El Campo council debates rival bids, moves to negotiate five-year trash contract with TDS after motion for local bidder fails

El Campo — The City Council heard more than a dozen public comments on June 30 before voting on a five-year solid-waste contract, denying a motion to award the contract to Trust Waste Solutions (TWS) and then directing staff to begin negotiations with Texas Disposal Systems (TDS).

Supporters of the local bidder pressed the council to “choose El Campo first.” A council member moved “to award Trust Waste Solutions a 5 year contract as the city of El Campo Solid Waste Company,” citing daily landfill access increases, weekly brush pickup and a senior discount; that motion was seconded and later denied after a roll/hand vote in which one council member abstained due to a conflict of interest.

The debate that followed focused on operational capacity, local economic impact and contract exclusivity. Residents and local-business owners urged the council to favor a locally owned firm that would reinvest in the community. Lawrence Brown, who said he lives nearest the landfill gate, told the council that more days of operation at the citizens’ collection station would reduce roadside dumping: “I believe if the collection station was open more days a week that there would be less dumping on the roads in our area.”

Representatives for TWS and other bidders described their capabilities. Xavier Solace, representing GFL, framed scale as a reliability advantage: “All our contracts are on the 3rd term or the 5 year contract. That does not happen if you don't provide great service.” An operations manager speaking for Trust Waste Solutions emphasized hands-on responsiveness and local hiring.

TDS speakers stressed continuity and risk management. Jamar Prince and Jay Howard said the company already serves El Campo and warned that swapping providers risks months of disruption. Jay Howard asked council members to weigh operational risk in the choice: “Which decision presents the least risk for the citizens of El Campo?” James Griffin, who described his company’s multi-million-dollar investments and free responses to city cleanups, told the council PDS had trained and retained local employees and that existing infrastructure took years to build.

Council members pressed witnesses and staff on technical details, including whether certain local accounts (GracePoint) should be covered by an exclusivity clause in the current franchise agreement, and whether prior franchise fees had been collected. City staff answered questions based on the 2021 contract and said they were responding with factual records.

The record shows procedural confusion during final action. After the council voted on the motion to award Trust Waste Solutions, the clerk announced that the motion was denied and recorded one abstention for conflict of interest. A subsequent motion to accept TDS’s proposal and begin five-year negotiations was made and seconded; the transcript contains conflicting calls during that vote (one speaker said the motion “failed”), but city staff later announced the city would enter negotiations and stated the selection had been awarded to TDS.

The council did not provide a complete public roll-call tally for the TDS motion in the transcript, and individual yes/no votes (other than the abstention cited earlier) were not recorded verbatim. The clerk closed the meeting after staff stated negotiations would proceed with TDS.

Why it matters: The decision reshapes who collects trash and manages bulky-item and roll-off services for roughly the city’s customers. Council members and residents framed the choice as weighing local economic circulation and community ties against scale, back-up resources and demonstrated multi-year performance.

Next steps: The city manager or designee was authorized to begin five-year contract negotiations with the selected provider; any final contract would return to council for formal approval and to resolve outstanding operational or exclusivity questions.