Waste Management Secures Trash Contract

A perceived citizen preference for customer service trumped a lower price and a better landfill diversion rate as, on a 4-1 vote, the Manhattan Beach City Council awarded incumbent trash hauler Waste Management a new seven-year contract priced at  $27+ million, delivering a 15.8 percent increase to residents from the hauler's current rate.

In a meeting that began at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and ended around 2 a.m. Wednesday, council rendered the decision after hearing from a parade of about 22 residents who weighed in, mostly on the side of Waste Management.

Waste Management supporters, including their drivers and staff, carried signs that read "MB loves WM" and "I'm Sticking With MB." Council chambers were packed to capacity with people standing, the lobby holding the overflow.

When it came time to vote, one thing was clear: four council members decided to follow a public that hammered home, via e-mail, phone calls and letters, its support of Waste Management's record of excellent customer service.

However, Councilwoman Portia Cohen, who has spearheaded the city's green movement, including the formation of the Environmental Task Force which played a major role in deciding what environmental requirements the city would ask for in its contract, had stern words for the hauler, whom she called "a lucrative affluent company."

"Well, here's a message from a little city, in Manhattan Beach or all over the country. But I mean it, you guys need to put your money where your mouth is. I'm disappointed in Waste Management. I'm disappointed," she said.

"I love the personal outreach. We can't get better. But I'm talking about the company. And you need to own more than landfills and not just dabble in it {alternative clean renewable diversion} and invest in it...

"I want to see you do more," she continued. "And I think you can do food waste and I think it's driven by numbers and that's why you're not doing it. It's not technical, and so I'm disappointed, but I'm voting for you guys because you are making an increase and I believe you want to, but I believe you need to put pressure on your corporate side."

Cohen said she didn't feel like she'd "compromised too much because Waste Management is guaranteeing an improvement of the 38 percent [their current diversion rate] to 50 percent then up to 57 percent, but I gave them a hard time tonight because they deserve it."

During the meeting, Cohen repeatedly pressed Waste Management's staff and paid consultant to explain their charge that competitors Athens' and Crown's diversion numbers could not be met. The city's paid consulting firm HF&H LLC said that each of the three haulers, Crown, Athens and Waste Management, could handle the city contract. Public Works Director Jim Arndt agreed, with Mayor Richard Montgomery calling the consultants "the best guy in the business."

"The truth is I don't think there's a bad choice among the finalists," City Manager Dave Carmany had previously told Patch.

During council's "straw vote," Montgomery, the lone dissenter, said he too was disappointed by the process, stating, "What you believed about diversion, what you believed about cost, what you believed about street sweeping [Athens offered to throw in street sweeping for $27,500 per month], it never came to play. It never got its full venting."

For Montgomery, who lamented that fact that Waste Management seemed to force the time-consuming 10-month-long bidding process by not offering their lowest bid from the start, the issue was never about each hauler's qualifications.

"I thought that we went out and got bids to save our residents money," he said. "Sure, customer service is really important but it's no less important, as you heard earlier, from financial costs."

Montgomery said Waste Management received the contract because of its experience in waste and residents' customer service experience with the company.

"The fear of change I think is the biggest thing I'm shocked about," he said. "I hope those residents who called or e-mailed actually show up for an election." 

Cohen said she was surprised by the fervor residents mustered to rally behind the incumbent. "This is a personal thing to folks and it suppressed my bent on moving for long-term environmental goal."

During the same commentary, she said, "The core service is waste hauling, before environmental stewardship even. As much as I am an environmentalist, this contract is about collecting waste and there is no way to avoid the value that the community has shared that customer service is number one."

She said that "the citizenry has made it clear that they don't want to make a difference and that they don't want to take a chance [on a new hauler]."

Council members Mitch Ward, Wayne Powell and Mayor Pro Tem Nick Tell cited Waste Management's track record and residents' support as key factors in their decision.

Montgomery, though he dissented, never named which of the other two potential haulers, Athens Services or Crown Disposal, he would have voted for.

The new contract starts June 1. Customers will use their current trash carts unless they request a different size. 

City trash rates will shift to a tiered price structure, with a 32-gallon cart costing $8.65 a month, a 64-gallon cart $12.65 and a 96-gallon cart $16.65. A City Recovery Costs fee will be added to the monthly charge before users know what their final rates will be.

Those recovery costs are expected to be on the Tuesday, March 15 city council agenda.