County to begin negotiations with intent to sell landfill

For the past several months, White County has been accepting proposals from companies interested in purchasing the White County Landfill, and, this week, the decision was narrowed down to one of those companies.

“Two companies turned in proposals,” Kyle Goff, chairman of the county commission, said.

Goff said Waste Management and Republic Services had responded to the Request For Proposal (RFP) process.

“After intense review, on Jan. 4, the Solid Waste Committee scored the RFPs on a 0-100 scale that was comprised of several different categories,” Goff said.

According to Goff, Waste Management scored a 96.6, while Republic Services scored a 91.3.

“Because the variance was less than 10 points, the next step is a presentation by both parties to the Solid Waste Committee,” Goff explained. “The presentation portion will be scored separately and factored into the overall score.”

Despite the winter storm that had blanketed the entire state, the meeting between the two companies and the White County Commission took place Jan. 16, with Republic Services receiving a score of 6.5 on their presentation and bringing their total score to 97.8, while Waste Management scored 6.93 on their presentation for a total score of 103.5

“The factors that I personally considered were operational plan, monetary offer, retention of White County employees, recycling innovation, longevity of disposal of waste for White County and no cost, and community involvement,” Goff said, adding that the presentations were very informative and played a major factor in determining the future of the county’s Solid Waste Department.

On Jan. 22, the county commission voted 10 to 1 in favor of allowing White County executive Denny Wayne Robinson, who will be assisted by the county’s attorney and other key stakeholders, to enter into negotiations with Waste Management, the company with the highest scoring on both their written proposal and their in-person presentation. Chris Brewington, who represents District 1, was the lone nay vote, while Jordan Cocke (District 5), T.K. Austin (District 2), and Roger Mason (District 6) were absent and therefore did not cast a vote.

“This was not a vote to sell the landfill,” Goff explained. “The vote is only to accept the RFP and move to the next step of negotiations.”

Both parties, Waste Management and White County, will begin negotiations, and only when an agreement is reached will the county commission be asked to vote on approving a final sale. As with any sale of property, should that take place in the future, there will be a lengthy period of time between the vote and the actual closing date as well. According to Goff, selling the landfill, should an agreement be reached between the parties, is still months away.

Goff encouraged anyone with questions or concerns about the process to reach out to him at kyle.goff@whitecountytn.gov