November 2, 2022 |
Rawlins City Council last night decided to punt on the issue of whether to revoke the trash hauling license held by Dirty Boyz Sanitation.The action item was on last night’s agenda, but council voted to postpone the decision.
The reason for the vote is that the city alleges that the garbage collection company is violating the municipal flow-control ordinance which requires trash collected in the city be delivered to the municipal transfer station. Dirty Boyz does not dispute the city’s claim.
The flow-control ordinance was enacted in 2016 to pay off two loans worth $1.5 million needed to comply with a state-mandated order to shut down the city’s unlined landfill. The ordinance went into effect shortly after Dirty Boyz had built its own transfer facility. The company sued and lost over its claim that the ordinance is unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Dirty Boyz appears to have been in compliance until this past summer when it began diverting trash collected in the city to its own transfer station located in the county west of town.
On October 14, the city gave Dirty Boyz 10 days to comply with the ordinance after documenting the number of loads being brought to the transfer facility had declined to a virtual stoppage. noting that its regular trips to the landfill had declined. Dirty Boyz responded with a letter essentially saying they would continue to use its own facility in a flagrant violation of the ordinance.
Mayor Terry Weickum told Bigfoot 99 that the company’s actions are putting the city in an untenable position. The mayor said the city might have to raise landfill rates if Dirty Boyz does not come into compliance.
Pictured above: A March 2019 file photo of Dirty Boyz trash receptacles in Rawlins. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
From its own transfer station west of town, Dirty Boyz hauls the waste to a landfill in Larimer County, Colorado. Rose Cain told Bigfoot 99 on Tuesday that the landfill there does more than just allow trash to decompose. The operation doubles as a bio-gas plant where the methane gas produced by the trash is captured and sold.
Cain is researching the possibility of starting a similar operation here.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Councilman Weisenburg made the motion to postpone the decision with Councilwoman Linda Smith offering the second.
Former city attorney Amy Bach, who is representing Dirty Boyz in the current dispute with the city over the flow control ordinance, objected to the council’s decision to postpone. Bach said the city had given Dirty Boyz a short time to respond to the notice of violation and the delay in making the decision was causing a financial burden to Cain.
Without discussion, council proceeded with the vote to postpone. The motion passed 4-2. Councilman Aaron Durst and Vice Mayor Jacqueline Wells voted no. Councilman Darril Garner abstained because of a family connection to the company.
Mayor Weickum said council members will spend the next two weeks seeking legal advice and researching the issue. One of the rubbing points for trash haulers like Dirty Boyz is the “tipping fee” at the Rawlins transfer station, which is relatively high at $130/ton.
Cain told council last year that the tipping fee in northern Colorado is closer to $85, making trash hauls their more profitable for her company. Mayor Weickum said the tipping fee is one of the issues council will research.
The council will revisit the matter at its next meeting.
