County extends WCA solid waste contract; judge negotiating terms and length

The Columbia County Quorum Court Solid Waste Committee last week elected, by an almost unanimous decision, to extend the county’s current solid waste pick-up contract with Waste Corporation of Arkansas (WCA), therefore bypassing the open bid process. The county government had until the end of April to make a decision on the matter. Terry Williams, Justice of the Peace (JP) for District 11, was the only dissenting vote, and would have rather gone to bid on the matter. All county JPs but one were present at the meeting.

As part of the decision to extend WCA’s contract, the court granted County Judge Larry Atkinson permission to negotiate terms of the new contract. In the new deal, the county may either elect to extend the contract another three years or five years. The final terms of the contract should be voted upon at the May quorum court meeting, after the judge presents contract facts to county JPs.

WCA won Columbia County’s solid waste contract in 2015 after it secured the lowest bid. The deal was for five years but the county had the chance to opt out of the contract after only three years, which it did.

In the prior waste pickup term, El Dorado-based Get Rid of It held the contract. The company, and its president and owner Glenn Thweet, had been adamant about regaining the county’s solid waste pickup duties, but Get Rid of It would only have had the chance to do so if the contract again went out for bid. WCA and Get Rid of It were the only two parties heavily interested in the next contract.

WCA’s new contract is likely to include a new armada of trash trucks, along with a modernized recycle collection truck, fit with an automated arm system, which, the company claims, will slash blue-bin gathering times in half.

“We will provide additional new trucks for re-fleeting in the first quarter of 2019,” said Mike Howell, manager for WCA, during a previous presentation to the court. “We also want to go to an automated recycle [collection] instead of a man having to get on and off of the truck. We think we can be more efficient and pick up more recyclables that way.”

The WCA rep also stated that brush collection would be improved dramatically with the addition of a new “roll-off and grapple” truck.

The majority of the quorum court last week felt a 5-year contract with WCA should be the goal of the county, but, after much discussion, it was decided that the judge should negotiate the “best contract for the county,” regardless of length.

The 2015 WCA contract expires Aug. 1.

Although no official announcement has been made as of yet, typical Columbia County Quorum Court meetings are held at 5 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the county courthouse in downtown Magnolia.

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