "HCD has never submitted a detailed written proposal to the Council prior to our January 16, 2008 proposal, but has met with city staff on one occasion to discuss HCD's involvement."

While Kellstrom concedes this is the first time the city has received a written proposal, he believes HCD has wanted the city's refuse customers for many years.

"Getting the 800 or so city customers is icing on their cake, they already have the surrounding county customers. And frankly, I can recall them asking for this business all the way back to the Barbara Warren and Gary Frazee years," said Kellstrom.

Councilor Kellstrom believes the city will be giving away a revenue stream every month if HCD obtains the franchise.

"The city would be forced to give away a profit stream of over $7,000 per month! That's every month out as far as you can count," Kellstrom wrote in his op-ed.

City Manager Eileen Stein sees the long range financial picture of in-house trash collection in a different light.

"If the city maintains an in-house operation, an analysis of the city's Refuse Fund for the next five fiscal years initially shows a budget surplus through fiscal year 08-09, then a growing deficit for the next four years," Stein told The Nugget.

"The deficit projections are a direct result of future operating and capital equipment needs - vehicles, equipment, labor costs, gas prices and landfill fees," added Stein.

City staff this week are undertaking an extensive financial analysis in preparation for the August 14 meeting.

"I'm not exactly sure where Councilor Kellstrom came up with the $7,000 figure, but this week we are meeting with HCD and coming up with an accurate financial picture for the Council to evaluate in the workshop," said Lisa Young, Director of Finance & Administration for the City of Sisters.

City Manager Eileen Stein doesn't see a loss of revenue by franchising out the refuse service; she sees a cost savings.

"The $7,000 per year that Councilor Kellstrom mentioned, it's really hard to quantify it, but we will save that much money and more by bringing other projects in-house," she said.

Stein uses as an example the recent road preparation work performed by Public Works Director Brad Grimm's team on the "East Cascade re-route" project.

"Brad was able to save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars (on the final contractor's bid) by having his team do the road preparation work," said Stein.

No city staff positions will be eliminated in a changeover, although one open position will not be filled.

Councilor Shawna Bell is in favor of the franchise agreement.

"I believe we should seriously consider outsourcing the garbage operations to HCD. They have the equipment and personnel to run the operation with added services such as curb-side recycle pickup and yard debris pick-up for the same cost the city would be charging. Bottom line is that the citizens will get added services for the same price, and the city will avoid purchasing approximately a half-million dollars in equipment in the near future," said Councilor Bell. 

Council President Bill Merrill is taking a wait-and-see approach.

"None of us (councilors) have seen the final proposal yet. I have asked Eileen Stein and Lisa Young, as they put together the final financial picture, to put it into language the average layman can understand," said Merrill.

Councilor Kellstrom believes the Council vote on the franchise agreement will not go his way.

"I think it's a done deal (HCD obtaining the franchise). But I firmly believe that our present refuse operation can continue to be a revenue generator if operated wisely, funding other city departments, and we can still use our refuse operations staff on other projects that will save the city money," said Kellstrom.