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Lincoln City Council
Aldermen consider going out for bid for the residential trash
service in Lincoln
[October 30, 2026]
GFL Environmental currently
holds a franchise agreement for residential trash services in
Lincoln. The city signed a four-year agreement with a two-year
extension with GFL six years ago. That contract will expire at the
end of February 2027.
At the Tuesday, October 27th Committee of the Whole meeting aldermen
discussed going out for bid for the services. Alderman Kevin Bateman
said that the city would send out a Request for Proposal (RFB) for
those services. He said that he knew there were at least a couple of
other waste haulers who would be interested in bidding the
residential trash service.
The group discussed how that RFB should be presented. The previous
RFP has been reviewed and adjusted to meet current conditions. The
voting timeline would be approve the RFB next week, put the ad in
the paper on November 11th, RFPs would due back to the city December
12th, and aldermen would vote on the waste hauler on December 21st.
Alderman Steve Parrott recalled that when gas and diesel fuel prices
spiked earlier this year, GFL had come to the city and asked for a
fuel surcharge to be placed on each billing. The city had said no.
He said he felt like GFL would build that increased fuel price into
the new rate which would mean a significant increase for residents.
He said then, if fuel prices do drop in the next few months, GFL
would still be collecting that higher rate. He thought it might be
wise to implement a second extension with GFL.
It was stated that the original
contract allowed for only one two-year extension, so there has to be
a fresh contract no matter how the city goes about it. It was also
mentioned that with multiple services bidding for the contract, each
one would submit their best possible price.
It was also noted that the residents of Lincoln get a rate of
approximately $20 per month with a discount for senior citizens,
while those who utilize GFL out in the county are paying more than
twice that amount.
There was also a detailed discussion on recycling. It was noted that
some of the aldermen have been told by constituents that they see
GFL putting the regular trash and the contents of the recycle bins
all in the same truck at the same time. Bateman said he had asked
the waste hauler at his workplace about that and was told that it
does happen sometimes. Waste haulers choose to throw recycling in
with regular trash when they do not have the manpower to do the
physical sorting of the recyclables in a timely manner. But it is
not always. Alderman Dennis Clemmons said that he knows for a fact
that two trucks come down his alley on recycling day.
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Bateman said that
the haulers had told him there was no money in recycling. It was
mentioned that under those circumstances, maybe the RFP should
not include recycling at all. Alderman Sam Downs said he was
strongly opposed to dropping the recycling portion of the
contract. He said it was important, even though Parrott had said
that it appeared that all the recycling program was a “feel good
moment” for residents.
The city mandated the offer of recycling for a small upcharge on
the bill after the county-wide recycling program was dissolved.
It was noted that the city could go back to a larger recycling
collection program by once again placing roll-off dumpsters on
city owned property for public use. That idea was quickly shot
down as aldermen remembered how badly the former program had
been abused and what a mess it was for the manager of that
program to sort it all out and clean it up.
The question was then asked what would happen with bidding waste
haulers that did not offer recycling at all. Welch said those
companies would have to be eliminated from the competition
because they could not meet the specifications of the RFP.
Mayor Tracy Welch said that in addition to going out for bid,
the city could consider whether or not it even wants to do a
franchise agreement. That would make city trash hauling a free
for all for all haulers. However, the drawback is that the
franchise agreement gets residents a better price because the
hauler is guaranteed 4000-plus customers.
The group talked about the current contract with GFL and it was
noted that it includes the recycling, discounts for seniors, a
“snowbird” program for those who spends months in warmer
climates in the winter, and the city wide clean up days.
The concern about dramatic rate increases was revisited and City
Clerk Peggy Bateman reminded the aldermen that for each of the
six years on the current contract, there were rate increases, so
even if the city did sign again with GFL, the council should
expect more increases in the future.
Welch said he wanted to wrap up the discussion as there were
other topics that needed to be addressed on the agenda. The
decision was made to put on the next voting agenda the approval
to go out for bid for the residential trash hauling franchise
agreement.
[Nila Smith]
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