Council reviews proposed 5-year curbside contract extension and discusses budgets, downtown snow removal and audit delays

The Saco City Council on Feb. 24 reviewed a proposed five-year extension of the city's curbside solid-waste collection contract with Casella, the company that has provided curbside collection for the city for many years. The council did not take a final vote; staff said the extension will return to a future meeting for formal action.

Interim Public Works Director Travis Moore told the council the proposal is for a five-year extension with a 5% price increase each year and would maintain the existing two-truck collection pattern. Moore said the contractor included a resident-facing app in its proposal that would help residents find disposal locations, transfer-station hours and contact details for items not collected curbside.

Moore and the administrator pointed the council to the tipping fee at EcoMaine as a major cost driver. "The tipping fee is what we pay at EcoMaine when Casella drops our waste off there. We pay by the ton. It's $105 a ton," Moore said; he added the fee rises annually based on CPI adjustments. Staff also noted the existing relationship with EcoMaine and the convenience of local disposal options for certain construction and demolition materials.

Councilor Berman asked how often the city goes to competitive bid and how the council would know whether a multi-year extension is still cost-competitive. Moore and the administrator replied that there are relatively few providers capable of municipal curbside service in the region and that the tipping fee is central to total cost, meaning collection costs would likely track local market rates; staff said they would pursue further review if the council requested it.

Several councilors praised the long-standing working relationship with Casella and said responsiveness had been satisfactory; others said they would want to revisit the contract in the future as more providers enter the state.

Councilor Johnston asked whether a shorter term would be preferable; he said he was "supportive" of the proposal now but that the council should review future options as the market evolves. Councilor Hatch and others said they were intrigued by the app and the predictability the multi-year deal provides for budgeting.

Staff emphasized the budget implications: the cost of curbside collection is a major item in the Public Works budget, and the five-year proposal would give the administration more predictability for FY26 budgeting. The city administrator also told the council that, while the city is still waiting for the formal audit, staff will provide an unaudited fund-balance figure for budgeting purposes: "It won't... be an unaudited fund balance at any rate, but it will be pretty darn close to what the audit comes out with," the administrator said, adding that the city will supply the figure so the council can meet ordinance requirements for fund-balance decisions.

Council discussion during the council-comments portion of the meeting touched on winter storm responses and downtown sidewalk snow removal. Councilor Johnston, who flagged downtown sidewalks as a recurring constituent concern, said funding to add a dedicated downtown sidewalk plow or pretreatment should be considered during the budget process. Moore noted equipment constraints (sidewalk-machine hoppers are small and parts are on national back order) and cautioned that pretreatment can be expensive and that brick sidewalks downtown require care to avoid deterioration.

Other council comments included a request from Councilor Gunn to schedule a workshop to revisit traffic-calming measures such as raised speed tables, and an expression of interest in re-engaging with neighboring Biddeford on cross-river regional projects once its interim city manager team is in place. Those items were proposed for future workshops rather than immediate action.

Votes taken earlier in the meeting (routine procedural actions) included approval of meeting minutes and the addition of a March 24 meeting to the council calendar; the council also approved a renewal of a special entertainment permit for the Biddeford-Saco Country Club. The five-year curbside extension was presented for review and will be returned to the council for a future vote.

The contract-extension proposal includes specific line items the council requested staff to clarify before a vote: the full contract term as presented by EcoMaine, the precise impact of the tipping-fee escalator over the proposed term, and any alternative short-term options (for example, a three-year extension) that might yield competitive bids.