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Columbia County approves extensions and price adjustments for solid-waste contracts
Summary
The board approved several solid-waste contract changes: a three-year extension proposal for household-hazardous-waste operations with a 3.3% rate adjustment, a transport/disposal pricing update with Waste Connections that sets $50.50/ton in 2027 and ties later years to West Coast CPI, a one-month operations-extension to finish RFP negotiations, and a quarry amendment adjusting quantities and adding cleanup blasting costs.
Columbia County commissioners approved multiple contract amendments at their Nov. 18 meeting covering household hazardous-waste operations, transport and disposal of materials from the county transfer station, a short-term extension for transfer-station operations while staff completes a request-for-proposal, and a quarry-material contract amendment.
Tina, the county's solid waste coordinator, described Amendment 2 to the county's household hazardous-waste contract with ACT, saying the contractor had performed well and staff recommended extending the contract and applying a 3.3% rate adjustment to the 2026 rate sheet. "They're timely, do all what we need them to do and get the material where it needs to be," Tina said in support of extending the agreement.
Staff also presented an amendment to the county's transport and disposal contract with Waste Connections (contracting as Hudson), noting negotiated rates that set the 2027 price at $50.50 per ton and tie the three remaining years of the extension (2028–2030) to the West Coast CPI. A staff member noted that although the per-ton increase is modest (about $1.50 per ton over current levels), hauling roughly 32,000 tons annually makes the aggregate cost significant.
Commissioners approved a short, one-month extension of the current transfer-station operations contract to March 31, 2026, to give staff time to finish RFP negotiations and finalize long-term pricing and service terms. The board authorized the public works director to sign the amendment.
Separately, staff introduced Amendment CR93-2025-2 to a quarry/materials contract to change quantities between 1½-inch and 3-inch minus rock (increase the 1½-inch by 1,000 cubic yards and reduce the 3-inch minus by the same amount), add cleanup blasting and additional shooting work (staff cited added costs including a $13,500 cleanup shot), and extend the contract completion date; the board approved the amendment.
Votes on these items were taken during the meeting; motions were moved, seconded, and carried for the hazardous-waste extension, the transport/disposal amendment, the one-month operations extension, and the quarry amendment.
Why it matters: the transport/disposal pricing and the quarry quantity changes affect the county's waste-management budget and road/repair materials; the operations extension preserves service continuity while staff finalizes a new contract.
Next steps: staff will finalize the long-term operations contract through the RFP process and return finalized documents as required by county procurement procedures.
