Muskegon County approves Cell 7 landfill construction contract, property transfer for new lift station and several service contracts

Muskegon County on Feb. 6 approved a low bid of $3,421,840 to begin construction of Cell 7 at the county landfill, accepted a parcel from Continental Dairy Facilities LLC for a new lift station related to the Southeast Regional Force Main project, and approved several routine service and equipment contracts.

The board voted to award the base construction for Cell 7 to K and R for $3,421,840 and authorized a 10% contingency and the chair to sign the agreement. Wade Van Bosch, Muskegon County Public Works director, told the board, “we're currently filling Cell 6. This is Cell 7. There'll be 2 construction projects for Cell 7. The first is bringing in the base bill, that's this project.” Van Bosch said the county expects about three years of capacity remaining in Cell 6 and that the county has four permitted cells with an estimated 20 years of capacity across those four cells.

The landfill contract award drew routine questions about contractor experience and bid tightness. Van Bosch said the county has worked with K and R before and that the low price was below engineering estimates but within budget. The motion passed on a roll call with the board recorded as voting in favor.

The board also approved an agreement to buy and sell real property so the county can construct a new lift station tied to the Southeast Regional Force Main project. Van Bosch said the existing lift station cannot convey the proposed ultimate flows from Coopersville to the county wastewater plant, so the county will construct a larger lift station adjacent to the existing facility. He said the parcel is on Continental Dairy Facilities property and that the company is providing the land for the new lift station; Muskegon County will own and operate the facility. The parcel size was described in discussion as about 1.1 acres.

Other approvals at the Feb. 6 meeting included:

- An award for household hazardous waste (HHW) services for calendar years 2025–2027 to the recommended vendor (transcript: “8 kilo industrial service point”) and authorization for the chair to sign the contract. Van Bosch described the county's HHW program as operating from spring through fall with twice-monthly collection events that accept items such as batteries, fluorescent bulbs, pesticides, oils and gasoline; he said latex paint is not accepted at the HHW events. Mr. Johnson (county staff) clarified that latex paint is not considered a hazardous material and can be mixed with absorbent (for example, sand or kitty litter) for disposal.

- A contract for laboratory analytical services with ALS Environmental for calendar years 2025–2026 not to exceed $40,000.40 per year and authorization for the chair to sign the agreement.

- Approval to purchase a GMC Canyon for the resource recovery program for $43,739 and an amendment to the budget to cover the purchase.

- Acceptance of a $466,401.73 bid from Springbrook Supplies for replacement irrigation rigs and authorization to amend the budget and withdraw from reserve funds to cover the shortfall.

- Approval to dispose of surplus county assets following the county's disposal policy and to amend budgets as needed.

- Authorization to create an additional quality assurance supervisor position (grade 23) with an overlap period following the incumbent's retirement; county staff asked for approximately a four-month overlap to transfer laboratory information management system (LIMS) knowledge. County staff described the outgoing supervisor as the primary developer and maintainer of their LIMS and said replacing that institutional knowledge would present a learning curve.

- Extension of a contract for flow meter calibration and related services (contract extension amount and hourly repair rate were stated in the meeting record) with authorization for the chair to sign.

Votes at the meeting were recorded by roll call; the motions noted above passed on recorded votes in favor. No substantive public comments on agenda items were recorded during the meeting.

Why this matters: building Cell 7 advances the county's landfill capacity planning (staff estimate: roughly three years remaining in the current active cell), and the property transfer and new lift station are tied to the Southeast Regional Force Main project that will carry wastewater flows from Coopersville to the county plant. Several routine service contracts and equipment purchases were approved to support county operations.