CACHE COUNTY – The chickens have come home to roost regarding the contract between Logan and Cache County for the management of local solid wastes.
After years of cooperation in terms of environmental services between Cache Valley’s largest governmental entities, city officials have now notified the Cache County Council that they want to bow out of that arrangement.
“Our contract with the county allows for either party to terminate with one year’s notice,” Mayor Holly Daines said Feb. 22 in a brief statement to Cache County officials explaining the city’s intent to end its arrangement providing waste management services for the entire county.
“There is great risk to Logan if we continue to purchase additional equipment, hire new personnel, build new facilities and expand our operations only to have the contract terminated,” she added.
“Our thought,” she explained “is that we will continue to provide collection service for the next two years – until the end of 2023 if necessary – to allow everyone to develop a smooth transition to alternative collection services.”
By “everyone,” Daines meant officials of Cache County and the valley municipalities to which Logan City currently provides trash, recycling and green waste collection services.
Daines explained that one of the primary motivations for the city’s change of heart regarding its trash collection contract with Cache County is the valley’s growth over the past decade.
“You may not realize it,” she told county council members, “but currently, 71 percent of our residential collection equipment is (used) for service outside of Logan.
“There is no other city in the state that handles garbage collection for an entire county.”
The challenge of providing that service is further complicated by the growth in the number of households in the valley in the past decade, the mayor added. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that the number of housing units in Clarkston has grown by 13 percent in that time; by 15 percent in Cove; by 34 percent in Hyde Park; by 27 percent in Hyrum; by 11 percent in Logan; by 25 percent in Millville; by 38 percent in Nibley; by 42 percent in North Logan; by 64 percent in the Petersboro area; by 11 percent in Providence; by 15 percent in Richmond; by 18 percent in River Heights; by 38 percent in Smithfield; by 15 percent in Trenton; and 17 percent in Wellsville.
Daines also mentioned that Logan “…doesn’t control permitting decisions outside Logan City, so we don’t have the tools we need to be successful in the long run.”
That was seemingly a guarded reference to the 2021 controversy between city and county officials over plans by Logan to create a compost site in rural Benson to process solid wastes from the valley’s regional water treatment plant. When local residents objected to the plan, members of the county council denied needed permission for that compost site to be created on land already owned by Logan in Benson. That decision cost the city of Logan $1.5 million.
While insisting that her statement was not an “ultimatum” to county officials, Daines suggested that Logan might continue in its current role if the county would accept a new extended contract, with long-term cancellation provisions. That contract would also have to include provisions giving city officials permitting guarantees and control of trash collection rates.
“But our preference,” the mayor emphasized “is to just serve the city of Logan.
“The North Valley landfill, transfer station and green waste facility will continue to be open to everyone,” Daines said. “However, the time has come for Logan to ‘right size’ our garbage collection operations so we can efficiently responds to the needs of Logan residents and businesses.”