Lawndale Council Rescinds Controversial Trash Contract

A newly elected Lawndale city councilwoman cast the deciding vote Thursday to rescind the controversial five-year trash hauling contract awarded last month to Western Waste Inc. during a stormy, pre-election session.

The reversal was a victory for Browning-Ferris Industries, which has held the Lawndale franchise for eight years and threatened the city with legal action over what the company called a biased selection process.

“I’m pleased with the council action because what happened was very unfair,” said Chip Scholz, BFI’s community affairs director. “This has been a real mess all along.”

The council left open the question of how the franchise will be awarded, whether by a rebidding of the contract or by negotiations for an extension with BFI.

Thursday’s decision was a 3-2 vote, with Councilmen Bill Johnson and Norm Lagerquist dissenting. Together with former Councilwoman Carol Norman, they voted to award the $6-million contract to Western Waste in April.

However, new Councilwoman Nancy Marthens argued that the selection process was tainted because it was not conducted with competitive sealed bids, and she joined forces with Mayor Harold Hofmann and Councilman Larry Rudolf to rescind the contract.

Mark Bozajian, executive vice president of Carson-based Western Waste, said he was flabbergasted by the turnabout.

“We feel that we have a binding and enforceable contract with the city of Lawndale,” he said. “We clearly offered the best proposal and the best price.”