Vote switch dumps County landfill deal

The controversial plan to sell the Sonoma County landfill to an Arizona conglomerate was canned by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
The deal called for Republic Services to handle the county’s trash for the next 20 years. In return the firm would pay $2.7 million per year, and spend about $70 million to bring the dump up to state standards.
The proposed sale would include the 400-acre Mecham Road landfill near Petaluma and four transfer stations, Sonoma’s facility on Stage Gulch Road among them.
The deal needed four votes to be approved. It only received three, from Supervisors Paul Kelley, Mike Kerns and Valerie Brown. Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who had favored the agreement in a voice vote several weeks ago, changed his mind and joined Shirlee Zane to vote against it on Tuesday.
Opponents, a growing force over the past few weeks, felt the deal gave too much control to Republic to set future rates. It would have locked in guaranteed fees regardless of how much garbage was hauled, effectively voiding any incentives for recycling and waste reduction.
As one of his reasons for voting no, Carillo said the agreement was at odds with the county’s climate protection goals.
The firm would have, though, fixed the dump – something the county can’t afford to do. It was closed by the state as a toxic danger in 2005, and would require the $70 million rehab before getting permission to reopen. The tab to permanently close and safely seal the facility is estimated at $21 million, of which the county has $10 million.
Meanwhile county garbage is trucked to Bay Area dumps.
The Sonoma Garbage Company, which just was granted a 4.1 percent rate increase effective Oct. 1, hauls city refuse to Stage Gulch and other sites. Owner John Curotto, Jr., told the city council last week his firm has been trucking construction and demolition debris to Napa, a more cost-effective alternative.
He said recycling programs, something the county deal with Republic would not have encouraged, are also helping to defray costs.