At a city council workshop Aug. 28, City Administrator Kent Manton presented proposed renegotiations to the city’s solid-waste collection agreement with Waste Connections and asked the council for direction on next steps. Manton said the council previously instituted a 90‑day monitoring and evaluation period in April that has now ended. "In April, Council did institute a 90 day monitoring and evaluation period for our current vendor that has passed," Manton said.

The draft language aims to replace an automatic five‑year rollover provision with a three‑year term that must come back before council at the end of each term for renewal or nonrenewal. Manton said the shorter term would give the city more frequent opportunity to require performance fixes or to decline renewal. He explained the draft also adds a progressive set of penalties for substantiated service failures rather than making termination the city’s only remedy.

Why it matters: the contract governs regular household and commercial trash pickup for the city’s residents and businesses and the council must act before the current renewal period late next spring. Manton noted the current agreement will automatically roll over unless the city takes formal steps and said the contract’s renewal date is May 31, 2026, so the council has a window to decide whether to seek other vendors or to finalize revised terms.

Details of the draft: the proposed penalties are staged and tied to substantiated performance findings. As drafted, the first threshold identified is four substantiated complaints within a 60‑day period; a second threshold is eight substantiated complaints in 60 days; and the third is 12 substantiated violations in a 120‑day period, which the draft cites as grounds for termination. Manton said the draft also allows exceptions when failures are caused by customer error (for example placing material out outside the service window) or by extraordinary conditions such as flooding.

Council direction: members asked for time to review the draft. Several council members said they had not received the revised language in their packets until a few days earlier and requested more time. The group agreed to send the draft to the city attorney for legal review before any final signature or outreach to alternate vendors. Manton also asked whether council wanted staff to invite interested alternate vendors to present; council did not block that step but emphasized attorney review before contract execution.

What was not decided: the council did not adopt the draft contract at the workshop and gave no final authorization to sign. The workshop produced direction to staff to obtain attorney review and to return the matter to a future agenda after legal comments and additional council review.

Next steps and timeline: Manton reminded the council that the current renewal window runs into spring 2026 and said the city will need to give 60 to 90 days’ notice if it intends to seek a different vendor. He recommended that staff not execute any final agreement until the city attorney has reviewed the proposed language.