Sonoma County supes reject landfill deal

<p>A proposal to sell the Sonoma County landfill to an Arizona waste processor was scuttled Tuesday when Supervisor Efren Carrillo cast a key vote against it.</p><p>Because the land deal required agreement from four of the board's five supervisors, the proposal to sell the Mecham Road facility and four trash transfers stations died when Carrillo joined Supervisor Shirlee Zane in voting no.</p><p>The vote, coming after two hours of debate and heavy criticism during public comment, was a dramatic turnabout from a voice vote a month ago to turn over landfill operation to Republic Services of Phoenix, Ariz. After the initial vote, Zane declared her opposition.</p><p>The deciding vote Tuesday was cast by Carrillo, who represents the west county where two of the four transfer stations are. He said he was troubled by financial terms in the proposal and by what he viewed as inadequate Republic commitment to diversion of trash away from burial and toward recycling.</p><p>Carrillo said the financial terms of the proposal “have some flaws” and the agreement's trash diversion provisions were inconsistent with the county's goals to improve climate protection and reduce greenhouse gas production.</p><p>Many in the audience of about 100 people applauded when Carrillo said the proposed sale agreement “needs four votes of the board, and it does not have four votes to proceed.” </p><p>Under the deal reached after two years of competitive bidding and subsequent negotiations, Republic Services would have processed most of the trash generated by Sonoma County for the next 20 years. In exchange, Republic would have paid $2.7 million a year in annual royalties to the county and funded installation of a $70 million liner necessary to obtain a state license to reopen the dump.</p><p>At the order of state water quality regulators, the landfill was closed in 2005 because of concerns that leakage would damage groundwater. Since then, trash trucks operated by North Bay Corp. have made 65 trips each weekday taking the refuse of county residents to East Bay dumps.</p><p>Exploration of landfill sale was ordered by the previous board, which did not include Zane and Carrillo who took office in January. </p><p>Public Works Director Phil Demery said his staff concluded that sale, called divestiture in government terms, was the only way to reopen the Mecham Road facility and get someone else to pay for it.</p><p>Demery has warned that state regulators are about a year away from ordering the county to either reopen the dump or institute environmental cleanup with costs estimated at $21 million.</p><p>“If you want an in-county solution, it is divestiture,” Demery said. “If you want any other option, it is too late.”</p><p>Supervisors Paul Kelley, Mike Kerns and Valerie Brown voted for the sale, although Brown and Kerns admitted they had lingering doubts about certain aspects of the proposed agreement.</p><p>Kerns, whose south county district includes the Mecham Road facility, lamented that two years of closed-door negotiations resulted in the public and city councils having little more than two months to review the proposal.</p><p>“I may have doubts, but you have to weigh things as best you can,” Kerns said. “Divesture is the next best alternative to getting it open.”</p><p>Brown said she supported the agreement with Republic because it “keeps alive” the possibility that the dump could reopen while county officials sought assurances of trash flow commitments from city governments. Still, she said “it is clear to me that we should have included the cities all along” in negotiations in order to garner widespread support.</p><p>Members from several city councils told supervisors that their panels had so many reservations about long-term trash commitments that their cities were in no position to sign on to the agreement. They included Debra Fudge of Windsor, Mike McGuire of Healdsburg, Pamela Torliatt of Petaluma and Gary Wysocki of Santa Rosa.</p><p>“It seems that the less garbage going to landfill, the more we will pay,” McGuire said. “You need to bring the cities in at the beginning, not at the end.”</p><p>Kelley, however, said the county is making a mistake by rejecting the Republic proposal.</p><p>“If the county goes through the reopening or the closure process, it will be expensive and those expenses will be on the back of the ratepayers and the taxpayers,” he said. “I do hope that those people who are willing help do come with a big checkbook.”</p><p>Zane, however, said she rejected the Republic proposal because “this agreement does not have a constituency as far as I can see.”</p><p>During several public hearings on landfill, dozens of opponents raised objections and only one county resident expressed lukewarm support.</p><p>Although the opportunity for public comment on the Republic deal had ended in early October, at least 20 speakers told supervisors Tuesday that it was a bad deal for county residents.</p><p>“This deal with Republic locks us into a gloomy solid waste future,” said Ann Hancock, director of the Climate Protection Campaign.</p><p>With rejection of the Republic proposal, Demery said his staff is likely to return to supervisors next week with an outline of options, including continuing to truck garbage out of the county, solicitation of new proposals for landfill operation and creation of a joint powers authority to manage a publicly owned landfill.</p>