Moorpark OKs 5-Year Pact for Hauling Trash

After months of delay because of the possible sale of one of the companies, the City Council approved a five-year trash hauling contract Wednesday night with two east county rubbish haulers.

The council voted 3 to 1, with Councilman Bernardo Perez voting against the contract, saying the city should open the process up to competitive bids.

Previous votes on the proposed contracts were repeatedly postponed while city officials waited for a federal bankruptcy judge in Santa Barbara to rule on whether to allow G.I. Industries of Simi Valley to reorganize its company or to put the company up for sale.

Earlier this month, the judge ruled that G.I.’s proposed plan of reorganization was workable, and she put off a sale while company officials devised details of the reorganization.

Heralding the judge’s decision as the last obstacle to their approval, Moorpark City Council members voted to approve the contract with G.I. and Anderson Disposal, also of Simi Valley, giving the two companies exclusive rights to haul trash in the city for the next five years with a possible three-year extension after that.

During several months of negotiations, city officials were able to get the two companies to reduce their basic monthly residential rate by $1 to about $16. The companies will also begin a “green waste” recycling program, picking up yard and garden clippings, which could be turned into compost.

The companies have shared the residential routes in the city for the past five years and control a portion of the commercial customers in the city. Under the new contract, the two companies will exclusively share all the residential and commercial customer routes, booting out two other firms that handle commercial trash in Moorpark.

Wednesday night’s decision came in spite of previous objections from officials with Browning Ferris Industries, who asked the council to open the process to competitive bids. Officials from Browning Ferris claimed that they could save the city between 30% and 40% on what G.I. Industries and Anderson Disposal would charge, reducing the cost for Moorpark’s more than 7,000 residential customers by an estimated $2 million over five years.

The Texas-based company, which is the nation’s second-largest trash hauler, had asked the city to open the contract bidding process, but was turned down. When the bankruptcy court considered selling G.I., lawyers representing Browing Ferris said their company was interested in possibly buying the firm.

No officials from BFI spoke at Wednesday’s meeting.