By Stan Matthews
County Website and Communications Manager
On July 18, San Juan County will invite proposals to lease the San Juan Island solid waste site on Sutton Road. The property will be put up for lease to a qualified vendor who will provide some solid waste services. The land for lease includes both the Town’s [Friday Harbor’s] Sutton Road property that is now used for self-haul and an adjacent undeveloped property owned by the County.
The County Council approved a Request for Proposals at its July 10 meeting. The description of qualifications for applicants includes the variety of services, proposed site improvements, costs to the public, experience, financial capacity, and estimated number of in-county jobs created, and about eight other items.
Any vendor leasing the site would have the option to keep self-haul operating as it is now for up to a year after the contract is signed. State health regulations require that solid waste is disposed of at appropriate and legal facilities. The vendor would be responsible for that transport and disposal.
The lessee would have that first year of the contract to repair and improve the site for providing their services and to obtain permits to continue to operate the site. Improvements to the structures and paving are required to comply with health regulations and local traffic concerns, and permits are required to safeguard public health.
The request for proposals will be released on July 18. After that, interested parties will have 72 days to provide their proposal to the County. Interested parties must attend a pre-proposal meeting and site visit. Selection criteria are written into the RFP so that anyone making a proposal will be able to see them.
Public Works Director Frank Mulcahy noted, “We have been pleased with the response so far to the RFP we issued for the Orcas solid waste facility, so we are optimistic about finding a qualified lessor to provide services on San Juan Island.”
[Proposals from Cimarron Trucking and from Orcas Recycling Services (ORS/The Exchange) were presented July 17 and 18. A decision on the Orcas bids is expected by July 30].
If a qualified vendor is selected, the contract is likely to be in place by the end of this year.
