GREEN COVE SPRINGS – After talks that spanned more than six weeks, the Board of County Commissioners has finally made its decision to award its Solid Waste contract to Waste Management.

In a two-horse race that included Waste Management and GFL Solid Waste Southeast, the council voted 3-2 on Waste Management, which will retain the services they have maintained for 17 years.

Waste Management will be responsible for loading, transporting and disposing of the county’s Class I Municipal Solid Waste and Construction and Demolition waste, operating Clay’s yard trash processing facility and transporting the material.

Commissioners Kristen Burke and Betsy Condon voting against the measure. They wanted to know if the county could issue multiple permits.

If GFL Solid Waste Southeast got the Construction and Demolition contract, county taxpayers could have saved between $2-3 million during the next 10 years.

That’s why Burke voted against Waste Management getting all three contracts.

Council members who approved the contract – Jim Renninger, Mike Cella and Alexandra Compere – said they were concerned about the safety of employees with two companies working at the same site.

“From my experience, when you mix and match, you’re asking for a disposal problem that doesn’t exist. We’ve had 17 years of good service, is what I’m hearing, so I don’t have any questions,” Renninger said.

However, in just a few short years, a larger transfer station will be constructed, which would have allowed Waste Management and GFL to conduct business separately.

Burke and Condon also maintained that the operation would run smoothly if additional signage were posted at the current Rosemary Hill transfer station. Additionally, if both Waste Management and GFL were locked into the contract, it would be possible for the other provider to help pick up the slack if one were lacking services.

“Waste Management has been the sole provider for 17 years, and I thought it would be a good time to slowly bring in GFL to be a partner with Waste Management and the county (and) see how GFL works (alongside) the county, as we have a residential curbside contract this year,” Burke said.

“I understand that there may not be as much as a cost saving here as anticipated, but I think it’s a creative one. I met with the staff and asked for this to be sent out for bid. I asked for creativity, and that’s kind of where I tend to lean. My preference was that I would hope for both companies,” Condon said.