The Board of Supervisors voted 3-1, with Supervisor Anthony Farrington voting no, to supporting Lake County Waste Solutions moving forward with upgrading its Soda Bay facility. Supervisor Rob Brown was absent for the vote.
As part of that decision, the board is requiring county Public Services staff to report back in six months on the company's progress, at which time the board also will consider whether or not to go ahead with closing the transfer station.
Board members also told staff when they bring back that report to agendize a discussion on implementing mandatory garbage collection in the unincorporated areas of the county, which is believed to aid in reducing illegal dumping. In addition, they'll consider imposing road impact fees on garbage haulers and a possible rate adjustment if the fees are put in place.
Public Services Director Kim Clymire supported the idea of letting Lake County Waste Solutions take over the transfer station, which the company has guaranteed it can do with no additional cost to customers or the county. The company already has a transfer station permit but would need to upgrade its permit to take the additional trash.
“The driving force behind this is economics,” said Clymire.
He said the transfer station's equipment continues to break down despite continual, expensive maintenance. After $100,000 in repairs 18 months ago, the station's compactor is again needing repairs, which could run from another $100,000 for a basic fix to $1 million for a full unit replacement.
At the same time, Lake County Waste Solutions is proposing to transition from a mini transfer station into a larger facility.
“In essence what we're trying to do is minimize and cut our losses on this transfer station,” Clymire said.
The transfer station receives about 14 percent of total waste stream, said Clymire, with between 6 and 9 percent coming from residents. Processing waste at the facility is much more expensive, costing $90 per ton as opposed to $37 at the landfill in Clearlake.
Lake County Waste Solutions has offered to handle that waste stream for the same $48 per ton that the county currently charges to take trash at the transfer station, Clymire said.
The down side is the possible loss of three employee positions, which Clymire said could be transferred within the county or assumed by the company.
If the company will take over handling the trash at no extra cost to the county or ratepayers, “To me the term win-win comes to mind,” said Clymire.
Supervisor Denise Rushing said privatizing services can solve some issues but cause others. She pointed to private companies' control of water systems as an example.
She asked how a private company could operate the transfer station at a lower cost than the county, and said it's a policy question for the county if it's really better to let services be operated privately.
Farrington said he disagreed with Public Services' support of the plan. “We are in the business of providing public services.”
He added that he's especially concerned about increased traffic and the resulting impact on roads and air quality, along with loss of convenience to the community. Farrington asked to see another option.
Supervisor Jeff Smith supported the idea of having Lake County Waste Solutions take over the services. “I like the idea of smaller government rather than larger government.”
He referred to the company's plan to add machinery that would offer better separate of garbage, resulting in pulling out extra recycled materials. “It's exactly what we should be looking at doing,” he said. “It's going to save us a lot of money.”
Rushing said she felt there was a series of decisions the board needed to make, beginning with whether or not to close the transfer station. The temptation to privatize, she said, often is due to the kinds of capital investment issues the county is facing.
“All of this is connected,” she said. “It's not just one decision on a transfer station here.”
Bruce McCracken of Lake County Waste Solutions said his company could begin immediately working on the permitting process to upgrade the Soda Bay facility. He estimated that construction itself would take between six to eight months.
Community Development Director Rick Coel told the board that the project would likely take six months to move from the permitting process to Planning Commission approval.
Rushing had raised the issue of instituting mandatory garbage collection services, an idea Smith said he wanted to explore further. “It's way past time.”
That discussion of mandatory collection resulted in the direction to staff to bring the subject back for further discussion in six months.
Clymire told Lake County News last week that the county's garbage rates are extremely affordable – averaging about $10 a month for recycling, greenwaste and trash. It's so affordable, he added, that it doesn't make sense for people not to have it.
The county currently collects 130 tons of garbage a day, with 20 tons of it going through the transfer station and 110 tons directly to the landfill.
The landfill is expected to be able to continue accepting trash through 2024, said Clymire. “The more we can divert, that will push out our expectancy.”
If everything goes well and Lake County Waste Solutions is able to move through the permitting process, Clymire said the company could be ready to take over the waste stream from the transfer station in about 18 months.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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