Last-Minute Sale of Trash Firm May Save City Contract

The city’s trash collectors, under fire from the City Council, say they have struck a last-minute accord with a buyer for their company and saved their city contract--at least for now.

The council, which had threatened to slap a notice of default on Best Disposal Co., decided Tuesday night to hold off after Best announced it has signed a binding agreement on its sale to a Riverside company.

A notice of default would be the city’s first step toward breaking its contract with Best, a 50-year-old company that has served Monrovia for 23 years.

City officials are frustrated because Best has not lived up to its promise last May to launch a citywide recycling program and an automated garbage collection system.

Even Tuesday night, following Best’s announcement of its agreement with a buyer, some council members were unconvinced the deal will go through. The city has ordered Best executives to supply the financial record of the buyer, Riverside-based National Environmental Waste Management Corp., by Jan. 11.

“I’m a little skeptical you’ll have these documents by the 11th,” said Councilwoman Lara Blakely, complaining about previous delays in the council’s dealings with Best over the last seven months.

“We have a responsibility to the citizens of Monrovia,” Mayor Bob Bartlett told Best Manager George Weinwurm.

Bartlett also said he might call a special council meeting to discuss the matter as soon as Best produces supporting documents about the sale. The city would have to give its OK to any sale and could withhold its approval if the trash collection services in Monrovia would be hurt by the change, officials said.

Best, which has five years remaining on its contract with the city, has been negotiating its sale for nearly two months. Executives have not revealed what will happen to Best’s organization and staffing levels after the sale.

But National Environmental Waste Corp. General Manager Pete Nadell assured the council Tuesday night his company will fulfill all of Best’s contract obligations.

Weinwurm maintains Best has been struggling since last year to clean up the company’s financial problems. “There has been no foot-dragging on our part at all,” he said.

He did not provide specific details about the company’s financial plight or respond to telephone calls from reporters seeking additional information.

City officials learned of the problem after Best failed to launch the recycling and automated trash pickup programs as promised in May.

“We expected it to go forward immediately,” Finance Director Howard Longballa said. In anticipation of the new services, the city even lowered residential customers’ rates. But within a month, when Best failed to deliver the services, it became apparent the company was floundering financially, city officials said.

“As soon as we saw there was a problem, we reinstated the old (customer) rate,” Longballa said.

Since then, Best has managed to introduce recycling to about 80% of the homes in the city, and a third of the residences has automated trash collection, he said.

In a September letter to City Manager Jim Starbird, Best promised to present a schedule for complete automation by the end of last year but did not meet that deadline.

Weinwurm promised the council Tuesday that an implementation schedule and a copy of the sale contract will be provided to the city by Jan. 11.

“Details are still being worked out by attorneys,” he said. “Believe it or not, we’ve been trying to get this done as fast as we can.”