Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 114, No. 40	October 3, 2007

Refuse collection bid field for Meade County narrowed to two firms

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

And then there were two.

Following a closer review of the four garbage bids received last month, members of the county’s solid waste advisory committee narrowed the list.

Using a spreadsheet, prepared by committee member Dennis Farmer, members reviewed each individual bidding packet to ensure the required materials were included.

Two bidders, Red River Service Corporation and Rumpke, didn’t include all materials.

Red River spokesperson David Cooper said the liability and workman’s compensation insurance certificates would be supplied, if they were awarded the bid.

“This is just standard operating procedure and we’ll supply them after we receive the bid,” he said.

The firm also didn’t supply the necessary license to handle waste in Kentucky, but Cooper said they were at their Fort Knox office.

Officials said, since the firm didn’t supply the required materials, they would be eliminated from consideration.

“I feel like I’m the outsider looking in,” Cooper said, when given a chance to speak.

Acknowledging his firm failed to provide the necessary documentation, Cooper said the matter boils down to service and quality.

“And as we told the Fiscal Court previously, we didn’t change our bid,” he said. The firm did decrease their price, although Cooper didn’t acknowledge that.

“We do have the documents and can provide them to you,” Cooper said. “We have been in business since 1953 and we do a good job.”

A representative from Rumpke wasn’t present at the Sept. 24 session.

Advisory committee members questioned Rumpke’s application due to the fact it didn’t include a waste handling permit.

Other bidders were Waste Management, with a local office in Louisville, and Waste Transport, headquartered in Elizabethtown.

“We need to get a clarification on the waste handling permit,” board member Gerry Lynn said, to which Farmer said, if they did, Red River still wouldn’t qualify.

Lynn also felt committee members shouldn’t consider option one, which let the firm handle the billing, adding he thought the county was better off to complete billing in-house.

Waste Management’s Tim McNally was a little unclear of the bad debt angle, thus he focused his attention on the second option.

Both McNally and Waste Transport’s Wayne Smith expressed interest in retaining the present employees.

“We’re a huge company, but we’re local,” McNally said. “And as far as safety, we talk it, eat it, breathe it and preach it all day. There are a lot of safety standards and they are ingrained in us every day.”

Farmer expressed the committee’s appreciation to vendors for the bids and indicated further discussion could come at a Fiscal Court session, tentatively planned for Oct. 4.

“This is going to be a big decision and there is going to be a lot to take in,” Magistrate Herbie Chism said. “When we do it we want to make sure we have done it right.”

Also attending were solid waste/recycle coordinator Mark Gossett, committee member Debbie Troutman and Magistrate Tom Goddard.

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