Brand New Year, Same Old Trash Talk

For at least the first three days of the New Year, Rawlins residents will be stuck with their municipal solid waste.

On December 20, the Rawlins City Council voted 4-2-1 to table Wyoming Waste Connections’ application for a waste hauler license while a similar application from Dirt Boyz Sanitation (Dirty Boyz) was denied on a vote of 2-4-1. The decision, at least for Dirty Boyz, will likely lead to Rose Cain, the owner of the company, and the City of Rawlins to square off in the courts for the third time in five years.

Insufficient Funds

At the final meeting of the governing body for 2022, the Rawlins City Council was presented with two applications for a waste hauler license with one from Wyoming Waste Connections (Wyoming Waste) and the other from Dirty Boyz. As the council considered the application from Wyoming Waste, Councilmember Linda Smith asked City Attorney Gwendolyn Wade if the company was in compliance with the City.

“I want to know if Wyoming Waste is complying with all of the requirements and they have an office here in Rawlins,” said Smith.

Wade told Smith and the rest of the council that Wyoming Waste was not eligible for renewal only because they had not paid the $250 license renewal fee. According to Wade, Bruce Leven, district site manager for the company, had made verbal confirmation that a check for the amount had been mailed in November but had not yet arrived.

It was unknown at the time of the meeting if that was the only part of the requirements of the waste hauler license that Wyoming Waste was violating. To Smith’s question of whether they company had an office in Rawlins, Wade informed the council they wouldn’t be able to get any clarification that night.

“We cannot get clarification because the representative is not here on whether or not they will continue to comply with the rules and regulations of the hauler’s license,” said Wade.

Office Hours

Smith’s question regarding Wyoming Waste’s office in Rawlins can be traced back to Cain v. Rawlins City Council in July 2019. Cain had filed a complaint with the City of Rawlins that Wyoming Waste was in violation of city ordinance by not maintaining an office in the city. The city council itself violated the Public Meetings Act by deciding in closed session that Cain’s complaint was without merit.

Per Wyoming State Statute, no decision can be made in executive (closed) session and must be made in open session. Rawlins City Council, however, took action on the complaint within closed session. An email by former City Manager Scott Hannum to Leven said the council had decided the business was in compliance with city ordinances.

Though the council had agreed to release its executive session minutes, it maintained it had cured the violation via a process outlined in Gronberg v. Teton County Housing Authority. To cure a violation where a governing body makes an illegal decision in executive session, a governing body may conduct “a new and substantial reconsideration of the action in a manner which complies with the Act.” The reconsideration must allow the public ample opportunity to know the facts and to be heard in reference to the issue.

Though the Court agreed that Rawlins City Council had violated the Public Meetings Act, it held the governing body had cured the violation when the complaint was indirectly referenced in a subsequent meeting. While the governing body had asked for comment, it did not specify whether it was from council members or the public and then voted publicly to reaffirm their decision the complaint had no merit.

In Writing

When the council came to the waste hauler license for Dirty Boyz, Vice Mayor Jacquelin Wells said the company was in full compliance and were eligible to renew their license.

“If they have agreed to abide by the rules and regulations of the ordinance, they do meet eligibility requirements,” said Wade.

Smith asked if such an agreement was in writing, with Wade responding it was not.

In November, the Rawlins City Council voted to revoke then reinstate the hauler license for Dirty Boyz. The decision came amidst dueling definitions between Wade and legal counsel for Dirty Boyz, Amy Bach. Wade argued Cain and her company were in violation of the City’s flow control ordinance by taking municipal solid waste to a landfill gas recapture project in Erie, Colorado. Bach countered that the recapture of landfill gas redefined municipal solid waste as recyclable and could be removed from the municipal solid waste, per the ordinance.

On November 15, the council voted 4-2-1 to revoke the license. Then, at a special meeting on November 18, the council voted 4-2-1 to reinstate the license. The reinstatement came as Wade and Bach told the council the two had come to an agreement for their respective clients with the governing body citing public health and safety as the primary reason for reinstatement.

The flow control ordinance which Wade alleged Dirty Boyz was in violation of was written by Bach after the City of Rawlins was required to close their landfill and construct a transfer station by the State of Wyoming The ordinance required that all trash haulers operating with in Rawlins were to take municipal solid waste to the City’s transfer station..

In Dirty Boyz Sanitation Services v. City of Rawlins in 2018, Dirty Boyz argued the ordinance was in violation of the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration and Authorization Act. The district court found in favor of the City of Rawlins, which was then appealed to the 10th Circuit Court.

The 10th Circuit supported the district court’s decision, finding that Dirty Boyz had failed to show the flow control ordinance impaired its existing contract for garbage collection. It also held that local regulation of garbage collection did not fall within the scope of the Federal Aviation Administration and Authorization Act.

Tabled and Denied

Without any funds from Wyoming Waste, the Rawlins CIty Council voted 4-2-1 to table its application with Smith and Councilmember Chris Weisenburg voting nay. Councilmember Darril Garner abstained.

The motion to approve the hauler license for Dirty Boyz failed on a 2-4-1 vote. Mayor Terry Weickum, Councilmember Debair Martinez, Smith and Weisenburg voted nay and Garner abstained.

Following the failed motion for Dirty Boyz, Bach requested a written document of fact and finding which would be appealed to the district court. The likelihood of a special meeting to address the license for Wyoming Waste appeared slim, as several council members said they would be out of town for the Christmas and New Years holidays. Both companies can operate until 11:59 p.m. on December 31.

The next meeting of the Rawlins City Council will be at 7:30 p.m. on January 3 at Rawlins City Hall.