Resident asks Bradley County to investigate landfill contract, alleges uncollected penalties and denied records

Todd Bills used the public-comment period to ask the Bradley County Finance Committee to investigate the county’s contract with the landfill operator, saying records show the site has accepted far more tonnage than a contract threshold and that the county has not collected penalties he believes are owed.

"In our contract, it states that the Republic or Sante is penalized for bringing in over 400,000 tons a year," Bills told commissioners, citing public records he said he obtained through the county attorney showing 600,000–700,000 tons per year since 2015. "We've never collected a penny in penalties," he said, adding that the unpaid amounts could total "tens of millions of dollars." He also said he had requested the contractor’s internal tonnage‑rate data twice via open‑records requests and had been told by the county attorney that the county did not have those figures, despite a contract clause that, according to Bills, requires the company to provide them and to allow county access to Republic’s system.

Bills asked commissioners to investigate, obtain the tonnage-rate information and explain why records were not provided to county officials; he said he would continue to attend meetings and use his allotted public-comment time to press the issue. The finance committee did not take a formal vote or direct action on his request during the meeting; staff and commissioners acknowledged the comment but did not announce an immediate follow-up in the public record.

Why it matters: If the claim that contractual penalties were not assessed is accurate, the county could be forfeiting significant revenue and the life expectancy of the landfill could be reduced by accepting higher tonnage; Bills also alleges that a contract provision requiring county access to contractor data has not been honored. The committee did not dispute the factual particulars during the public comment and did not provide a formal response at the meeting.

Next steps: Bills asked commissioners and county legal staff to look into the matter; any formal investigation, audit or staff report would be scheduled separately and requires action by the county mayor or commission.