Oakland's handling of a
billion-dollar garbage and recycling contract last year that spawned an aborted
lawsuit and ballot petition drive is under review by the Alameda County grand
jury, sources have confirmed.
The City Council originally
spurned the recommendations of its own staffers and handed the entire contract
to California Waste Solutions, a politically well-connected homegrown company
that didn't have the necessary facilities in place to immediately handle the
work.
In response to the council's
action, Oakland's longtime garbage company, Waste Management, sued the city
claiming that council members had "derailed" its process for picking
a garbage company. The suit claimed that the city acted unlawfully by rejecting
Waste Management's offer and allowing California Waste Solutions a second
chance to bid after showing exactly how Waste Management had priced its
services.
Waste Management started a
petition drive to overturn the contract, but the company gave up that effort
after reaching an agreement with the city to keep collecting curbside garbage.
Under the agreement, California Waste Solutions was awarded the city's
recycling business.
For all the drama, the
council did appear to succeed in driving a better price for residents. Waste
Management's original offer to split the contract with California Waste
Solutions would have increased rates 66 percent to $48.72 per month. Before the
council's final vote last year, Waste Management dropped that price to $37.53.
The grand jury typically
releases a report of its investigations in June. News of the investigation was
first reported on the East Bay Citizen website.
February
27, 2015
Contra
Costa Times
By Matthew Artz, Chris De Benedetti, and
Rebecca Parr, Bay Area News Group
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