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June 24, 1996
Mayor Mark Steenbergh appears in no hurry to recommend the next trash hauler, even though the existing deal with City Management Corp. expires Sunday.
Plans to have a recommendation ready for the City Council by Tuesday have fallen through, said Marilyn Donlin, Steenbergh's chief of staff.
That means Warren will either have to call an emergency council meeting when Steenbergh's ready, or the city will be without an agreement when the old contract expires.
Right now it looks like the work will continue to be done by City Management through an extended agreement, city officials said.
City Management has been carting off Warren trash for $16 million a year, a deal Steenbergh brands as an old "sweetheart" contract negotiated by the earlier administration under former Mayor Ron Bonkowski.
Four companies trying to win the new contract -- including a subsidiary of City Management, Pine Tree Acres -- have tendered offers which are millions of dollars less than City Management received.
Pine Tree Acres wants $60,000 less than the next lowest offer from Standard Disposal Services at $7.3 million. Browning Ferris Industries is third at $7.8 million and Waste Management came in fourth at $8.1 million.
But some residents and city officials contend that neither Pine Tree nor Standard Disposal -- even though they made the lowest offers -- should get the contract.
Council President Jim Fouts said Standard Disposal is a bad neighbor that doesn't deserve the business.
"Kids across the street from their plant puke and vomit because of the stench from Standard Disposal," he said. "Standard is not the lowest qualified company because it violates neighborhood standards. This is one of the most important points about this contract."
Dominic Campo, executive vice-president of Standard, threatened to sue Warren if his company, which made the lowest original offer, doesn't get the deal.
Campo said he wants to give Thompson Elementary School an expensive air-conditioning system without charge.
"We're not a bad neighbor. We're willing to put up to prove it," he said. "The offer stands whether we get the contract or not."
Resident Cecelia Stevens said she is against both Standard Disposal and City Management because they're dogged by bad public relations. She cited the complaint that Standard's plant stinks, and that City Management got the so-called sweetheart $16-million deal from the previous administration.
"The best choice is obvious. It's BFI because it avoids even the appearance of impropriety," she said. "The others have too much baggage."