Council hears $40M Carpenter Road waste facility estimate and agrees to explore contracting options

Public Works Director Mark Russell told the Olympia City Council on April 21 that a preliminary design and site work for a Carpenter Road waste resources maintenance facility would cost about $33.5 million for construction and just over $40 million in total after contingency and fees, and that financing the project over 30 years would increase annual debt service by about $3,000,000 — an estimated 24% increase to the waste utility baseline, raising the average residential bimonthly rate from $65 to roughly $81.

Russell said the city has pursued this phased replacement strategy for more than a decade because the existing East Side Street public-works maintenance center is functionally obsolete, suffers from poor mechanical and electrical systems and does not meet seismic or current ADA guidelines. He described site progress at Carpenter Road (land‑use approval from Thurston County, demolition of an on-site firing range, Department of Ecology approval of lead remediation, and grading work) and said the site should be shovel‑ready by the end of the year.

Staff framed the decision as three options: continue with the Carpenter Road site and proceed with design and funding work; explore contracting all or part of services to private haulers; or retain operations at the existing facility. Russell stressed that moving ahead with the Carpenter Road design would allow the city to answer detailed questions about grants, electrification readiness and program offerings; he also said contracting would require outreach and potentially a request for information (RFI) to learn what private haulers could offer.

Council concerns included service levels, workforce continuity and long-term control. Council member Vanderpool warned that privatization can be hard to undo: "Once we let it go, we let it go," he said, arguing for exhausting alternatives before ceding city operations. Several members noted that contracting could change service frequency (many nearby jurisdictions have weekly garbage with different recycling schedules) and that municipal operations now provide synergies such as a downtown clean-team program and close customer service.

Staff described other cost drivers: an organics management law requiring curbside organics collection by 2030 would add at least one truck and driver (~$600,000 one-time vehicle cost and about $335,000 annual operating cost); electric-vehicle readiness at the new facility could require $5–8 million to bring power to the site with electric collection vehicles priced an estimated $1,000,000 each in early industry estimates. Russell said the city can phase electrification over years.

What council asked staff to do: the council directed staff to explore contracting options in parallel with continued work on the Carpenter Road design and to return with a scoped plan for an RFI and answers to targeted design and funding questions. Staff said they could gather additional information and, if needed, advance design beyond the current 10% conceptual stage (to 30%) to answer some issues but cautioned that further design would require consultant time and expense.

Ending: No decisions or votes were taken. Council members split on preferred direction, but the body agreed to pursue parallel study: staff will scope an RFI and return to council with refined cost, funding and program information in the coming months.