Bartholomew County will be sticking with Rumpke as the operator of the county landfill, for three more years, a contract that pays about $1.2 million dollars annually. However, the new proposal would give the county the option of exiting the arrangement with a 60-day notice.

Columbus City Councilman Frank Miller, who also heads the county’s Solid Waste Management District Board, has been pushing to look for proposals from other vendors, to see if they could offer the county a better deal or more savings. The board voted at last months’ meeting to let that process move forward and to only agree to a one year extension with Rumpke.

However, on Thursday, the board decided to continue doing business with Rumpke, at the rates established in 1998 when the landfill first opened. County Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz made that recommendation, pending the approval of attorneys.

Kleinhenz added that he, and other board members, were also concerned that the rates could go up if the contract was rebid.

Miller was the lone vote against that proposal.

County officials say that Rumpke is the biggest customer of the county landfill, paying $850,000 to the county last year for the trash it dumped there.