Bid to Lower Garbage Collection Fees Falters

A plan to get a lower price for garbage collection in four neighboring San Gabriel Valley cities suffered a setback Wednesday as one partner--Monrovia--said it would not challenge a judge’s ruling that its existing contract must be honored to 2000.

The Monrovia City Council met behind closed doors Tuesday and decided not to appeal if Newco Waste Systems, the current garbage hauler, agrees to drop a suit against the city, officials said.

“This is an olive branch and we hope they take it,” said City Manager Rod Gould.

Attorney Jim Gustafson, representing the Riverside-based hauler, said his client is considering the settlement.

Monrovia sued Newco to end the hauler’s contract in July so it could join the other communities in a multi-city garbage bid. But on Friday, Judge David Workman ruled for Newco, saying that letters written by Gould in 1992 to Newco about terminating the contract in July 1996 were too vague and that the council never authorized his action.

Officials from the other three cities--Arcadia, Duarte and Bradbury--said they would continue without Monrovia and still believed that together the economies of scale will mean they will get a better deal.

“We’re proceeding with the bidding. We’re not changing direction,” said Arcadia City Manager William Kelly.

However, Duarte Councilman James D. Kirchner conceded that without the 12,000 households of Monrovia, the second largest of the four cities, the full benefits of a joint deal may not be realized.