Rolling Meadows privatizes garbage pickup after 57 years of public service
Promising lower rates and no change in the quality of service, Rolling Meadows aldermen have agreed to privatize the city’s garbage collection after 57 years of handling it in house.
The unanimous vote of the city council Tuesday night came over the objection of a half-dozen residents who expressed worries over a downgrade in service.
“One of the best things about living in Rolling Meadows has been the services we receive such as snow removal and trash collection services. By far they’re the best in the Northwest suburbs,” said resident John Glow. “We have an excellent team in place that does an extremely reliable, dedicated job for the residents.”
Rolling Meadows is one of the few communities in the region still with its own fleet of garbage trucks and crew.
But the council Tuesday approved a 5-year contract with Lakeshore Recycling Services to pick up refuse, landscape waste and recycling from single-family homes
“Is there going to be a drop of service quality over time? … Absolutely not,” said Public Works Director Aaron Grosskopf. “The city is going to proactively manage this contract. We know how important it is for our residents to continue to have this level of service that you’ve been accustomed to for the past 50-plus years. We’re going to ensure that that service level continues to be the way it is.”
Grosskopf said the decision to privatize isn’t an “indictment” on how the city’s four-man crew performed. Instead, officials began exploring the change amid the upcoming expiration of the city’s existing recycling contract with Flood Brothers and Lakeshore’s lease of a city-owned waste transfer station.
Council members Tuesday took a preliminary first reading vote on a separate 10-year lease extension with Lakeshore, which has operated the transfer station at 3851 Berdnick St. for the past three decades.
By negotiating the deals concurrently, city officials say they secured significant cost savings in residential trash collection rates while generating more revenue for road repairs and other capital projects.
“We know how valuable of an asset this is,” Grosskopf said of the waste drop-off and pick-up locale. “We had these two things align at one time, and we’re leveraging our asset in order to achieve the best possible pricing for our residents.”
Starting Sept. 28, residents will pay $21.18 a month for trash pickup, per terms of the deal with Lakeshore. Seniors will get a 15% discount, for a monthly rate of $19.16.
Rates will increase 4% a year.
If in-house hauling were to continue, those rates would go up to $36.67 for most homeowners and $33.01 for seniors — and more in ensuing years, officials said.
Households currently pay the city $32.45 per month.
“Nothing will beat having it in house. We all know our garbage guys,” said Alderwoman Jenifer Vinezeano. “But it’s also not sustainable. Who wants to pay $60 eventually for garbage?”
According to the transfer station lease extension, Lakeshore will pay the city annual base rent starting at $150,000 next year, with annual escalators over the next decade to reaching $175,000 in 2036.
A related host agreement calls for Lakeshore to pay the city $2.95 for every ton of waste that is brought there — with a minimum of 500 tons per day — and annual 3% increases.
A final vote on those contracts is set for July 28.
The company is also paying the city a $1 million upfront fee and buying three of its garbage trucks for $950,000.
The city’s four refuse division employees will be offered jobs by Lakeshore, though they could also decide to be reassigned to another city public works division, officials said.
Unlike the garbage contracts, Grosskopf and City Manager Rob Sabo said they have no interest in privatizing the city’s long-standing in-house snow removal service.