MOORPARK : Negotiations on Trash Contracts Continue

Although Moorpark city officials continue to negotiate with two local haulers on new contracts to pick up trash, committee members hammering out the new deal told officials from the nation’s second-largest trash company to keep in touch just in case an agreement cannot be reached.

“The council has said it is happy with the haulers,” said Mary Lindley, assistant to the city manager. “But if for some reason they aren’t able to hammer things out and the negotiations fell apart, we should have the option of going to outside bidders.”

Officials from Browning Ferris Industries, whose attempts to bid on the trash contracts were rebuffed this spring, were told in writing that they were welcome to submit estimates of how much it would cost to haul trash in the city, Lindley said.

The Texas-based firm told city leaders in April that it could save the city from 30% to 40% on what residents and businesses now pay for trash hauling.

But BFI officials did not submit estimates that were specific to services in Moorpark. Instead they asked the Moorpark City Council to open up the process and allow them to bid on the contracts. Under BFI’s proposal, any company could bid on the contracts, but the bids would be sealed and the city could then choose the lowest bidder.

The City Council balked at the proposal, and decided to go forward with its closed-door negotiations with two Simi Valley firms--G.I. Rubbish and Anderson Disposal Co.--that have held residential and commercial trash hauling contracts in the city for the past five years.