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Board directs staff to pursue RFP, survey data after long waste-hauling debate
Summary
After months of mixed franchise participation and an expired five-year contract, trustees instructed staff to prepare an RFP and gather HOA-level data while pursuing parallel outreach to homeowners associations and vendors.
Trustees discussed the village's expired five-year waste-hauling franchise and whether to renegotiate with the incumbent hauler or issue a new request for proposals. The village manager summarized meetings with the incumbent, SBC, and with a consultant from the West Cook Solid Waste Agency; he said SBC indicated it could change its service model and that staff recommends negotiating with SBC while preparing market information.
Trustees and staff reviewed how the current franchise had fragmented: the village has about “roughly 1,700 household units,” the manager said, “roughly 1,400 are in associations” and "roughly 700 units" use dumpsters; about 1,100 are bins or bags. Several trustees and consultants said the existing opt-in/opt-out patchwork reduced bargaining leverage and complicated vendor interest. Trustee Jim and others urged an RFP to force market competition and to create a single, consistent model; others noted legal and transition costs and that some associations have active contracts with other haulers.
The board gave staff direction to prepare an RFP that would aim to include all single-family homes and townhomes (excluding large dumpster accounts), to compile a matrix of current contracts and unit counts for each HOA, and to survey residents on optional services (composting and leaf pickup). The village manager said the current franchise is on an extension to October and that staff will pursue a matrix of comparable municipal prices before issuing the RFP. No final franchise award was made; staff was instructed to report back with the RFP draft and HOA outreach plan.
The discussion included expressions of concern about legal risk and resident opposition to mandatory inclusion of HOAs, and multiple trustees asked staff to provide numerical analyses showing the contract’s total value and the price impact of opt-outs. The consultant suggested waste haulers dislike uncertainty; staff recommended asking vendors to price an “all-take” option (excluding dumpster accounts) and to include an optional paid leaf/compost pickup add-on.
