Trash Haulers Assail Plan for Outside Bids

Ventura County trash haulers, who now enjoy exclusive long-term contracts to cart off garbage in unincorporated areas, balked at a proposal Thursday that they compete with outside companies for the lucrative business.

Attorneys and representatives of several residential haulers told the county’s top waste management official that opening up the bidding process to include large national companies would hurt the economy by putting small, local firms at a disadvantage.

“No matter how you slice it, it’s a slap in the face to haulers who feel they’ve done a good job,” said one local hauler at a meeting of trash officials at the County Government Center.

But Kay Martin, director of the county’s Solid Waste Management Department, said the waste industry is changing so rapidly in terms of technology and recycling laws it is important that the county maintain some flexibility by opening up the bidding process.

“It’s in the public interest for the Board of Supervisors at some point in the future to have the option of going out to a competitive bid,” Martin said. “This does not mean they have to exercise this option. This will be at their discretion.”

At one point during Thursday’s meeting, local trash haulers got into a heated exchange with an official of Texas-based Browning Ferris Industries, or BFI, which is seeking to open up the bidding process.

“All the money from here, all the checks from the citizens here are going to go to Texas” if the county contracts with BFI, said Morteza Yassini, an official with Ventura-based Rubbish Control.

“Companies like BFI may be based in a different state, but they are very decentralized and are run like small independent companies,” responded Toni Simmons, a BFI marketing development manager from Los Angeles. “I get very passionate when I hear challenges like that, talking about little companies like yours losing their business. I’m just a little woman who works for a large company.”

Simmons said her company believes that trash rates in Ventura County are inflated and that it can provide more competitive prices. BFI was recently awarded a contract to haul trash for Camarillo State Hospital, and it is in the process of trying to open up bidding in Moorpark.

“It’s good government to go out to competitive bid,” Simmons said.

But local haulers argued that BFI and other large firms offer lower rates to get their foot in the door, then eventually raise rates once they are established. The local trash companies offered to discuss lowering their rates or making other changes to avoid open bidding.

“The haulers would be open to discuss agreement modifications at any time if you wish to do that; then you’d never need to pull the trigger,” said John Kelley Astor, an attorney representing several area haulers.

In 1991 and 1992, the county signed so-called evergreen contracts with nine different companies--owned by four local haulers--to pick up trash in unincorporated areas. The contracts, all for seven-year terms, are automatically renewed every year unless the Board of Supervisors decides otherwise.

Martin of the county’s solid waste department said the evergreen contracts were initially approved to give haulers some security in making long-term investments in trucks and other equipment.

But Martin said the waste industry and the laws that govern it are undergoing rapid change and therefore the county must keep its options open.

She said if the county were to terminate a contract with a hauler, under her proposal the hauler would still have 6 1/2 years before its contract expired. Martin said that would give the haulers time to recoup their investments and possibly lower rates. As a result, Martin said, the firms could be in a good position to bid competitively on future contracts.

Martin agreed to meet with local haulers again before taking her proposal to the Board of Supervisors sometime this year.