Dive Brief:

• The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District will now handle management of garbage and recycling programs that currently are managed by a nonprofit group. But first, the city of Athens and Ohio University must sign a contract with the district for those services.
• The nonprofit Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers Inc. currently manages garbage collection services and recycling for the city and university. The district’s board OK’d the management change on Monday.
• AHRC’s largest clients are the university and the city of Athens, but those contracts will end June 30. Ohio University and the city of Athens are exploring their options, and looking to bids from other waste and recycling firms.  

Dive Insight:

It is hard to conceive of a six-figure, public sector contract going to a vendor without a competitive bidding process first, but that is how the city of Athens has awarded its garbage collection and recycling services contract to AHRC. Employees of AHRC are also Athens County employees. Rumpke Waste and Recycling Services sent an email to the city of Athens on Apr. 29 that took exception with the noncompetitive-bid contract.

"Rumpke continues to have questions about the propriety of awarding a contract involving the expenditure of more than $1 million of public funds to AHRC without a public bidding process," Rumpke lawyer James Thaxton wrote to Athens city law director, Lisa Eliason. She said the current contract could lead to a lawsuit.