Sunrise Landfill funding vote imminent

By Joe Schoenmann

Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 | 2 a.m.

A County Commission showdown that has been building for a couple of years is now set for the day after the highest profile U.S. presidential election ever — a day when the commission meeting is unlikely to get much media attention.

And the multimillion-dollar decision slated for Wednesday is coming before a commission with two lame ducks — two commissioners who won’t have to answer to voters if they raise their garbage rates.

That has one of the other commissioners seeking to keep the short-timers from voting on the matter.

Most of their colleagues have said they aren’t sure how they will vote because the county has locked itself into relying on Republic Services to collect everyone’s garbage for the next 26 years, and the heart of the current dispute, the problems at Sunrise Landfill, have to be dealt with.

Republic’s 15-year contract extension in 1999 was tied to company assurances that it would take care of Sunrise Landfill on its own, but now Republic says the price of cleanup and monitoring at the landfill has gotten so high that it should be allowed to pass along some of the cost to its customers.

Commissioners Susan Brager and Chris Giunchigliani are against that, and the county’s attorneys say the county isn’t legally obligated to approve the surcharge Republic is requesting.

“We made a deal and I just want them to stick to it,” Giunchigliani said.

But Bob Coyle, Republic Services’ area president, uses similar language when he talks about why the county needs to approve the increase in garbage bills. “A deal’s a deal.”

He and his attorneys interpret Republic’s contracts with the county as calling for the surcharge.

The acrimony runs so deep, Giunchigliani doesn’t even want the commission to vote on the issue the day after Election Day. She doesn’t think Commissioners Chip Maxfield and Bruce Woodbury — both of whom will be replaced in January — should cast votes on the surcharge because they won’t have to face what she predicts will be the wrath of constituents if it is approved.

Clark County doesn’t have restrictions on commissioners who will soon be leaving office, but lame duck restrictions are not unheard of.

In Tennessee, for example, school boards are prohibited from firing a school director, or contracting with a new one, for 45 days before and 30 days after an election.

The city charter in El Paso, Texas, prevents a lame duck mayor or city council from making appointments for city manager or any standing board, commission or committee, unless that prohibition conflicts with state laws or due process rights.

The Canadian community of Springwater, Ontario, in 2001 enacted a “lame duck councils” ordinance that forbids the approval of expenditures of more than $50,000 from 45 days before an election to inauguration day.

In Clark County’s case, Giunchigliani also questions the timing of the garbage surcharge vote coming one day after the election, when fewer people will be paying attention to what the commission is up to. An Oct. 14 memo from County Manager Virginia Valentine said the matter would be considered Nov. 18, not Nov. 5.

Valentine told the Sun the only reason it’s to be considered Wednesday is because “staff did the work and it’s ready.” As for the date change, she called it a simple mistake.

Valentine also said that if the commission recommends one of the surcharge options Wednesday, it will be at least another month before the matter goes through public hearings and receives a final commission vote.

So, how are the commissioners lining up?

• Brager, like Giunchigliani, is against any increase.

• Commission Chairman Rory Reid has abstained in the past because of conflicts of interest and is expected to do so again.

• Tom Collins said he isn’t sure which way he will go. Lawrence Weekly said the same.

• Woodbury said: “At this point, I’m not committed to any option that would pass an increase on to ratepayers.” But, he added: “We’re not talking about big numbers, but a few pennies per month.”

• Maxfield could not be reached for comment, but he has this year publicly disagreed with a county attorney’s opinion that Republic Services is responsible for paying for the entire cost of the landfill cleanup.

The Sun also contacted the major party candidates running for the seats being vacated by Woodbury and Maxfield.

Steve Sisolak, vying to replace Woodbury, said he is leaning against a fee increase, but would first listen to county attorneys.

In a televised debate, his opponent, Brian Scroggins, said Republic Services “should be held to the agreement that was stated.”

What that agreement says, however, is what the fight is all about.

Valerie Weber, who is vying for Maxfield’s seat, said she would vote against an increase. “Now is not the time to raise any fees on taxpayers,” she said.

Her opponent, Larry Brown, said he would want to be fully briefed before voting.

So, if Weber and Sisolak were elected, they could be expected to join Giunchigliani and Brager for a four-vote majority that could reject the fee increase. If Scroggins and Brown were to win, the outcome would be unclear, much as it is now.

Woodbury did say he’s amenable to postponing the vote until the new commissioners are sworn in.

And Woodbury’s right when he talked about the possible monthly increases as “pennies” — for residential customers. But it would cost quite a bit more for commercial and industrial customers. And over the years, it all adds up to millions of dollars.

At the request of commissioners in August, county staff came up with a report outlining the possible trash fee increases if the county pays 30 percent or 50 percent of the estimated $30 million Republic needs to complete work on Sunrise Landfill. That is on top of the $36 million the company has spent.

Residential customers would pay $1.68 more per year or $3.36 more per year. Annual commercial rates would increase $33.24 or $66.60. Industrial customer rates would increase $10.84 or $21.72 per year.

The surcharge could be in place anywhere from 3 1/4 years to 11 1/2 years, depending upon what combination of surcharge rates and percent payment is chosen.

The staff report also offers “Option 5,” the one Brager and Giunchigliani support: No percent increases, no years of payment and no additional fees for customers.

Picking that last option, however, very likely will be result in Republic taking the fight into a courtroom, and that would likely carry its own hefty price tag.

The standoff stems from a historic rainstorm in 1998. Sunrise Landfill is three miles east of the city, between Las Vegas and Lake Mead. It was the county’s dumping ground for roughly 50 years until it was closed in 1993. It was capped and not a problem until September 1998, when the Las Vegas Valley was deluged by what meteorologists called a once-in-100-years rainfall.

Torrents of storm water sent some of the landfill’s 25 million tons of waste into the Las Vegas Wash, which runs into Lake Mead.

In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency demanded Clark County and Republic fix the site. In April 1999, the county made a deal with Republic: The garbage hauler received a 15-year extension of its garbage-collecting contract, and Republic agreed to fulfill the EPA’s demands.

At the time, Republic estimated cleanup costs would reach about $36 million.

It was off by about $30 million. And to date, Coyle said, “almost nothing” has yet been done in terms of actual cleanup.

“Because in the process of writing all the plans that the EPA required,” he said, rattling off a list of plans including a health and safety plan, technical plans for a dam, and a plan for flow control. “We underestimated all the studying EPA made us do instead of the work,” he said.

All that studying cost much more than Republic initially calculated.

For example, Coyle said, “the plan ... had several hundred thousand (dollars) in ground water monitoring. And the EPA, after that document was signed, two years later said they wanted more than seven wells. It ended up being 59 wells.”

That alone boosted the cost from a few hundred thousand to $14 million, Coyle said.

“To this minute, they haven’t found ground water contamination,” he added.

Republic took in nearly $274 million in revenue last year from Southern Nevada. But most of the money the company budgeted for the landfill has been used, the company has said.

Coyle said the urgency to finalize the county deal comes from the fact that Republic’s agreements with the EPA were signed this year. Soon, the EPA is going to start demanding action.

Giunchigliani and Brager remain unmoved by Coyle’s lament.

The problem, they maintain, is Republic’s, not the ratepayers’.