At the recent Dallas County Board of Supervisors meeting, there was a public hearing to discuss contracts for trash services through Waste Management.

The process leading to the hearing included accepting a lower price from Ankeny Sanitation, which Waste Management agreed to match as part of their original contracts. County Operations Director Rob Tietz presented five contracts that would cost $545.97 per month, and renew at the same time. Tietz added, the new three-year contracts ended up being lower than what Ankeny Sanitation had agreed to. However, Supervisor Kim Chapman had reservations about entering into the contracts. He was concerned about the three-year length and that there was no locked in rate. Chapman also stated he would like to put the trash services out to bid in the future to hopefully get the best price.

A compromise was struck thanks to a clause in the contracts, which stated the County could give Waste Management 180-days notice of termination. Chapman said they could exercise that option before the contracts were set to automatically renew, and then seek bids for the work. The Board found this acceptable and approved the contracts, which will be retroactively effective as of July 1st, 2018.