UPDATE at 9:10pm on 5/27: The City Council voted at the start of its 6pm meeting to postpone the public hearing scheduled for the day. Despite statements by City officials to the Prineville Review earlier in the day that there was no scheduled presentation by Republic, it was stated at the start of the Tuesday meeting of the City Council that Republic Services officials in attendance were going to give a presentation. The presentation did not take place due to the council’s vote to postpone.
Prineville, Ore. — Republic Services is once again asking the Prineville City Council to approve a rate increase for solid waste collection services. A public hearing on the request is scheduled for Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, 387 NE Third Street. The meeting notice was not issued until late Friday, raising concerns among some observers about whether the public was given sufficient opportunity to prepare.
The City has already been under fire by residents amid its own admissions of ineffective communication on the council’s business, including the recent controversy involving a proposed biomass facility.
The Prineville Review learned just hours ago that the proposed rate increase was 10%. If passed, it would amount to an over 20% rate increase in less than a year for city residents.
While the notice technically meets Oregon’s minimum 48-hour legal requirement for public meeting announcements by an administrative rule, it falls short of what the Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records and Meetings Manual describes as “actual notice”, a separate standard for meetings notice required under the law. That standard, according to the manual, typically requires notice at least one week in advance to ensure meaningful public awareness and participation.
This marks the second time in under a year that Republic Services has requested a rate hike from the city. In 2024, the company initially proposed a 14% increase. The city’s Solid Waste Committee recommended a reduced 10% rate hike, which the City Council rejected before later approving the 10% during its August 13, 2024, meeting. That decision followed public pressure and internal debate over the company’s service record and whether alternative providers should be considered.
Republic Services, which acquired Prineville Disposal in 2020, has faced ongoing scrutiny over customer service and billing changes since the transition. Local residents have voiced concerns over the shift away from local customer support and responsiveness to complaints.
Multiple citizens, who would not speak publically out of concern their waste services would be affected, contacted the Prineville Review over the weekend to share their concerns, with some also alleging the service issues raised last year have not improved.
We spoke with Assistant City Manager Casey Kaiser this afternoon who said he did not have answers to many of our questions. Despite requests to speak with City Manager Steve Forrester, who is presenting the proposal to the city council, according to its agenda, did not return our calls.
Forrester has not spoken to the Prineville Review since last year and has repeatedly declined to respond to any requests for comment with calls and emails placed with the City. Forrester last spoke with the Prineville Review last year following repeated issues with the Prineville Police Department which improperly rejected public records requests in a manner inconsistent with state law, including not meeting required timelines.
Forrester had said the department’s response to comply with the requests was “unacceptable”, requests which were ultimately complied with after City Attorney Jered Reid instructed the City on the public records laws requirements. It was not Reid’s first time educating City and police officials who repeatedly denied or stalled in responding to the requests from the Prineville Review.
Kaiser did call us back later in the afternoon just hours before the meeting and confirmed that the public hearing portion of the unspecified rate increase from Republic Services had been noticed separately last Monday. The response raised even more questions about why the City’s public meeting notice was not sent out until Friday considering the separate notice made for the public hearing prior.
The notice being made only late Friday falls well short of the Oregon Attorney General’s guidance for notices at least a week prior to the meeting, especially considering the holiday weekend. While still more than 48 hours prior under a separate administrative rule, the timeline of the notice for the public meeting could also be challenged under ORS 192.640.
The meeting notice “shall provide for and give public notice, reasonably calculated to give actual notice to interested persons including news media which have requested notice,” according to the statute.
Kaiser also did not have answers to questions from the Prineville Review on why the City did not publically reveal any details of the proposal, namely the proposed amount of the rate increase, prior to holding the public hearing. We also asked why details about the amount of the increase were excluded from the notices and any public information provided by the City and if that would impact decisions by citizens to attend the public hearing.
“I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t — I’m just not sure what the thought process was on when that got [noticed]. I know we had some agendas recently that we had to shift some things around. So yeah, I really don’t know the answer to that,” said Kaiser.
We also asked why a public hearing was not being scheduled for a later date after details of the proposal were made public, but Kaiser said he did not have an answer.
Kaiser also indicated that the Council could move tonight following the public hearing to accept the proposal.
The Prineville Review also asked Kaiser when Republic first even reached out to the City and Forrester with the proposed rate increase, which he also didn’t have an answer to.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” stated Kaiser.
A letter sent by Republic Services to Forrester was later obtained but it was undated. We also asked when Republic Services was made aware that the hearing would be held today (May 27th), but he again had no answer.
Despite repeated indications by Mayor Beebe in support of returning to live-stream video of its meetings, the City continues only to provide remote attendance via telephone for the public. The Prineville Review and other community members have previously raised questions regarding equal access requirements as the City does allow staff and others to attend remotely via video, which is also further required for remote attendance in executive sessions by members of the media.
We reached out to Republic Services but did not hear back prior to publication. We also reached out to Mayer Beebe for comment but did not hear back.
The City Council then voted at the start of Tuesday’s 6pm public meeting to postpone the public hearing on the recommendation of City Manager Forrester. However, he cited his recommendation on the basis that Councilor Jerry Brummer, who has been a liaison with Republic Services, has been absent in recent months from the meeting (it was his first meeting after reportedly handling personal health issues), as well as reporting that he thought Councilor Shane Howard would appreciate attending as he had reportedly taken a strong interest in the matters involving Republic Services.
The Prineville Review also obtained an undated letter addressed from Republic Services to Forrester at the hearing which was not previously disclosed in its agenda and packet but was available only to those who attended in person.
Note: This story was corrected shortly after publication to correct Kaiser’s spelling which had mistakenly been made as Kiser. It was also later updated following Tuesday’s public meeting with additional details and developments.
This is a developing story you can count on us to keep you updated on. We hope to provide the meeting via Facebook livestream. Please subscribe to us on YouTube as we work to acquire the needed subscribers to offer more public livestreams on that platform.
