Cashmere approves 10-year Waste Management contract in split vote

CASHMERE — Cashmere will continue using Waste Management for garbage and recycling service under a new 10-year agreement approved in a 3-2 City Council vote Sept. 14, with Councilmembers Chris Carlson and John Perry opposing the deal.

The agreement comes with an initial 10% rate increase, followed by annual adjustments tied to inflation, and continues the city’s relationship with the company as its solid waste removal provider.

Waste Management representative Tyler Mackay told council members the new agreement is intended to provide long-term stability while accounting for increasing labor, equipment, disposal and transportation costs.

The proposal returned to the council after members tabled it in August amid questions about the size of the increase, the company’s costs and whether Cashmere had meaningful alternatives for garbage service.

Perry again questioned the financial side of the agreement, including how Waste Management arrived at the proposed rates and what costs were driving the increase.

Mackay said Waste Management’s expenses have increased and pointed to changes in the broader solid waste system, including Chelan County requirements governing where collected material must be taken.

Under the county’s flow-control system, Waste Management must haul Cashmere’s garbage through the Dryden transfer station rather than choosing a potentially less expensive disposal destination. Mackay said that requirement affects the company’s costs and ultimately the rates charged to customers.

The contract begins with the 10% increase rather than establishing similarly sized increases each year. Future adjustments will instead be tied to the Consumer Price Index under the formula contained in the agreement.

The 10-year term also drew scrutiny from council members as they weighed the benefit of locking in service against committing future councils and residents to a long-term relationship with a single provider.

Waste Management is effectively Cashmere’s only curbside garbage option. City code requires residents to maintain garbage service, while Waste Management is the only licensed hauler serving the city aside from residents hauling their own waste to a transfer facility.

That limited choice was part of the council’s earlier discussion when the agreement was tabled, with members questioning how much leverage the city had to negotiate rates when there was no competing hauler ready to provide the same service.

Mackay told the council in August that Waste Management was seeking increases elsewhere as well and pointed to a larger increase proposed in Wenatchee as evidence that Cashmere’s increase was not unique.

The Sept. 14 discussion ultimately came down to whether the terms negotiated by the city represented a reasonable way to maintain required service despite those rising costs and limited alternatives.

Councilmembers Jeff Johnson, Joyce Williams and Jayne Stephenson voted in favor of the agreement, while Carlson and Perry voted against it.

The new contract keeps Waste Management in place for the next decade while shifting future rate increases away from individually negotiated jumps and toward an inflation-based formula.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media