In the Portland area, the biggest concern in the imbroglio over Metro's garbage-hauling contract is cost. But in Gilliam County, the issues are much more personal: safety and jobs. 

"People here can't buy a car, can't buy a house," said Bob Helgerson, 54, a driver for Specialty Transportation Services, which trucks Portland-area garbage to a landfill at Arlington, 150 miles east of Portland. He said the uncertainty over the future of the financially troubled company has everyone on edge. 

There are 57 drivers in the Arlington area and a dozen other STS employees who worry their jobs could be in jeopardy if STS folds, or if Metro terminates the remaining eight-plus years of STS' 20-year contract. 

Unlike Portland, Gilliam County has a stagnant economy with limited employment opportunities. Traditional employment in the wheat and ranching industries has declined sharply. For many, the choice is between landfill-related jobs and no jobs. 

The landfill is owned by Waste Management, which has a separate contract with Metro, the Portland-area regional government whose responsibilities include planning and disposal of the region's garbage. 

Helgerson, whose wife also works for STS as a dispatcher, said no one in the company has told them anything. They moved here from Portland four years ago. "We're all transplants here." 

The information drought is about to end, promised Laura Pryor, the county judge who heads the Gilliam County Court, which is similar to a county commission. She told a meeting of STS employees and their families at Arlington Elementary School last week that the county's top priority is to make sure that STS employees have work, no matter who has the hauling contract. 

"The one thing I'm sure of is the trash has to be moved and you are going to be the ones moving, it," she said. "You are not going to wake up some morning and not have a job, and not have a paycheck." 

Metro has given STS and its new parent company, Churchill Environmental of New York, until March 22 to satisfactorily resolve several contract violations, including maintenance problems, incomplete financial reports and other financial difficulties. 

Metro also could suspend STS at any time if it's not satisfied with documents the company submitted by a March 2 deadline to demonstrate it is financially able to meet its contract obligations. 

Pryor said Churchill President Michael Hahn will appear before the county court in Condon on Wednesday to answer questions about the company's precarious financing and address the county's concerns about the condition of STS trailers and other equipment. 


A commissioner's STS job 
An unusual situation for the county court is that one of the three commissioners, Dennis Gronquist, is also the manager of local STS' operations. Gronquist didn't attend the school meeting and said later he was in Palm Springs, Calif., on a golfing vacation. He said Gary Goldberg, president of STS, also was in Palm Springs. 

Pryor said that because of Gronquist's dual positions, he has been unable to keep the other commissioners informed about STS' problems. "He has a clear conflict of interest," she said. "He can't talk to me." 

Gilliam County's permitting authority gives it leverage over trucking company operations in the county. Pryor said the county still has not approved the change of ownership for STS from the recently bankrupted Asche Transportation. The Metro Council approved the change in December. 

"We can yank that conditional use permit," Pryor said. "We can shut STS' trucking contract down faster than Metro can." 

In a Feb. 28 letter to Hahn, Pryor cited the county's "deep concern about the manner in which Churchill has addressed a similar change of ownership process with Metro. The current public perception is that Churchill has not been forthcoming or will keep their word once given." 

The meeting of STS employees with Pryor was organized by Laurie Keizur, a high school librarian whose husband, Dan, is an STS driver. They moved here from The Dalles two years ago and built a new home, a rarity in this town of about 530. 

"Fear is running rampant" and is made worse by a lack of information, Laurie Keizur said. "We're people with hopes and dreams and goals, and it may seem unusual to put our dreams in trash, but that's the way it is." 

Metro has a backup waste-hauling agreement with another firm, Blue Line Transportation of Portland, to temporarily haul Portland-area waste if STS goes out of business or loses the contract. 

Pryor promised that if Blue Line or another firm takes over the STS contract, the county would use its permitting authority to try to make certain employees don't lose their jobs or paychecks. 

"The non-negotiating position of the Gilliam County Court is that those things won't happen," she said. "Can I guarantee it? No. But if they are going to change it, they are going to a have a war." 

She didn't completely reassure everyone. 

Helgerson said a major concern of drivers is that even if they are given jobs with a new company, they still could lose seniority or benefits, or face moving if the new company decided to move its base of operations out of Gilliam County. 

Sherry McClellan, 56, an STS driver for the past five years, said events probably already have outpaced what employees were being told. "I feel like the answers have already been put in place and we're just being soothed and patted on the head."