Polk County staff and a representative of Outrigo Holdings presented a proposal to franchise a privately built, indoor waste transfer and recycling facility on a repurposed dairy property near Independence and asked the city council to allow city managers to continue interjurisdictional talks.

Polk County staff told the council the county currently "is entirely dependent on outside counties for disposal" and "has no resiliency," warning that industry estimates show Coffin Butte landfill capacity could be less than 13 years without additional expansion. Staff said the franchise question — whether the county will allow a private transfer operator to hold a county franchise — is legally separate from the land‑use siting process that would follow if the county and cities decide to pursue the project.

Mister Dahl, an Outrigo Holdings representative, described reusing existing dairy buildings to house an enclosed transfer and recycling facility. He said operations would keep material indoors for separation and staging, use air handling to control dust and odors, and provide separate queuing areas for residential and commercial customers. Dahl said the company hopes to break ground in mid‑2025 and open by 2027, though he cautioned typical siting and permitting can take years.

On costs, Polk County staff said analysts reviewed the applicant’s rate model and county consultants produced a parallel analysis. Under the model that assumes countywide participation and disposal to out‑of‑region landfills, staff estimated residential customers in Independence would see a roughly $3.27 monthly increase and Monmouth customers about $3.38 monthly; the county also cited a modeled 10–11% increase in overall disposal costs. Staff cautioned those numbers reflect key assumptions — notably that participating jurisdictions and haulers route enough volume through the transfer facility to create the projected economies of scale — and said commercial rate impacts were still being calculated.

Haulers and councilors pressed operational and equity questions. A local hauler told the council a nearby transfer station could reduce driver wait times and improve routing but acknowledged an added handling step and the need to pass increased overhead to customers. Staff acknowledged the facility’s construction and operating costs must be amortized and said the county would retain the ability to negotiate rates at a county‑franchised transfer facility.

Speakers also discussed recycling policy and markets. Dahl and others cited Oregon’s Recycling Modernization Act as a driver of standardized material lists and argued that greater in‑region processing capacity will be necessary to expand domestic recycling and take‑back programs. Polk County staff said the applicant would not run household hazardous waste collection but could provide space for periodic county‑organized collections; currently those services are handled at Marion County facilities by contractors such as Clean Harbors.

Polk County staff said the county has engaged with Republic Services, the operator of Coffin Butte, and that Republic expressed concern about protecting incoming volume to Coffin Butte. Staff also cited a local franchise hauler’s tipping fee of $42 in 2024 and said it had been notified that that fee could rise to just over $60 starting in 2026, noting tipping‑fee trends as a factor in evaluating long‑term rate stability.

Councilors asked whether the 18 full‑time jobs the applicant projected would be local; Dahl said they would be newly created positions. On financing, Dahl and staff said the project is privately funded; the county could bond a publicly owned facility only if it chose to build one itself. Multiple councilors asked whether neighboring jurisdictions such as Dallas, Salem or Yamhill County would participate; staff and the applicant said regional participation would be decided by intergovernmental agreements and market incentives, and that absent broad participation the economics change materially.

No formal vote was taken. By the end of the session councilors signaled general assent to allow city managers to continue talking with Polk County staff, to participate in upcoming Polk County Board of Commissioners public hearings, and to explore the possibility of an intergovernmental agreement specifying whether franchise haulers would be required to route waste through a new transfer facility. County staff said they would continue detailed rate analysis and community engagement before the county commission considers any franchise decision.

Next steps: county staff will continue the consultant review of rates and participate in coordinated discussions with city managers; the county Board of Commissioners will hold public hearings later this year where the franchise question and any recommended intergovernmental agreements would be debated further.