Landfill contract extended

Published 12:52 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2017

The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors tabled discussion regarding a new contract for its current landfill operator while temporarily extending the existing contract.

Wade Bartlett

The decisions included an increased bid from its landfill contractor, which operates the landfill located at 130 Trashmore Road.

County Administrator Wade Bartlett, during the meeting, cited inflation of repair parts, vendor prices, an increase of hauling leachate, an increase in trash deliveries and an increase in area to maintain due to opening a new cell as reasons for the increased bid.

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The new cell at the landfill was built last year. It is currently in use, Bartlett said.

Bartlett said the board issued a request for proposal (RFP) March 31 for landfill contractors. It received one response from its current landfill contractor, Wright’s Excavating LLC.

The board negotiated a contract with the firm, Bartlett said, and the resulting contract includes monetary increases.

Carroll Wright, the owner of Wright’s Excavating, died June 13.

The contract totals almost $2 million for three years, or for $55,000 a month, Bartlett said, which constitutes a 14 percent increase from the last contract, written in July 2012, which was $1.7 million over a 36-month term.

The new rates would result in an annualized increase of 2.8 percent, Bartlett said.

Though the bid has increased, Bartlett said that the costs, at a relatively low annual rate, will not result in any increased fees for the landfill’s users.

Lockett District Supervisor and Board Chairman Robert M. “Bobby” Jones praised Wright’s Excavating for its operation of the landfill.

An urgent matter caused the board to enter into an unexpected closed session during its June 13 meeting during the discussion of the landfill contract.

The session involved the “discussion of the award of a public contract involving the expenditure of public funds, including interviews of bidders or offerors and discussion of the terms or scope of such contract, where discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.”

Bartlett said as a result of the landfill discussion, the board decided to amend the current contract with the landfill provider and table a vote regarding the new contract. The contract was extended for 90 days, beginning June 30, with the new price rate.