City awards trash franchise to High Country Disposal

The Sisters City Council on September 25 voted four to one to turn over its trash-collection business to High Country Disposal (HCD).

The city has been reviewing High Country Disposal's franchise proposals since the beginning of the year.

The one dissenting vote was cast by councilor Lon Kellstrom. Just prior to the final vote, Kellstrom reiterated his position that "if this franchise passes it's the worst public policy decision in the 10 years I have been on the council."

"I don't think it's a great deal for the taxpayers," added Kellstrom.

The council took their time over the last few months to study HCD's proposal and to listen to resident's questions and concerns. The franchise agreement vote was delayed by Mayor Brad Boyd until the council's key concerns could be studied.

One of the main concerns was the potential loss of a monthly "profit stream" generated by the in-house refuse operation. This was Councilor Kellstrom's main concern with awarding the franchise to HCD.

Several weeks ago, prior to additional study and the public forum, Councilor Sharlene Weed was also concerned with a potential loss of revenue.

"I'm feeling uneasy about this," she said at an August 28 workshop. "It looks like we're willing to give up $7,000 per month for improved services from HCD. I've been getting a lot of questions and comments from the public, I'm not ready to vote on this. I'd like to wait and get more community input."

Council President Bill Merrill was also concerned about the financial impact of the franchise.

Over the past several weeks, councilors have been reviewing the numbers to understand the impact of awarding the franchise to HCD. Although HCD's books are not public, they allowed councilors to confidentially review their budget, profit margins, and history of rate increases in other communities.

This information, along with public input during the September 8 public forum, convinced Councilor Weed that awarding the franchise to HCD was right for the city.

"I was really skeptical about this (franchise agreement) before, but now I know that we aren't going to lose $7,000 a month. Brad Grimm's team (public works) will make this up in savings by doing projects in-house rather than contracting them out. On top of that, if we kept the refuse operation, we'd have to increase our rates almost 50 percent in a few years. HCD's rate increases have been much less over the years. And we'd still have to buy new equipment if we kept the operation," said Weed.

Merrill agreed with Weed.

"Franchising this operation out is right for today - and for the future of the city. Our community is growing and the franchisee is prepared for this growth," said Merrill.

Councilor Shawna Bell added, "Looking at it just from the citizens' perspective it's the best thing for them."

Following the vote, Brad Bailey, President of HCD, laid out implementation plans for the switchover.

"Our planning for the changeover has already begun, we'll be meeting with city staff and working out all the details immediately," said Bailey. "We want this process to be seamless for the residents of Sisters, we'll be working very closely with city staff to be sure we'll be servicing every customer correctly."

HCD expects to be "on route" October 1, with a letter arriving to every city customer on October 2 explaining all facets of the changeover.