By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
It’s still unknown whether and when a rate change will occur for San Benito residents’ municipal solid waste collection and disposal services, as elected leaders tabled action on a new contract during a regular meeting on Tuesday.
The commissioners had gone into the April 7 meeting to authorize City Manager Fred Sandoval to initiate, negotiate, and execute a new contract with an alternative proposer, Frontier Waste Solutions, for exclusive San Benito municipal solid waste collection and disposal services.
It would have been a major change from the current provider, Republic Services, which Sandoval said had proposed higher rates after receiving a directive from commissioners to negotiate a contract only with that entity.
San Benito Mayor Ricardo “Rick” Guerra and Commissioner Deborah A. Morales also attended that meeting.
After learning that Republic Services rates were higher in some cases, Sandoval presented commissioners with an alternative. He needed commission approval to move forward with Frontier, which had representatives present at San Benito City Hall on Tuesday.
However, city staff didn’t include needed documentation in their meeting packets for commissioners to review that would have shown Republic Services’ present/future comparisons and Frontier Waste Solutions’ new proposals.
Currently, Republic Services’ prices for trash and brush pickup are available to residents upon request. Its rates and various residential and commercial services are also listed on the city’s website.
“We did have the item previously, and the wishes of the (commission) were for me to go back with Republic for negotiations. What I did at that time was delineate all the city’s needs for future growth,” Sandoval said. “Obviously, there were some inconsistencies with some of their items. We talked about services for city entities and the growth that is coming.”
Sandoval wasn’t able to match Republic’s prices like Frontier, which he said presented a “three-year residential freeze” on rates.
“I think the city’s case was well put, and we received the final and best Republic proposal that our finance director reviewed,” Sandoval said.
He said a summary was produced, but neither he nor Finance Director Stephanie Sarrionandia presented any paperwork for elected officials to review. He admitted the monthly proposal was higher than Frontier’s, but didn’t have comparisons to present at the meeting.
He did say, “It looks like the city was going to save money by going with Frontier, and we met with them to make sure this (rate) was still going to stand.”
After Sandoval’s initial remarks, Commissioner Morales asked why a new company was introduced when the commissioners’ directive was solely for the city manager to negotiate with Republic.
“We’ve had emails with Republic as well (from) the meeting the mayor and I sat in,” Commissioner Morales said. “It’s mind-boggling from the amounts they come up with.”
After reviewing some form of paperwork, Morales told Sandoval that Republic and Frontier residential rates appeared to be equal.
“I don’t know why we are entertaining this, Fred, when you did have a directive to negotiate with Republic,” Morales said before motioning to table the item.
Mayor Guerra honed in on an opinion on the matter before seeking legal counsel about the executive session.
He appeared flustered when Sandoval, late last week, failed to provide additional details on this item before the commission meeting.
“When I asked you on Thursday, ‘Did you send the packets to be downloaded so we could look them over during the weekend?’ You told me, ‘Yes.’ I looked at it, and it’s not there, so how do we come up with a (decision) when we never saw it?” Mayor Guerra said.
The city and Republic Services have been operating on a month-to-month basis, but the duration wasn’t specified during the meeting.
According to the meeting agenda, commissioners had planned to hold a closed session, with one of the other items being the evaluation of the city manager. After an hour behind closed doors, commissioners unanimously approved tabling a municipal solid waste collection and disposal services contract.
Commissioners also took no action regarding Sandoval’s evaluation as city manager.
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