Stumph Sanitation, Crawford’s contractor for trash pickup, has given the city its 6-month termination notice.
Owner Brandon Smith told the Crawford City Council he’s relocating during the week for a new job and won’t be able to continue the contract, although he will continue to serve his private rural customers on weekends.
When SWANN, the Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Nebraska, was organized 3 decades ago, Crawford and Hemingford were the only members with private trash haulers.
Stumph, owned at that time by Smith’s eventual inlaws, and H&H Sanitation in Hemingford were grandfathered in with the rest of the SWANN communities receiving trash collection directly from the agency.
SWANN Executive Director Jack Nemeth says Stumph’s termination notice gives Crawford 6 months to decide whether it wants to find another private contractor or to have SWANN take over.
Nemeth says SWANN has the needed collection trucks, but might need to hire an additional driver. He also says many of the Crawford dumpsters would need to be replaced, which would likely require negotiations with the city on paying for new ones.
SWANN rates for residential customers went up this month for the first time in 4 years and only the second time in the last 11. Nemeth says rising costs driven by the sharp increase in inflation over the past year-plus are to blame.
City rates for residential pickup rose 95-cents to $25.20 per month while rural residents are paying $14.00, an increase of 55-cents for their share of running the SWANN landfill north of Chadron.
Preaty sure our rates will sky-rocket once Swann takes over. Way to go city council. You should have given Stumph sanitation the tiny raise they asked for. Now we lose another working family in town.
The City of Crawford didn’t break the contract. The person who wrote this article needs to do a fact check before publishing.
Stumph sanitation told the city council that under the current contract, because of inflation, they couldn’t make ends meet. They asked for a $4 monthly raise in rates from $10 to $14 to make a living. After lengthy discussions, the council offered $12 a month. Stumph sanitation must have decided that wasn’t enough. Now the question is, will Crawford find someone willing to provide garbage pickup at the current rate or will you end of paying more?
I hope that’s factual enough.