County Commission Discusses Future Solid Waste Franchise

August 24, 2021, The Board of Commissioners conducted a workshop to discuss the status of the Solid Waste Franchise. The Board met in Silver Springs with a handful of people attending the meeting in person or by Zoom. County Manager Jeff Page presented the item by providing the Board with an overview of the current franchise with Waste Management and then asked the Board to provide direction on what the Board expected with a future agreement.

Decades ago Lyon County established a franchise for residential, commercial, and industrial refuse disposal. Lyon County believes the current franchise has expired and will be seeking bids for the franchise later this fall. The current franchise Agreement provides

• Franchisee the exclusive duty, right, and privilege to collect, transfer and dispose or otherwise handle all Solid Waste and other Waste materials generated, deposited, accumulated, or otherwise coming to exist in the Franchise Area.
• All residential premises, multifamily complexes, and commercial and industrial businesses within the Franchise Area shall be required by Franchisor to utilize the Solid Waste collection services of Franchisee provided hereunder. For purposes of clarification, loads of industrial/commercial dry waste (i.e. non-putrescible) material shall be subject to Franchisee’s exclusive rights under this Agreement.
• The Franchisee pays the County a 4% Franchise Fee (Approximately $226,000.00/year)

The Board expressed that they did not want mandatory trash pick up or recycling. The Board seeks to maintain a single franchise in which the franchisee will provide residential, commercial, and industrial disposal services. The Board requested that construction debris and large non-putrescible or garbage operations be excluded so that the public could shop the best price for roll-off dumpsters. The discussion of green waste triggered a direction to ensure that the various Fire Districts practices be allowed and not required to haul vegetation to a transfer station.

The Board requested language that would provide not-for-profit clean-up operations like the Desert Pigs additional free dump vouchers or price breaks to dump at transfer stations.

The Board addressed the issue of Transfer Stations and requested standardized pricing and hours of operation as well as direction to update the facility in Silver Springs to be able to provide the same services, prices, and hours as the facilities throughout the County.

County Manager Jeff Page explained to the Board that staff would provide the Board with a Resolution directing staff to move forward with seeking proposals for the franchise including the changes requested. Staff will present the resolution at the September 16, 2021 meeting.

Current Franchise: https://www.lyon-county.org/DocumentCenter/View/10915/WM-Lyon-County-Franchise-Agmt-Signed-Copy

Staff Presentation:: https://www.lyon-county.org/DocumentCenter/View/10914/SOLID-WASTE-FRANCHISE-WORKSHOP