Sanitation service showdown

COEUR d'ALENE — The bids are in for the city of Coeur d'Alene's solid waste and single stream recycling contract, and Coeur d'Alene Garbage Service has come in as the lowest bidder.

At the city's General Services Committee meeting Monday, finance director Troy Tymesen recommended acceptance of Coeur d'Alene Garbage's low bid of $196,026.07 per month for the 16-year solid waste contract to service residential and commercial units within city limits.

But not so fast, says Steve Roberge, district manager of Waste Management, Inc., the city's present solid waste contractor: "It was a flawed process."

Roberge said what began as a request for proposal process, which invites bids with a base for proposal with alternatives, became a bidding process on a rushed deadline. He also said it was ambiguous as to whether new carts were required as part of the base contract; the more than 30,000 new carts in Waste Management's base contract added more than $1.6 million to the overall bid.

"We believe the process took a really sharp turn, I believe unintended,” Roberge said during the general services meeting.

Roberge requested the general services committee "invoke your right under Section 2.10 to reject the submittals and start over with a real RFP process and clearly articulate what you want as a city."

According to the city's deputy attorney Randy Adams, under Idaho's competitive bidding statue 67-2806, subsection 28, the council could reject all bids and rebid, "but they have to do that with the exercise of discretion, which means that they have to have an articulable reason to reject the bids."

He said he wasn't surprised Waste Management came forward with the request.

"It is a large contract and it is for a long time," Adams said.

Waste Management has had the present $3.2 million-per-year contract for 16 years, which included the original 10 plus two three-year extensions.

"This is one of the biggest contracts that the city signs. It's a revenue stream for a company for potentially 16 years," said Coeur d'Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin. "It's obvious to me that Waste Management is putting pressure on council to consider throwing out all the bids. Legally, that is an option we have available."

General services committee member and City Councilman Ron Edinger said at the meeting this is an important issue that affects the citizens of Coeur d'Alene. He expressed his concern with the process.

"I mentioned that we go out and we get the RFPs and we get them back and then the mayor and the council sit down and discuss it," he said. "That didn’t happen and that kind of upsets me a little bit because I believe, like I said, this is an important issue, and the mayor and the council are the elected officials and we should have had the opportunity to discuss the three proposals and then go from there. But that didn’t happen.

"Now, we’re at a point where you’ve got a contract written and from what I understand, from what Troy has said, he’s talked to the low bidder and they’re just about ready to sign it," Edinger continued. "I think the mayor and the council should discuss it."

Gookin said as of Friday morning, City Hall was being inundated with emails from a pro-Waste Management account, so many that the system blocked them as spam. Gookin said the emails included testimonies from Waste Management employees who didn't want to lose their jobs and others who support Waste Management. He said the city also received emails from attorneys representing Waste Management and the second-highest bidder, Sunshine Disposal and Recycling, "with tersely worded things urging us to be very careful in our considerations."

"It seems to be a big point of contention, more than anything else I've ever seen," Gookin said. "I've never seen this amount of questions and feedback from the people who didn't win the contract. This is the first time it's been to this magnitude."

Coeur d'Alene Garbage Service owner Phil Damiano also spoke during the public comment section of the meeting.

"We got the RFP and followed it to a T and it clearly stated the low bid was going to be the winner and we sharpened our pencil and put together a deal that was by far the low bidder," he said. "Over a half a million dollars a year lower than Waste Management’s bid, $400,000-plus a year less than Sunshine Disposals. We addressed all of the options, filled it out correctly, were the chosen apparent low bidder."

Waste Management's solid waste contract expires June 30.

Coeur d'Alene City Council will make its decision on whether to approve the contract with Coeur d'Alene Garbage at its meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library. Gookin said although the solid waste contract is the first item on the agenda, public comment early in the meeting may be a possibility.

Calls to Damiano and Sunshine Disposal president Marc Torre were not returned Friday.