Roseville approves transfer of GFL contract to Priority Waste

ROSEVILLE — The Roseville City Council on June 25 unanimously approved assigning the current contract from GFL Environmental Inc. to Priority Waste. The new waste management company will take over July 1.

Roseville City Attorney Tim Tomlinson said the city has an assignment clause in its contract with GFL that allows the city to choose another provider. He recommended continuing the current contract with Priority Waste. While he expects it to go well over time, he did anticipate the transition will be difficult at first.

“We do expect a bit of a rocky start anytime this happens in this quick of a fashion,” Tomlinson said.

Roseville Mayor Robert Taylor asked if there would be a rate increase.

“There’s no changes to the contract terms,” Tomlinson said. “They will abide by the contract terms as written until expiration of that agreement, and then we’ll have to obviously address it at that point.”

Tomlinson said the city has four years left on its current contract.

The transition is part of a vast acquisition of GFL’s residential assets by Priority Waste. Earlier this year, a May 29 letter to GFL employees was leaked on social media before the sale was officially announced.

“This sale encompasses assets and collection operations within Oakland, Washtenaw, Livingston, Macomb, Genesee, and Wayne Counties,” John Addison, GFL general manager for Wayne County, stated in the letter. “It includes the transfer of contracts with 75 municipal customers as well as 70,000 homeowner’s associations and subscription residential customers.”