Lincoln County is returning to the garbage collection business.

At the May 27 commissioners meeting, the vote was unanimous to take over the collection of the Green Box sites. The decision was considered for a considerable amount of time in the face of rising costs.

“It’s time to take it over, control our own destiny,” District 2 Commissioner Jim Hammons said. “I felt like they had us over a barrel on this contract and they could do it again.”

District 1 Commissioner Brent Teske was in agreement with Hammons and District 3 Commissioner Noel Duram.

Teske pointed to the large annual increases of 10.7% for Fiscal Year 2026-27 and 5% for the next four years proposed by the current hauler, Evergreen Disposal.

In unison, Duram said “we’ll have better control of our service. They’ll be initial startup costs we have to incur, but we’ll have more control over how we can have our service and make sure we meet the needs of our residents.”

Duram also spoke of the difficulties when there is no competition.

“We had other companies interested, but one was not secured with the PSC (Public Service Commission) and another didn’t have experience in garbage handling,” Duram said. “Maybe that’ll change in the next few years.”

The current contract with Evergreen Disposal expires Nov. 9. 

Prior to 2014, the county handled the chore. Circumstances were good for Kootenai Disposal to take it over following the retirement of two county employees who drove the trucks. Costs were reasonable and didn’t experience big annual increases. Kootenai picked up 287 containers in 40 locations.

According to figures from the county, the cost for 2014-15 was $265,000. For 2017-18, it was $273,326.50.

Texas-based Evergreen bought Kootenai in March 2019. By 2024-25, when the county signed a 2-year contract with Evergreen, the cost was $400,000 with pickups in 21 locations and 173 containers.

The decrease in locations was not popular with some county residents, particularly those who lived in more remote areas. In 2023, the county closed five Green Box sites and later that year increased the refuse fee from $135 to $150.

“One of the things we built into the refuse fee is to make sure we didn’t have ourselves into a hole, going into the red at the landfill,” Duram said.

County Health Department Director Kathi Hooper said overall costs weren’t going to decrease, but the hope was to offer more services.

“We were continuing to pay more, but with fewer options for residents,” she said. 

While Hooper did think the county should have signed the contract with Evergreen, the hope is to increase the amount of days some sites are open.

“The north Lincoln County sites are open three days per week and we’re hoping to have them open four days a week,” Hooper said. 

Hooper said the 40 yard roll-offs are only being considered for a few of the most remote sites (Upper Yaak and West Kootenai). The other sites will remain 4-yard dumpsters that will be collected with a compactor truck. The purpose of switching the sites farthest from the landfills to 40 yard dumpsters would be to reduce the miles on the compactor truck’s route.

Evergreen’s proposal for 2026-27 to 2030-31 showed costs going from $465,000 in the first year to $565,210.41 in the fifth year.

The county is estimating the first-year cost at $506,000 and the fifth year at $576,171.

For the first year, the approximate cost of $506,000 will include leasing two compactor trucks at $9,000 each. Regular maintenance is estimated at $10,000 annually and fuel at $61,000  annually. Another hope is for a decrease in fuel prices, but no one knows when, or if, that will happen due to the country’s war with Iran.

Insurance will be about $6,000 and maintaining or replacing the dumpsters will be about $30,000 per year.

The cost estimate of $506,000 assumes that the Eureka truck would dump at the Eureka landfill and the garbage would be transported to Libby in rolloffs, so county officials estimated $31,000 per year in additional fuel and maintenance for the rolloff trucks.

In addition, the county will hire two new drivers. If they are on the family insurance plan, their total cost is estimated at $183,000 annually.

Because Evergreen owns 64 dumpsters of the 173 dumpsters currently at green box sites in the county, it ordered new dumpsters to replace them. That startup cost would be about $128,000.

The county already bought two roll-off container trucks with a hoist system. Another one is on the way. Each truck costs $260,000.

Hooper said the county bought roll-off trucks because of the increased volume of garbage being transported to the Libby Landfill from Eureka, Troy and Happy’s Inn. These trucks were necessary with or without the hauling contract. The next truck is a replacement for a roll-off truck that is no longer operational.

The county is also going to lease two compactor trucks and hire two new drivers. One truck will be used in south Lincoln County and one in the north.

Hooper said the risk of the county doing itself is that there are no backup trucks.

“If a truck is down for repairs, there could be a disruption in service,” she said. “How quickly could we replace a truck, and hopefully no one (county driver) takes much time off.”

“We’re getting three bids from different companies, so when we receive them we’ll know what that cost is,” Hooper said.

Officials have talked about closing the Greenbox site in Troy because the landfill is nearby, but no decisions have been made.

    Lincoln County’s refuse trucks will see increased use picking up trash at the county’s Green Box sites. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
  

    Lincoln County’s refuse trucks will see increased use picking up trash at the county’s Green Box sites. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)