CAMARILLO : Council Vote OKs Trash Monopoly

The Camarillo City Council has decided to set up a new system for commercial waste hauling in the city, allowing one company to have a monopoly on collecting business owners’ trash.

In a 3-1 vote, the council voted after 2 1/2 hours of debate to amend the city code, which calls for non-exclusive franchise agreements.

Councilman Ken Gose was the sole dissenter. Councilman David M. Smith was absent.

“Once you get a monopoly going, it’s very, very difficult to break up,” Gose said, after disputing nearly every argument city staff members made for the establishment of a system allowing for an exclusive franchise agreement.

E.J. Harrison & Sons is the only hauler now collecting rubbish from residences and businesses, but the Ventura company has an exclusive franchise agreement with the city only for residential trash.

Under the new system, the city will take bids from any waste hauler who wants to operate in Camarillo, and then choose one with which to contract for the next five years. The matter arose when Rubbish Control Inc. of Ventura said it wanted to service businesses in Camarillo.

City Manager J. William Little said he initially had favored open competition, but said he changed his mind after a year of studying the issue.

Little said it will be difficult, regardless, to meet the state requirement to reduce the city’s waste stream by 50% by 2000 or face large fines.

During the public hearing, several E.J. Harrison executives, agreeing with city staff members, said haulers under open competition would be forced to focus more on keeping old accounts and gaining new ones than on developing innovative techniques to help the city meet those requirements.

The council also voted to allow more than one hauler to rent “roll-off” bins, used to dispose of debris from remodeling or other projects that generate a large quantity of trash.