Huntington Park OKs 49% Trash Rate Hike : Contract: City Council splits 3-2 in first clash of old guard against newcomers since last month’s election.

It was the first meeting after a contentious election and it did not take long for the old guard and the newcomers on the City Council to butt heads.

Longtime council members Thomas E. Jackson, Jack W. Parks and William P. Cunningham banded together to grant the city’s commercial trash hauler a 49% rate increase despite the objections of Councilmen Luis Hernandez and Raul Perez. The rate increase does not affect residential trash service, which is provided by another company.

While campaigning during last month’s election, Hernandez repeatedly criticized Jackson, Parks and Cunningham for awarding the lucrative commercial garbage contract to the well-connected owner of H. P. Disposal without seeking bids from competitors.

Now the three councilmen pushed through a sizable rate increase, and Hernandez spoke out about the way the contract was awarded in 1988.

“It was a done deal before it was (voted) on,” Hernandez said, referring to the 1988 contract. “I totally oppose this method of voting for the disposal contract.”

Jackson, who negotiated the contract with the trash company, said H. P. Disposal has provided good service and that Hernandez was on a witch hunt. “Your bias is showing, Mr. Hernandez,” Jackson said.

Hernandez said he would vote for the 49% rate increase if it were shown that the company’s operating expenses had risen accordingly. “I don’t see anything that substantiates a 49% increase,” Hernandez said.

Perez also questioned the propriety of such a large increase.

In requesting the rate increase, H. P. Disposal submitted documents showing that the cost of using area landfills had risen, as had health insurance costs for the firm’s employees.

But H. P. Disposal officials did not provide any information on how the firm’s overall operating expenses had increased, said Donald L. Jeffers, city chief administrative officer.

“I don’t know the exact” increase in H. P. Disposal’s operating expenses, Jackson said. “There was enough (information) to justify that increase.”

Effective July 1, H. P. Disposal will charge the city’s businesses $83.26 a month to empty a three-cubic-yard trash bin once a month. The current charge is $55.88.

A survey of seven area cities indicates that the new charges will be about average, according to a city report. For example, Compton charges $85 a month for similar service, while Lynwood charges $78.71.

The contract with H. P. Disposal generated controversy from the start.

Eugene C. Fresch, a former Las Vegas casino operator, founded H. P. Disposal in May, 1988. He was awarded Huntington Park’s commercial garbage contract less than a month later.

Laidlaw Waste Systems Inc., a Canadian firm, still had three years remaining on a five-year contract at the time.

Jackson and other city officials had secretly negotiated for months with Fresch. Jackson said Laidlaw’s service was poor and its contract needed to be terminated. The new contract would enable the city to improve service and collect a franchise fee for the first time.

But word of the contract leaked and three other trash firms submitted informal proposals that might have generated larger franchise fees for Huntington Park.

H. P. Disposal agreed to pay the city a 5% annual franchise fee--about $75,000--with an advance payment of $300,000. One of the competing firms offered a 12% franchise fee with a $1 million advance.

Jackson, Parks and Cunningham approved the contract with H. P. Disposal. Former Councilmen Herbert A. Hennes Jr. and Jim Roberts voted against it, saying the city should follow up on the informal proposal from the other firms.

State law allows cities to award such contracts without competitive bidding.

Jackson said he favored H. P. Disposal because he knew Fresch and trusted that his new firm would provide top-notch service. H. P. Disposal had no equipment when it won the contract.

But critics contended that Jackson’s personal friendship with Fresch’s son, Curtis, paved the way and may have deprived the city of additional revenue. Curtis Fresch manages the Huntington Park Casino, which provides the city with about $500,000 in revenue annually.

Earlier this week, Jeffers said the service provided by H. P. Disposal “has been most satisfactory and complaints to my office have been non-existent.”

After their heated exchange, Jackson and Hernandez moved to close any rifts opened at their first meeting as council colleagues. They pledged to work together even if they disagree.

Before Hernandez and Perez, there had not been a new council member since Cunningham took his seat in 1977.

“This is new and strange to us,” Jackson said.