Garbage contract finalized
By Greg Bird
birdman@tmcvoice.com
Monday afternoon Poff Carting and the McCreary County Fiscal Court officially signed a five-year contract for garbage collection services in the county.
Poff Carting, based out of London, won the bid to provide the service in September, beating out long-time provider Scott Solid Waste, who submitted the only other bid.
While the contract is pretty standard, there are some interesting things to note in some of the language.
Judge Executive Doug Stephens stated Tuesday there had been discussions between the County and Poff Carting concerning the enforcement of the ordinance passed earlier this year.
“The parties to this agreement acknowledge that franchisee (Poff) has bid its prices with the understanding that county residents and businesses will timely and faithfully pay invoices for collection of solid waste and that the county will take measures to enforce such collection,” the contract states.
Judge Stephens indicated both parties would share the burden of identifying residences not subscribed to collection service and forwarding that information to the County Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution of a misdemeanor offense.
Under terms of the contract, both Poff Carting and the County would be responsible for enforcing collection.
Section 18 of the contract specifically details that participation is “mandatory.” It reads: “all owners and occupants of residential property in the county and all commercial business establishments shall be required to participate in the solid waste collection provided in this Agreement. Participation is mandatory.”
Under the terms Poff “may provide information in the form of affidavits or otherwise to law enforcement agencies” of property owners, business establishments, occupants and residences that fail to comply with the county garbage ordinance by not subscribing to the garbage service or are delinquent in their account. It will be the responsibility of the county to send notices to individuals or businesses that are in arrears more than 60 days or are non-compliant in an effort of rectify the issue.
After one notice has been delivered, the county may then forward the information to the County Attorney for possible legal action.
Another term of the contract stipulates Poff Carting will pay the county a franchise fee of 5.5 percent of monthly gross receipts of fees (excluding dumpster rentals) if more than 4,200 residential customers are signed up for service. That percentage increases to 6.5 percent if participation rates exceed 5,200 households. If the rate is below 4,200 no franchise fee would be paid to the county.
Additionally, if Poff Carting finds the county is not enforcing the ordinance by failing to send notice letters to, or prosecuting non-compliant residents, they will also withhold any franchise fee payments.
The approved rates for residential service will be $15.45 per month, which would allow for curbside pickup of up to six 30 -gallon bags per week for each single-family residence. Senior citizens, and those eligible for homestead exemptions would get a $1.50 per month discount.
Bulk item collection will be available at rates between $10 and $20 per item depending on size and weight.
The company will also operate the Transfer Station on an abbreviated schedule and will only accept waste and bulk items from current customers.
Poff Carting is expected to begin contacting residents by letter this month, informing them of the changes to the service that will begin the first of the year. More information on the changeover will be published as it becomes available.
Six years ago Poff Carting had submitted a bid prior to the previous contract, but ultimately withdrew their proposal after the Fiscal Court rejected all initial bids and requested the bidding companies submit proposals based on a collection rate provided by the county.
