Council Votes to Initiate Renegotiations for Waste Services

The Colton city council on Tuesday, Aug. 5, voted to enter renegotiations with its current solid waste services provider, Republic Services. The motion was made by Councilmember David Toro and seconded by Councilmember Susan Oliva and passed 6-1, with Councilmember Frank Gonzales dissenting, after the agenda item was pulled from the consent calendar and moved for discussion. Negotiations are expected to last between two to three months, but could go up to six months, explained Amer Jakher, public works director and acting city manager. Colton will receive $40,000 from Republic Services as a cost of negotiation. If no terms are agreed upon for a new contract between the city and Republic, the city has the option to take bids from other solid waste service providers or provide solid waste services in-house, Jakher explained. Deal points up for discussion in the negotiation talks include services provided, rate discounts for seniors and low-income residents and a rate freeze of 2015-2016 rates as a show of good faith, according to staff reports. The existing contract between the city and Republic Services expires June 2016. Mayor Pro Tem Isaac Suchil said he wanted the council to enter negotiations with Republic Services aware that it has not already secured a new solid waste services contract with the city. “I don’t want to give that impression because to me, that keeps them from sharpening the pencil a little more,” Suchil said Tuesday evening. “…We all have needs and costs that we expect them to meet, and if they fail to meet those costs, then (request for proposals) should be our next option.” But councilmember Gonzales urged the council not to enter into negotiations with Republic and instead request bid proposals for solid waste services from other providers, arguing that it was the council’s job to save taxpayer money. “You’re looking at a big savings. You’re looking at maybe (saving) 15 percent by virtually going out for bid,” Gonzales said, citing solid waste bids made by providers to the city of Huntington Park that he researched on his own. “With that kind of savings, we can give it back to the residents, in terms of lower rates.” He said good business practices dictate that the council request bid proposals. “We can’t lose in finding out if we can get a cheaper rate for our residents. …Without going up for a bid, we just continue paying the same price over and over again, and to me, that’s not good business.” Republic Services and the City of Colton entered into a solid waste agreement in 1996. Through the years the contract has been amended several times. Councilmember Dierdre Bennett, who supported entering negotiations with Republic Services, said that if the council does compare bids from other companies, the council must be sure those bids include services that Republic may be willing to provide. “We have quite a list of items that we are asking (Republic) to negotiate with us on,” Bennett said. “If we’re going to compare, we have to make sure that we’re comparing like contracts, that the rates are being looked at from other surrounding communities include everything that’s being asked of Republic to provide with us. Otherwise, it’s not the same scenario.”