Mission Viejo’s 10-year trash contract with Waste Management expires at the end of next year, so bids will soon be accepted for future service. The Council will take action next week specifying services required from bidders. Council members didn’t finalize specifications on November 16 during a hearing with its consultants, but the recommended specifications for single family residences included:
- 3-cart service (new carts) for weekly solid waste, recyclables, and green waste (no change)
- On-call, citywide door-to-door household hazardous waste & e-waste collection service, per attached list (currently one annual remote drop-off)
- Bulky item pickup, limited to 3 pickups per year with 5 items per pickup (currently 2 pickups per year)
- Cart washing service twice per year (mandatory; estimated to add 50 cents to all monthly bills)
- Annual holiday tree pickup (no change)
- Cart-roll out service for additional charge (optional new service)
- Semi-annual compost site where residents could pickup compost (new service)
Proposals will be considered on numerous factors, not price alone. Ten years ago Waste Management was selected on a 3-2 council vote although it was not the lowest bidder.
Current rates for single family residences under the existing contract, effective January 1, are $14.00 per residence; $13.30 for homeowner associations. Seniors receive a 20% discount. An extra solid waste cart is currently $2.34 monthly, but would be no charge under a new contract. There is no charge presently, or in the new specifications, for extra carts for recycling and green waste.
Municipal facilities and city-sponsored events will receive free trash services. This is different from other utilities, like electricity and gas, where the City pays for its usage. In effect the free trash service is a hidden tax, but the arrangement also exists in the current agreement. In addition the City receives a franchise fee from the trash collector. The initial payment will be $125,000, and an ongoing 5% commission will apply on temporary or roll-off bins. Annual payments will be $60,000, adjustable for inflation, to cover costs of waste service audits.
The revenue value of the new contract over its term could be as high as $100 million, including commercial revenues. Due to the potential for undue influence, City policy prohibits contact between council members and representatives of trash bidders, unless arranged and attended by city staff. Gifts or compensation from bidders is also banned. But neither that policy nor California’s Political Reform prohibit campaign contributions.
The City’s consultant, Sloan-Vasquez LLC, is acting as the exclusive contact between bidders and city officials. In response to a question from Councilwoman Schlicht at the last meeting, Sloan agreed to disclose if any bidders are current of previous clients of the firm. Schlicht was concerned about a potential conflict-of-interest, since Sloan will recommend the winning proposal.
The City Council is expected to finalize specifications and authorize the solicitation of proposals at its meeting next week. The consultant is expected to recommend a proposal in March, and the Council could approve a winning contractor as early as April.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll make this short. Let’s wash our own carts out and lets save some money. Holy cow! are we totally dependent on frivolous services we all pay for?
I also thought cart washing services were a waste of money, ’til I realized that people can’t easily wash out their carts in an ecological manner. The waste water from trash cans is full of bacteria/other nasties, which if allowed to run down the storm drains, could add more pollution and trash to the ocean. It’s easier to have a self-contained service which collects the waste water for proper disposal in a waste treatment plant than trying to do it yourself at home.
I am dismayed that the city went to a consultant to pull together this contract. There are a number of former procurement directors with multiple years of contract experience (two of which I know have over 60 years of collective experience) that could have written this contract as a “community service” to Mission Viejo.
Could we smell a big political contribution from this deal?
I was unaware that our current service included annual cart cleaning by request. I called to get that done and the WM receptionist said they had never heard of that contract provision. But they happily agreed to change out my carts for clean ones at the next service. Great customer service, but I am wondering now whether that is actually part of the existing contract or if this is a mistake.
[Editor's Correction: The free annual cleaning service, by request, is for commercial containers. Waste Management is courteously offering to replace dirty residential carts with new carts, whether or not they are cracked or broken, as Mr. Harriott described. Some customer service representatives at Waste Management are unfamiliar with this, so they may need to check with their supervisor.]
We used to have the “Clean a Can” service for $80/year. As other costs rise and fixed incomes don’t, we cancelled. Cleaning the cans by customers would not be feasable in our community, Casta Del Sol, as most seniors are not able to handle the larger cans.
Why is it that politicians and consultants are constantly inventing ways to spend our money. The State is good at this also and look where that has gotten us! Trash in – trash out really applies here!!