Spokane Valley is under negotiation on a new solid waste agreement. Using Spokane County’s service instead might help residents save over $400,000, according internal emails.
The Valley’s present agreement with Sunshine Disposal & Recycling ends at the end of the year, hence the city council spent months debating whether to choose a new vendor or renew.
Although the two had different suggested conditions, the city council finally agreed to negotiate a new 20-year contract with Sunshine. That vote took place hours after city officials sent Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb and others emails on possible county savings.
Senior Administrative Analyst Morgan Koudelka wrote, “I estimate that, with [Waste Management] removing the refuse tax from curbside if we went with the County, the total savings, [would be $223,668 for all residential subscribers and $176,489 for commercial subscribers.”
Several times the Center Square tried to get in touch with Koudelka but never heard back.
Though that represents what the Valley could have saved with the county compared to Sunshine’s three-year extension, Koudelka said in his email that an environmental charge of around $40,000 would counteract the amount but still result in savings of almost $360,000.
Given the city council chose a 20-year contract with higher rates, that $360,000 in possible savings would have greatly inflated. Lamb received the email before the vote, but based on the email timestamp, he neglected to relay it to Public Works Director Bill Helbig until later.
Before the July 23 vote, Lamb and Helbig informed the council so they might have gone over the savings before the meeting. Still, Lamb and Helbig withheld the possible savings from the council, which approved a 20-year contract people would eventually pay for.
The July 23 agenda states that Sunshine’s present deal called for the city to let Sunshine know “its intent to extend, terminate, or otherwise modify the agreement by August 1, 2024.” With its vote, the council satisfied this; yet, it might have also gone to negotiate with the county.
Communications Manager Jill Smith told The Center Square, “Due to the Council’s direction on July 23, the City has not had further discussions with the County; thus, at this stage, we cannot comment on the availability of the County’s services as an alternative.”
Smith said the city withheld the possible savings from the council since it lacked time to confirm their veracity before the later that evening meeting. She argued that although the council had a chance to query the providers about variations in charges, they did not.
On July 16 and July 23, Sunshine and Spokane County gave the council their rates; but, they did not discuss the whole cost to households or stress the $360,000 or more they may save.
“The majority of the Councilmembers agreed that despite Sunshine’s somewhat higher rate, their proposal aligns more closely with the city’s priorities,” Smith emailed.
Only Councilmen Al Merkel and Ben Wick opposed starting the negotiations with Sunshine. Smith said municipal staff will return with the negotiated conditions by the end of the year, which the agenda stated would be “under terms substantially the same” as supplied by Sunshine.
Notably, but not directly related, Sunshine and its staff members helped various council candidates going back at least 2017, including Mayor Pam Hayley, Councilmember Rod Higgins, former Councilmember Arne Woodward who lost the contest to Merkel last year.
