Cheney council OKs solid waste contract

Tuesday night, the Cheney City Council ended five years of hard work by city staff to make the city self-sufficient when it comes to handling its solid waste by unanimously approving 5-0 a contract with the city of Spokane to dispose of Cheney’s garbage at the Waste to Energy plant on Geiger Boulevard.

City officials stressed that the contract is only for disposal and only with the city of Spokane. The contract does not make Cheney a part of the regional solid waste plan being touted by Spokane County.

“This agreement is a direct reflection of disposal, of what we drop off at the Waste to Energy plant,” Cheney’s public works director, Todd Ableman, told the council prior to the vote.

Ableman said the agreement commences at midnight, Nov. 17, 2014 – just after the 1989 interlocal agreement creating the former regional system expires. Cheney’s contract with Spokane will run through 11:59 p.m., Nov. 16, 2021 unless terminated via provisions set forth in the contract, which allows either party the option to cancel the contract with 12 months notification. Three, one-year extensions are also provided.

Under the contract, Cheney will pay $60 per ton of municipal waste received at the plant, a price that includes all costs including applicable taxes. Ableman pointed to a section of the contract that requires Spokane to maintain the plant in “good working order and repair” so that Cheney can dispose of its municipal waste, a provision he said meant Spokane could not increase its per ton charge to Cheney should it have to make repairs or necessary upgrades.

Cheney Mayor Tom Trulove also pointed out the contract carried a “favored rate clause” which would require Spokane to offer Cheney a lower per ton disposal rate should it ever enter into a contract with another jurisdiction to provide disposal services less than $60 per ton.

Trulove said the negotiations with Spokane had proven to be “positive experiences” that likely broke new ground regarding solid waste disposal. He also noted city staff had worked hard on creating a solid waste plan for Cheney, one the Department of Ecology commented in its acceptance letter was “one of the best they’d ever seen.”

“A lot of hard work went into this and I think Cheney residents will benefit from the efforts of the staff, the mayor and Councilman (Doug) Nixon,” Councilwoman Teresa Overhauser said.

Nixon was part of Cheney’s team negotiating with the city of Spokane.

In other business on a busy agenda, the council voted 5-0 to declare a piece of city property in the Golden Hills/Street of Dreams subdivision as surplus in order to offer it for sale. The 8,149 square foot, triangular-shaped parcel is located at the west end of the cul de sac on Marcella Drive, and is the site of a city water booster station.

Ableman said the portion to be sold will not be more than 4,800 square feet, and will be contingent on the buyer obtaining a boundary line adjustment from the city combining the adjacent property.

The selling price of the parcel will be set at $3.68 per square foot of assessed valuation, and can take place either through a “sealed bid process or direct sale to another governmental entity.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.