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Public Works to recommend piggybacking Oregon fuel contract after Washington contract ended
Summary
Public Works reported a pending procurement to transition fuel supply to an Oregon state contract that lacks delivery fees and presented fleet fuel usage and costs to commissioners.
Sean Roehrig, fleet manager in Cowlitz County Public Works, briefed commissioners on county fuel procurement after the county’s prior vendor contract through the State of Washington was canceled at short notice in late 2024.
“I wanna talk about fuel for a little bit,” Roehrig said, and told the board that at the landfill alone the county spent roughly $580,000 on diesel in 2024. He said overall fleet usage typically averages about 500 to 750 gallons per day.
Roehrig said the department pursued options that would allow it to continue working with a preferred vendor without re-bidding and landed on using the State of Oregon’s fuel contract. He noted the Oregon contract is priced as a percent over rack pricing and — unlike some past contracts — does not carry delivery fees. “It’s very similar pricing as what the state of Washington has, except it does not have any delivery fees,” he said. Roehrig added that delivery fees on prior contracts had ranged from about $125 to $1,500 per load, and that the Oregon contract would expire at the end of 2025 though multi-year extensions are available.
Commissioners asked procedural questions; Roehrig explained the county can “piggyback” on another governmental contract under purchasing rules that require the external contract to meet county purchasing policy and be from a similarly constituted public entity. He said a formal contract and agreement will be presented to the board in the next few weeks.
Roehrig described storage and distribution arrangements: several county sites have bulk tanks (including 10,000-gallon tanks at road shops in Kelso and Castle Rock) used for emergency stocking, and many local haulers source fuel out of the Portland hub — the pricing point referenced in the rack pricing model.
Ending
Public Works will present the draft piggyback contract to the commissioners for formal approval in a forthcoming meeting; staff said they will continue monitoring state contracts and the market for price and tax differences.
