SOLID WASTE CONTRACT WILL SAVE JACKSON $500,000 OVER 20 YEARS

JACKSON -- Negotiations by the city of Jackson and Allied Waste Management Industries Inc.'s desire to compete locally in the waste-management business led to the solid-waste-management contract that will save Jackson an estimated $500,000 in landfill closure costs over the next 20 years.

Although the landfill is tentatively scheduled to close early next month, Mayor Paul Sander emphasized Tuesday the closure will have no impact on the city or its citizens.

The mayor said the closure "is still a positive development for the people of Jackson. Our responsibility for solid-waste management remains only in collecting solid waste in the city. We are out of the landfill business."

On March 7, Allied Waste Management signed a contract with the city to lease its sanitary landfill for a 20-year period. The contract was negotiated for the city by City Attorney David Beeson and Rich Bowen, a consulting engineer.

Allied intended to make improvements to landfill that would allow it to meet new EPA landfill regulations. It planned to make it a regional landfill, but test borings conducted last week by Allied engineers revealed several large underground cavities that make it almost impossible for the landfill to meet the new requirements.

Allied officials notified the city of the test borings and said they tentatively planned to close the landfill April 8, a day before the stricter regulations take effect. By closing the landfill before April 9, closure and post-closure costs will be less. Under terms of the contract, if Allied decides to close the landfill it will be responsible for closure and post-closure costs.

It's possible Allied could conduct additional test borings on other areas of the 100-acre tract of land it has leased. If the borings were positive, the company could apply for a Missouri Department of Natural Resources permit to open a new landfill under the new regulations.

Beeson said that in the long run it would be better for the city if Allied opens a new landfill because it would serve industrial companies that are using the landfill.

Allied has said it will apply to the Missouri DNR for a permit to open and operate a solid-waste transfer station at the landfill site, which is on County Road 241 west of Jackson.

Regardless of what happens, the city will come out ahead because of the contract with Allied.

Sander said: "Under terms of the contract, the city of Jackson will save an estimated $500,000 over the 20-year life of the contract, based on the cost of closing the existing landfill before April 9 and post-closure maintenance costs for the next 20 years.

"In return for signing the contract, the city of Jackson received a cash payment of $100,000 the day after the contract was signed. That money is now in a special account."

Sander said in addition to the $100,000, the city is guaranteed a minimum of $850,000 in additional revenue for the next 20 years, based on a minimum monthly royalty tonnage fee Allied will pay to the city for the life of the contract.

"Even if nothing comes into the transfer station, Jackson will still receive a minimum $3,500 each month," he said.

Allied also agreed to pay $66,000 toward resurfacing County Road 241. The city will provide another $33,000. Allied will also pay Jackson another $5,000 per year for the maintenance of the country road, from Highway 34 to the landfill road. Sander said the city would turn the money over to the Cape Girardeau County Highway Department as the repair work is done.

With the possible closure of the landfill next month, Sander said the city would not be opposed to renegotiating that portion of the contract, but not until it determines how much additional traffic, if any, the transfer station will generate on County Road 341.

The contract calls for Jackson to pay Allied a tipping fee at the transfer station for each load of solid waste it delivers. Sander said the tipping fee has not been determined, but: "We have been guaranteed Allied Waste Management's lowest rate. The exact amount will be set by Allied, but I don't think they will raise it too high because they would price themselves out of the market."

The mayor said there soon may be as many as four transfer stations in the region: at Jackson, Perryville, and the Neely's Landing area, near the Procter and Gamble plant. Cape Girardeau has a transfer station in operation.

One question that's being asked by some is why would Allied sign a contract before conducting the test borings. Sander and Beeson said the contract specifically stipulated that no testing could take place until the contract was signed. The mayor said: "Allied took a calculated risk that it would be able to enlarge the existing landfill into a regional landfill that would meet the regulations. They gambled and lost.

"They wanted to sign the contract as soon as possible, But it's not a total loss for them; they will have their transfer station near Jackson that will enable them to compete for additional solid-waste business."

There remains a possibility that new test borings could indicate the feasibility of opening a new landfill on the site, he said.

"I'm very proud of the outstanding work done by our city attorney and consulting engineer, the city staff, and the board of aldermen," said Sander. "I know that David and Rich were directly involved in the negotiations on an almost daily basis for over one month. The council put in a lot of long hours going over the contract with the engineer and city attorney to make sure we had ourselves covered to protect the citizens' tax dollars. The bottom line is that for the foreseeable future the people of Jackson will continue to enjoy a free solid-waste-pickup service."