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Act 2 in the garbage soap opera |
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By Michelle Carter
Zirana Managing Editor
The soap opera that has become the South Bayside Waste Management Authority has unveiled Act Two.
In response to a searing letter from San Mateo Supervisor Jerry Hill
that took issue with the transparency of the board’s process for
choosing a new garbage and recycle pick-up service, SBWMA has removed
Kevin McCarthy, its executive director, from the selection process.
McCarthy was the source of Hill’s complaint. After SBWMA settled on
Norcal Waste Systems, dumping Allied Waste which has held the contract
for nine years, two weeks ago, McCarthy then took the unusual action of
emailing the four unsuccessful bidders asking them to write a letter
defending the SBWMA’s bidding process.
“[I] have a special and awkward request to make: can [you] write a
letter stating that while you are certainly disappointed with the
results and you not being selected you feel the rfp processes were
conducted professionally, thoroughly and with the highest level of
transparency and integrity,” McCarthy wrote in the Aug. 23 e-mail.
After that, Hill took issue with the transparency of SBWMA process
which, he wrote, makes him “suspicious of what I’m getting from them.”
Besides removing McCarthy from the selection process, SBWMA chair Larry
Patterson wrote that the executive committee will review and approve
direct correspondence with the proposers regarding the selection
process and the committee’s role in contract negotiations with the
short-listed firms will be increased for direct oversight.
“Maintaining this objectivity and openness is extremely important to
the SBWMA Board, the member agencies that we represent and the
customers who will ultimately be served by the selected companies,”
Patterson said.
In choosing Norcal, the board was reacting to a small mountain of
complaints about Allied whose contract to provide curbside garbage and
recycling pickup for the 10 cities ends in December 2010.
Norcal’s bid was for $44.4 million annually over a 10 year period; Allied’s was for $43.5 million.
Of course, nothing is really decided yet. The decision to go with
Norcal must be approved by two-thirds of the board’s member cities, and
that’s certainly not a done deal. Burlingame’s finance director, Jesus
Nava, abstained from the selection vote out of concern that the board
doesn’t have a handle on how its decision will affect rates.
The board is also knee-deep in negotiations to pick a new manager for
its Shoreway Recycling and Disposal Center on Shoreway Road in San
Carlos. That 10-year contract is worth $36 million a year. Allied was
previously passed over as manager. A decision is expected in eight
weeks.
Formed in 1982, the Waste Management Board includes Atherton, Belmont,
Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, San
Carlos, San Mateo, unincorporated San Mateo County and the West Bay
Sanitary District.
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