Commissioners weigh public trash pick-up

February 22, 2010

Valencia County Commissioners are weighing whether or not to develop a public or private countywide solid waste pick-up program.

For months, the commission has debated how to start a mandatory curbside pick-up program, listening to presentations from both the private and public sectors.

Commissioners will need to decide if the county should create a government-run solid waste system in which the county buys equipment and possibly hires new employees to pick up residential and business refuse. The county also would be responsible for collecting fees from residents.

Their other option is a system managed an independent contractor that does all the work, including fee collection. Many county residents who live in the unincorporated areas already have solid waste pick-up through a private entity.

Last month, the county requested companies submit proposals for how they would operate a mandatory program.

The division between approaches was underlying a presentation before the commission last week. Phillip Jaramillo, the former administrator for the Village of Los Lunas, set up a government-run solid waste program for Los Lunas.

“Our thought was that we could, as a public entity, provide the service and do a good job,” Jaramillo said.

Valencia County has a solid waste department, primarily tasked with running the Conejo Transfer Station, where county residents can dump trash.

Jaramillo said the village had to borrow against its revenue to build its solid waste department, creating a financially self-sustaining curbside pick-up program within three years.

“You have to run it as a business,” he said.

Gentry wondered why the county doesn’t do just that — let a business run it.

“The difference is whether we control the employees and pay it and have that bureaucracy, or whether we just have a contract and somebody else does it,” he said.

Jaramillo wasn’t sure jobs would be created by a public program, since the county already has a solid waste department that might have enough employees to complete the task. But he said one benefit of a government-run program is that the county can guarantee anyone who is hired is local.

“It’s nice when you can provide jobs in your own community, granted anytime you have personnel you have headaches that come along with it, but you also have a way people can get jobs and sustain their families, buy homes and do those kinds of things,” he said.

Posted in: Services