Vote moves Norcal closer to county trash duties

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 28, 2008 | by Shaun Bishop

The future of garbage service in San Mateo County is unsettled, even as the South Bayside Waste Management Authority Board voted Thursday to dump embattled Allied Waste Industries.

In a 9-0 vote with one abstention, the authority board picked Norcal Waste Systems over three other bidders to take over collection services when Allied's contract expires at the end of 2010.

Now all 12 of the authority's member agencies, including 10 cities from East Palo Alto to Burlingame, must individually approve agreements with Norcal, setting up debates over the coming months about major pending decisions.

Besides the collection contract, which pays $70 million annually over 10 years, the authority intends to select a new manager to run its Shoreway Recycling and Disposal Center in San Carlos.

Officials are down to two bidders for the $36 million-a-year Shoreway contract, which also begins in 2011 and lasts 10 years. A decision is expected by the end of October.

The authority is also working on a plan to finance a $53.9 million renovation of the Shoreway facility that is to include installation of equipment for single-stream recycling, so residents can put all types of recyclable items into the same bin.

On Thursday, one board member expressed concerns about the costs of coming decisions and how garbage rates might be affected.

Jesus Nava, Burlingame's finance director, abstained from voting, saying he wasn't sure whether the upgrades and new contracts were economically beneficial for Burlingame residents.

"It's hard to make a decision on a piecemeal basis," Nava said.

He said he wanted to know how much rates would jump as a result of "not just one contract, but all contracts and all projects."

"I don't want to hold up the process, but I firmly believe 30 months still gives us the time to deal with this issue," Nava said.

The authority's other members -- Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, San Mateo County and the West Bay Sanitary District -- will have to make the same decisions.

If members decide to go against the authority's choice of Norcal and find their own trash service, "everyone should understand that will have a cost impact on all the other member agencies," said authority executive director Kevin McCarthy.

Other board members said they feel comfortable moving forward with a new company managing trash pick-up.

"It's real clear that there are a couple vendors that are better than what we have today," said Brian Moura, assistant city manager in San Carlos.

The authority's analysis found Allied Waste offered the cheapest bid for service at $44.9 million, about $1.3 million lower than Norcal's bid. But McCarthy said Norcal's experience and technical ability set it apart.

Allied has fought back in the past week by sending letters to city councils saying its plan will save residents millions of dollars.

Aside from its lower bid, Allied says it has a plan to save $12 million on operations and achieve the same results as the $53.9 million Shoreway renovation for only $11 million. Allied handed out copies of its plan on Thursday.

"It would appear that the interests of the ratepayers is not the foremost concern" of the authority, Allied Waste general manager Evan Boyd told the board Thursday.

McCarthy said he was mindful of the costs involved, and board chairman Larry Patterson said he was frustrated that Allied's so- called savings plans were not delivered sooner in the process.

The other two bidders, BEST and Republic Services, came in with costs of $52.1 million and $63.8 million, respectively.

BEST General Manager Steve Jones said he believed the extra personnel in his bid would provide higher-quality service.

E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.