Compton OKs Trash Pact With Figure Tied to Past Scandal

The Compton City Council voted four to one Tuesday night to award a long-term, no-bid trash contract to a key figure in one of the town’s most notorious corruption scandals.

The vote, with Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux the lone dissenter, gives the company of Michael V. Aloyan the exclusive right to collect Compton’s waste for 15 years and to use city equipment in doing so.

In return, the city is to receive an immediate $2-million payment, monthly fees starting in three years, and Aloyan’s commitment to service the debt on the trash equipment, according to a copy of the contract.

In two corruption trials five years ago, Aloyan, who was never charged with a crime, testified that he passed bribes to two former members of the City Council on behalf of trash and casino interests for which he worked.

Those two politicians, Councilwoman Patricia Moore and Mayor Walter Tucker III, were convicted of extortion and received federal prison sentences. The charges upon which Tucker was convicted stemmed from testimony, not by Aloyan, but by another businessman.

In discussion over the new contract, current council members said Aloyan’s past should have no bearing on his ability to collect trash now. Mayor Omar Bradley said the $2-million payment was so generous in itself that it eliminated the need to seek other bids.

“Unless somebody has $5 million or $3 million for us . . . we should go forward,” he said. “There’s never been a waste company before that has given this town a dime.”

Arceneaux, echoed by other trash companies, has questioned whether a better deal might be possible.

She briefly delayed a vote Tuesday night, in a sharp exchange with Bradley over future rate increases, indexed to inflation, which are permitted by the contract.