SUFFOLK
A company that wants to buy the assets of the debt-ridden Southeastern Public Service Authority and privatize trash collection and recycling in the region got the full attention of the City Council on Wednesday.
Over about an hour, representatives of ReEnergy Holdings LLC, based in Albany, N.Y., sketched out their proposal and fielded questions from near ly every member of the council.
"It seems like, just looking at it, like it's the right direction to go," Councilman Charles Brown said.
ReEnergy has approached SPSA directly with its proposal, but it has gotten nowhere with the agency.
A Jan. 7 letter from SPSA Chairman Donald L. Williams to ReEnergy said, "SPSA cannot entertain your proposal at this time."
ReEnergy's plan, which offers incentives for recycling, would essentially wipe the slate clean for trash management in the region.
It would retire SPSA's estimated $240 million in debt, acquire all of its assets and start new 20-year relationships with the eight communities SPSA now serves, including Suffolk.
The other affected localities are Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Southampton and Isle of Wight counties.
Because Suffolk is home to the regional landfill, it has been exempt from having to pay tipping fees for every ton of waste it sends to the facility.
Under the ReEnergy plan, that arrangement would end.
"All of the communities would be treated equally under this proposal," said Larry D. Richardson, principal and executive officer of ReEnergy.
Though Suffolk would pay tipping fees, the proposal contains other carrots that got council members' interest.
Among them is ReEnergy's offer to accept the liability for the roughly $20 million cost the city would face to close the landfill and provide for its monitoring when SPSA's contracts expire in 2018.
The session ended with the company's request for the city to send a letter to SPSA or pass a resolution directing the agency to open its doors and its books to the company so more accurate valuations can be determined.
Council members are expected to take up such a resolution at their next meeting.
ReEnergy has received four such letters or resolutions from member communities - Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, Franklin and Portsmouth, Richardson said.
The company has set up a Web site - www.sellspsanow.com - that includes a link to the company's 23-page proposal.
SPSA did not respond to two phone messages inviting comment.
Robert McCabe (757) 222-5217 robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com
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If Suffolk would agree to paying fees to a private company then
why not offer to do the same for SPSA. They have a sweet deal now, does anyone really believe they will go to their constituency and say guess what we worked a an even sweeter deal, "We are now going to pay for our trash disposal" give me a break Suffolk. Quit blowing smoke up people's backsides. If you really plan to do that then send your representative to the next SPSA board meeting and have them vote not only to approve raised tip fees but that you will step up and pay them too!
Finally
I thought we were stuck with an inefficient waste management department that thought it had an unlimited budget and charged the highest fees in the United States. I would think this is kind of a no brainer, even though SPSA said no, we need a privatized company that strives for efficiency. I no longer want to pay so that SPSA management can continue their mediocrity and cause the people to suffer.
Procedures
Those communities with the pricing cap and host break, will be under the microscope and critized for your choices of allowing your communities to gain additional cost. This is a simple test to see how smart our leaders.