Chester council awards five-year residential refuse contract to Casella Mid Atlantic; rejects electrical RFPs and approves parking and utility-policy actions

At its Sept. 10 meeting, Chester City Council approved a package of administrative resolutions that included awarding the city’s residential refuse and recycling contract and several non-operational items.

Residential refuse and recycling: The council voted to award bid number 2025-009 for collection of residential refuse and recycling to Waste Industries of Delaware Incorporated, also referred to in the contract as Casella Mid Atlantic LLC. The contract rate is $13.93 per household per month, with an annual cost escalator of 3 percent. The contract start date shown in the resolution is Jan. 1, 2026; the resolution cites a 5-year total price and notes the city reserves the right to extend for years six and seven.

The resolution text included a five-year total of $8,786,003.91 (figures read aloud during the meeting were unevenly delivered, but the adopted resolution documents the total) and accepted variable rates for dumpster and roll-off services per attached specifications. The city solicitor will conduct a final review before the contract is executed.

On-call electrical services: Council voted to reject all proposals submitted in response to the city’s request for proposals for on-call electrical services (RFP submissions were due March 25, 2025). Meeting materials and the resolution said the committee reviewing proposals determined, based on project budget concerns and a need to reconsider the scope, that awarding a contract is not in the city’s best interest at this time.

On-call towing: The council also authorized the proper city official to advertise a request for proposals for on-call towing services and authorized the city clerk to publish that notice.

Residential permit parking: The council adopted a resolution eliminating the Nova Vista neighborhood from Residential Permit Parking Zone Number 1 effective Oct. 1, 2025. The resolution also eliminated designated on-street orange fee parking on the streets listed in the attached materials effective Oct. 1.

Public utility records policy: Council adopted a revised policy governing the retention and handling of utility records designated as containing confidential security information, repealing section 4(h) of the previous policy and approving the updated procedures described in the attached revision. The resolution states the contract and policy actions are contingent on final review and approval by the city solicitor in applicable cases.

Votes at a glance: Each of the motions recorded during the meeting passed by roll-call. The clerk recorded “Yes” votes from Councilors Gibson-Williams, Green, Davis and Deputy Mayor West on these items.

Ending: The resolutions provide the administrative authority to finalize contract documents, reissue solicitations for towing, and implement the permit-parking change effective Oct. 1. Contract execution and implementation remain contingent on final legal review and any technical attachments described in the adopted resolutions.