November 1, 2022 |
Dirty Boyz Sanitation and the City of Rawlins are squaring off in a rematch over a fight regarding rules on how trash collected in the city is processed and transferred to regional landfills.
On tonight’s agenda is a public hearing to discuss the revocation of the hauler license that Dirty Boyz holds because the company has been hauling waste collected in town to its privately-owned transfer station outside city limits. The city put the company on notice that it is in violation of the ordinance in a letter dated October 14, 2022.
In the letter, the city documented the number of truckloads of MSW that Dirty Boys had brought to the Rawlins Landfill/Transfer Station between August 22nd and mid-October, noting that the number of loads had declined significantly. In fact, over a three-week period between September 26 and October 14, Dirty Boyz had not delivered any MSW to the city-owned transfer station. The City Attorney alleged in the letter that company was diverting waste to its own facility. The city gave the company 10 days to come into compliance.
Pictured above: A March 2019 file photo of Dirty Boyz trash receptacles in Rawlins. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
Dirty Boyz responded with a letter indicting their intention of using their own facility. In the letter, the company asserts that garbage “has been transformed from a public ‘problem’ to property that is a valuable resource that can be treated as a commodity.” Dirty Boyz Sanitation stated that they intend to take the commodity they collect from their customers to the landfill in Erie, Colorado.
In 2016, the city and Dirty Boyz went to court over a “flow control” ordinance that requires licensed trash haulers to use the municipal solid waste transfer station. The city won the court case on appeal.
The Federal 10th Circuit Court ruled that the city’s flow control ordinance is constitutional, legal and enforceable.
The ordinance was originally enacted to offset the state-mandated closure of its unlined landfill. The cost of the phased closure was about $1.5 million. Then mayor Robert Grauberger told the city’s two trash haulers that once the city’s financial obligation to close the landfill was met, the flow control ordinance could be lifted.
In February of 2021, current Mayor Terry Weickum took office saying he intended to follow through on Grauberger’s promise.
Staff explored a number of options, but the ordinance stayed in place.
Rawlins pays about $54,000 annually on the remainder of a zero-interest loan from the state for the landfill closure. The loan has a payoff date of 2038.
According to staff analysis, if the license Dirty Boyz holds is not revoked, and the company continues to haul MSW to its own facility for transfer to Colorado, Rawlins residents could see the operating hours of city facility reduced and fees increased because of lost revenue.
If city revokes the license, residents could switch their service to Wyoming Waste, the other licensed hauler, or deliver household garbage to the transfer station themselves.
At tonight’s council meeting, a public hearing will be held first to discuss the issue followed by action under “new business” to revoke the license of Dirty Boyz to haul waste in the city. Tonight’s meeting begins at 7:30 in Council Chambers.
