Flynn Angry Over Contractor Recommendation

Supervisor John Flynn blasted public works officials Tuesday for recommending Tom Staben be awarded a $141,937 contract to clean out silt and debris from a flood-control basin near Somis.

Staben remains under investigation by local, state and federal authorities for possible environmental, zoning and planning code violations.

If awarded the contract, the Somis-based contractor--who has been cited in the past for illegal dumping--would be responsible for the removal and disposal of about 16,100 cubic yards of silt and debris that have accumulated in the Fox Debris Basin, north of California 118.

At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, Flynn persuaded his colleagues to pull the contract from the supervisors’ consent calendar and tabled the matter until the Nov. 10 meeting.

Public Works Agency officials had placed the Staben contract on the consent calendar--along with five other debris cleanup contracts--to be approved by supervisors in one vote, something that usually occurs without discussion.

“I’m very upset about that,” Flynn said. “It shows me an insensitivity to the whole environmental issue and to elected people. The bureaucracy isn’t listening.”

Butch Britt, acting director of the county Public Works Agency, defended the agency’s decision to propose awarding the contract to Staben, arguing that his bid was the lowest of six offered for the job. He also emphasized that the project should not be delayed too long.

“These basins have to be cleared up before the winter rains,” Britt said. “Staben has been accused of a lot of things. He’s received a lot of notices of violations, but nothing has ever been proven. He’s the lowest responsible bidder under state law.”

Those lower prices might be the result of Staben’s cutting costs by dumping material in unlawful places, warned Maarten Couwenberg, a representative of a labor law watchdog group based in Pasadena. By not having to pay a dumping yard, for example, Staben could offer the lowest bid, he said.

“I’m concerned about contractors having a level playing field,” Couwenberg told supervisors, “that everyone plays by the rules.”

Britt later said he saw no need in alerting supervisors that Staben was the lowest bidder on the project. The staff report that provides details on all the contractors had been available since Thursday for supervisors to review, he said.

In the past few months, Staben has been issued three notices of zoning and planning violations, according to Todd Collart, a county planning manager.

Staben is contesting two of them, which allege that he illegally stored junk, debris, tractors, bulldozers and front-end loaders on his Somis property. He did not, however, contest a citation for illegally storing large trash bins on his property, and already has paid a fine.

In the past, Staben has been cited by county inspectors for creating a small lake on land he owns near Moorpark without permits and excavating the ecologically sensitive Ventura River bottom.

Britt downplayed those citations. Since being cited last year for building the storm drainage pond in Moorpark, Staben has submitted the proper grading permits, Britt said.

“It’s hard to see that as a major violation,” Britt said. “It sounds more like an administrative problem.”

The Ventura River bottom excavation was a project for the county and Staben’s citation on that job is being appealed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the county, according to Britt. The county needed the rock and dirt from the riverbed to help restore parts of Santa Ana Road washed out by El Nino-fueled storms, he said.

But some supervisors are not taking the matter as lightly as county staff.

“I was really surprised that he was being awarded a contract and not too pleased,” said Supervisor Susan Lacey. “I don’t want to reward people who break environmental laws.”

Flynn said he was disappointed that Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed an Assembly bill late last month that would have allowed local governments to set up special guidelines that contractors must obey.

Under that bill, those who violated one or more of the guidelines could have been declared irresponsible bidders and could have lost the right to bid on county projects until those violations were addressed.

As a result, Flynn asked Jim McBride, the county’s lawyer, to continue developing a new set of county guidelines for rating the performance of contractors. The policy would allow the county to ban contractors who do not live up to county standards.

The guidelines--which would be similar to bidding safeguards in place in Los Angeles County--are scheduled to be discussed during the Nov. 10 supervisor’s meeting.