by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The request for proposals to manage Jacksonville’s Trail Ridge Landfill is expected to be in front of the Trail Ridge Oversight Special Committee in about two weeks.
The committee — which consists of Chair and City Council Vice President Jack Webb and Council members Glorious Johnson, Bill Bishop, Ray Holt and Warren Jones — met Monday to get an update on where the City stood in the process of developing a new request for proposal (RFP) to manage the City’s Trail Ridge Landfill located on 900 acres near the Baker County Line at 5110 U.S. Highway 301 in Baldwin.
“We are just moving the process forward,” said Webb. “Our purpose is oversight, so we will review the (Request For Proposals) after it is made available by staff in the next couple of weeks.”
Monday’s meeting took less than 10 minutes, but during that time the committee was informed that a draft RFP has been presented to the City’s Procurement Division for review and its scope covers landfill design and permitting only, not construction. Once the RFP is finalized by the Procurement Division, it will be advertised for responses.
Webb requested that members of the committee be permitted to review the RFP after it is finalized, but before it is published. The Public Works Department agreed to submit the RFP to members of the committee.
The first meeting of the committee in July lasted 15 minutes, and during it the discussion focused on the committee’s function in the RFP process. During that meeting, Webb explained that Council President Richard Clark created the committee to follow up on the development of a new RFP for the Trail Ridge Landfill and to help expedite the resolution of the dispute involving the current operating contract between Waste Management Inc. and the City of Jacksonville. Clark created the special committee shortly after beginning his term as Council president in July after the Council voted against Mayor John Peyton’s proposal to award Waste Management a contract extension worth about $750 million over the next 35 years to continue operating Trail Ridge. The community and Council voiced concern over awarding such a large contract without a bid process.
Since that time Waste Management Inc., has filed suit in Federal Court against the City over the contract and the parties are scheduled for mediation Nov. 23.
As the City awaits mediation, it is continuing with the RFP process that may include three phases. The first phase, design and permitting, is currently underway. The following step will be construction of the landfill and the final step will be operation of the landfill.
“We are monitoring the process from the Council’s perspective and keeping the Council informed on the progress of the contract,” said Bishop. “I believe the real test will be on the operational side of the bidding process, but that won’t be for a while.”
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