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Rowan County authorizes multi‑year soil haul after rock limits local borrow areas; contract funding to be staged across fiscal years
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Summary
Commissioners approved a multi‑year service contract to haul roughly 500,000 cubic yards of soil to the county landfill after on‑site borrow areas encountered significant rock; staff said higher landfill fees may be needed and will be proposed during the budget process.
Rowan County commissioners on April 6 authorized staff to award a multi‑year service contract to haul soil to the county landfill after engineers found substantial rock in on‑site borrow areas that prevents further local excavation.
Solid waste staff reported the landfill will require millions of cubic yards of soil over the remainder of its operational life for daily cover and final cap. The department solicited proposals to move available soil from a nearby quarry and recommended awarding a service contract to the responsive, responsible bidder (identified in the meeting packet as 'Zolad' construction). Staff described an estimated total multi‑year cost in the meeting materials and proposed structuring payments across fiscal years (an initial allocation in the current fiscal year and the remainder in the next fiscal year).
"We had our engineers calculate total need for soil for the rest of the landfill life — it's over five million cubic yards," the solid waste director said, and explained that several on‑site borrow areas revealed shallow rock that prevents economical excavation. The recommended responsive proposal would bring roughly 500,000 cubic yards to the landfill over about a year; staff said the low number of qualified, responsive bids and procurement rules determined the recommended award.
Commissioners approved the multi‑year service contract and authorized the county manager to sign the contract subject to procurement review. Board members and staff noted the county will need to examine tipping fees and other charges to ensure the landfill enterprise fund covers long‑term capital and operating needs; staff committed to present a fee model and a recommended rate adjustment during the upcoming budget process.
Next steps: county manager will execute the service contract consistent with procurement rules; solid waste staff and finance will complete a fee model and present proposed fee adjustments before budget adoption.
(Reporting note: cost numbers and vendor name are taken from the April 6 meeting packet and transcript; staff indicated a not‑to‑exceed structure staged across fiscal years.)
