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As the City of Powell works with Park County to secure an agreement to take Powell’s municipal solid waste (MSW) to Cody, the council approved a two-year contract with its transport provider, …
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As the City of Powell works with Park County to secure an agreement to take Powell’s municipal solid waste (MSW) to Cody, the council approved a two-year contract with its transport provider, Warren Transport Inc., out of Frannie.
The new contract raises the cost to the city by about 13%, reflecting inflation and increased fuel costs.
City Administrator Zack Thorington said the city reached out to other transport companies in hopes of getting more bids. One hauler said their insurance wouldn’t cover hauling garbage, and none of the others expressed interest in the contract.
Councilor Geoff Hovivian asked about the possibility of the city handling its own MSW transport. Thorington said it’s a possible option, but the costs, which include the purchase of a truck and the hiring of another position, would be “substantial.”
“I think we need to have a plan and present it at a later date,” Thorington said.
In the meantime, Thorington said, “We definitely need Warren. We don’t have that capability at this time.”
The two-year contract the council approved is a lower increase than last year, when the company raised costs by over 40%.
Besides the increased cost of transport, the landfill in Billings has also increased its tipping fees.
In 2014, the county’s $72 per ton tipping fee was considerably higher than the Billings fee of $26 per ton. Even with transport costs, Powell was saving money by hauling to Billings.
Billings has since increased tipping fees to over $44 per ton, and it’s expected to go higher in the next fiscal year. The county’s tipping fee is $74 per ton, but with Powell’s volumes adding to the revenues of Park County Landfill in Cody, the county is offering a $65 tipping fee.
At one time, Powell used a county landfill southeast of the city. Around 2012, it was closed to MSW due to cost-prohibitive upgrades required by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
“We’re to that point, where all the costs have gone up. With them shutting down our local landfill, we just don’t have something in our backyard. We have to take it somewhere,” Thorington said.
The contract allows either side to terminate the agreement with 10 days notice.
