June 7th City Council Meeting (Garbage Disposal Contract on Agenda)

UPDATE:

Thanks to the people who showed up last night and spoke on behalf of the community! Last night, the Milpitas City Council unanimously voted to put the referendum on the Nov ballot.  This means that the Waste Management disposal contract is suspended (put on hold) until the voters cast their votes in Nov. As the City Council stated, they believe that the Disposal RFP (Request for Proposal) process is competitive, open and transparent.  However, with Republic Services having enough signatures for the referendum, their only option was to place the item on the ballot. This strategic move by Republic Services will cost taxpayers at least $53,000 for the item to be placed on the ballot, remember that initially Republic didn’t even participate in the RFP process for disposal contracts. Republic wanted to bundle both the disposal and collections services which would then lead to less competion for the collections contract since many collections providers do not have a disposal site.

We are still waiting for the exact text of the referendum that will be placed on the ballot before taking our next action. Of the two choices the city council had the alternative being to rescind the decision of awarding the contact to Waste Management, placing it on the ballot is a good decision by City Council.  Now it will be up to the voters and we will be trying to get our message out to them.

This move by Republic undermines the City of Milpitas competitive, open and transparent process for disposal & collections bidding process.  Republic is trying to maintain their 30 year monopoly over disposal & collections in Milpitas.

Read more in this Milpitas Post article.

You can watch last night’s city council meeting online at the link below:
[ the agenda item is #17, and it is the last item on the agenda, so jump to near the end of the video]
Tuesday, June 7th @7pm Milpitas City Hall

Milpitas City Council will decide on whether to rescind a resolution awarding Waste Management with the disposal contract OR place on the Nov ballot a referendum sponsored by Republic to overturn the resolution.

The entire bidding process was competitive, open and transparent. Republic decided NOT to submit a bid on the disposal contract and therefore lost the disposal contract. Now it is seeking to reverse the Milpitas City Council decision which will cost the City at least $53,000 to place this item on the ballot.

PLEASE ATTEND AND VOICE YOUR OPINIONS.

The following was pasted from the Meeting agenda…

ITEM 17 on the June 7th agenda:
Consider Action and Adopt a Resolution Calling for a Ballot Measure Following Receipt of Petition for Referendum on Award of Contract for Solid Waste Services to be Placed on the Ballot for the November 8, 2016 Election (Staff Contacts: Mary Lavelle, 408-586-3001 and Chris Diaz, 408-586-3050)

Background: Proponents filed a referendum petition with 3,777 voter signatures in the City Clerk’s office on April 14, 2016. The City Clerk certified to the City Council on May 17, 2016 that 2,541 signatures were found sufficient and that number was more than required to qualify June 7, 2016 Milpitas City Council Agenda Page 17 this matter to go on the next election ballot. The referendum seeks to overturn Resolution No. 8532 adopted by the City Council on March 15, 2016. The Resolution awarded a contract to one of two bidders, Waste Management Inc., for the City’s solid waste disposal services. Because the referendum petition was filed within the required 30 days timeframe, the contract award is currently suspended.
Two options are possible on this matter. If the City Council chose to rescind the resolution, then the matter would not go to the ballot. If the City Council adopts a resolution calling for the ballot measure to go onto the November election based on the voter petition, then Milpitas voters could vote to ratify the Council-adopted Resolution (maintaining the contract award) or not.

Based on the report received from the City Clerk on May 17, 2016, the City Council must take one of the following actions, per California Elections Code §9237:
a) Move to rescind Resolution No. 8532; or,
b) Adopt a Resolution calling for a Special Election for Milpitas voters to consider the referendum on Resolution No. 8532 to be consolidated with the municipal election scheduled
on November 8, 2016.

Fiscal Impact:
If the City Council calls for this measure to go on the ballot, the City of Milpitas will have to pay unbudgeted election costs of approximately $53,000 in FY 2016-17 in addition
to budgeted amount for the scheduled municipal election on November 8, 2016.

Recommendation:
Adopt a Resolution calling for a ballot measure following receipt of Petition for Referendum of Resolution No. 8532 awarding a contract for Solid Waste Disposal Services to Waste Management Inc. to be placed on the November 8, 2016 election ballot, consolidated with the scheduled municipal election on that date.

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