SMA renews solid waste agreement with CARDS

Two years ago, CARDS Holdings Inc. tendered an unsolicited offer of $21.5 million to purchase the Sallisaw Municipal Landfill facility and the city sanitation collection services.

After more than a month of often-contentious discussions and plenty of input from those who wanted nothing to do with selling the landfill, the Sallisaw Municipal Authority rejected the offer.

But that wasn’t the last of the SMA’s dealings with CARDS. The city entered into a contract with the northwest Arkansas company to receive up to 500 tons per month of solid waste, at a rate based on that tonnage.

In the meantime, CARDS Holdings was acquired by new owners. The company still has a similar name: CARDS River Valley LLC.

But according to Sallisaw City Manager Brian Heverly, the city landfill received less than 200 tons per month. And CARDS was erratic in bringing waste.

Contracts are based on anticipated and delivered tonnage, with higher tonnage receiving a better rate per ton than those delivering less tonnage.

So when it was time to renew the waste disposal agreement, CARDS River Valley was surprised when confronted with a significantly higher rate.

When presented with a new three-year contract with significantly higher rates based on the tonnage they have actually brought, which was less than 200 tons per month, they balked, Heverly said. CARDS claimed that if given a year to finish its transfer station in northwest Arkansas, the company would be in a better bargaining position.

Heverly explained that the latest contract reflects an increase in fees of $1.75 per ton that CARDS would’ve expected based on the previous contract. Then when considering a contract next year, conditions can be assessed and a new agreement can be developed.

Heverly emphasized that the current CARDS management team is completely different than the those who tendered the unsolicited $21.5 million offer in 2023, which assuaged concerns expressed by some of the SMA trustees.

The SMA unanimously approved a one-year agreement with CARDS. “On a side note with that issue,” Mayor Ernie Martens offered following the vote, “some conversations I’ve had, they’re tickled to death that we’re taking their garbage, because other landfills around are jacking their prices up. They’re going sky high on some of their prices, and they’re tickled to death to be with us.

“It’s almost like, ‘We’re with you guys, we’re loyal to you guys, we’re going to keep coming to you guys’,” Martens added, noting that he knows of a landfill that’s increasing its rates to $65 per ton.

Heverly then opened the door to possible adjustments for the Sallisaw landfill.

“My assessment is there’s absolutely room for improvement in our rate schedule when it comes to the landfill,” he said. Sallisaw’s rate for municipal solid waste is $40 per ton.

Other business

In other business, the trustees approved:

• A change order in the amount of $8,654.81 for the Sallisaw aquatics facility project to Hoey Construction Company. The order is for the electrician to run electric and the circuits to electric hand dryers for restrooms in the main concession building, as well as the purchase of three additional hand dryers. This was not included in the initial electrical drawings.

• An hourly contract for engineering services with Neel, Harvell and Associates related to the Sallisaw solid waste landfill facility, including modification for the 62acre lateral expansion of permitted boundary and mitigation design for the Corps of Engineers Waters of the United States jurisdictional determination in order to complete the CWA Sec. 404 permit needed for the Sallisaw landfill expansion of Cell 8.