Lexington council wades into fight between landfill operator and Scott County

The Lexington council voted Thursday to send a resolution to state environmental officials supporting its solid waste contractor in its efforts to expand a controversial Scott County landfill.

Over the objections of Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton and Scott County elected officials, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted 11 to 4 to send the resolution to Kentucky Environmental Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Goodman backing Waste Services of the Bluegrass’ challenge of various efforts by Scott County to close the landfill.

The fight between Scott County and Waste Services of the Bluegrass over the Central Kentucky Landfill and its expansion has spurred multiple administrative challenges and lawsuits over the past several years.

Waste Services of the Bluegrass has had the contract to haul Lexington’s trash since 2015. A second five-year extension was granted in 2020.

Officials with Waste Services of the Bluegrass asked the Lexington council in May to write the state environmental cabinet about overturning Scott County’s Waste Management Plan, which was adopted in August.

That plan says the Central Kentucky Landfill can no longer accept trash from outside the county and cannot expand.

A hearing on Waste Services of the Bluegrass’ appeal of the Scott County waste plan is pending before an administrative law judge at the Energy and Environmental Cabinet.

Waste Services’ contract with the city requires it to find another landfill to dispose of Lexington’s trash — at no additional cost to the city — if the Central Kentucky landfill closes.

But many on council who supported Waste Services’ efforts to expand said if that landfill is not allowed to grow, Lexington will likely have to bid for a new contractor at a much, much higher cost. That could cost Fayette County taxpayers millions.

Those who opposed the resolution said they felt it was not appropriate for city officials to weigh in on an administrative hearing, a quasi-judicial process, among other concerns.

Gorton and Scott County elected officials asked the council not to send the resolution.

“I thought it was not my place to tell Scott County that we wanted our garbage going there beyond what they had sent to the state as their plan,” Gorton said during a June 8 council work session.

In addition to the administrative challenge to Scott County’s waste plan, there are several lawsuits pending in the courts regarding the expansion of the Central Kentucky Landfill.

Currently, the landfill must stop taking trash on Oct. 31, the day it must close as it has reached its capacity.

Those who voted in favor of the resolution were: Preston Worley, Josh McCurn, David Kloiber, Richard Moloney, Whitney Elliott Baxster, Liz Sheehan, James Brown. Those who voted against were: Susan Lamb, Vice Mayor Steve Kay, Hannah LeGris, Kathy Plomin.