Peninsula garbage war set to resume

But Scavenger officials don't see it that way.

The company's owner, Doug Button, said the fees have helped pay for a new recycling facility that more effectively sorts through garbage for recycling. With the use of the new facility, the garbage company has been able to help the city meet state laws requiring an increase in recycling rates. If the city doesn't meet the rates, it faces fines, Button told the council in June.

The contract was drafted by then-Public Works Director Lou Sandrini in 1996 and expires in February 2006. Interim Public Works Director Ron Popp said unless the council finds a breach in the contract, it will likely be honored until the end of its term.

"Does Scavenger owe Millbrae money? We think so," Popp said yesterday.

Currently rate negotiations are taking place and Sandrini said Millbrae dragged its feet on establishing new rates.

"The council needs to set the rate and see how Scavenger responds. If the negotiations continue to stall, then the rate payer will be hit with a bigger monthly payment. [Neither] the council nor the company want to look bad," Sandrini said.

To avoid that situation, Sandrini said, Millbrae might be pressured into extending the current contract beyond 2006 to avoid a competitive bid process.

"The rate payers are being harmed and placed in jeopardy of other increases," Sandrini said in a letter sent to Mayor Nadia Holober yesterday.

"When the company has not been able to get what they wanted from staff, they have gone directly to council members privately," Sandrini charges in the letter.

The matter has become a crisis, Sandrini said, and the council is undermining its staff in its effort to seek money the garbage company overcharged rate payers from May 1, 2001 through Oct. 31, 2003.

The garbage company paid less for the disposal tip fee at Ox Mountain, a landfill near Half Moon Bay, than it charged Millbrae rate payers, according to Killian.

The disposal tip fee is established by the Board of Supervisors and Millbrae rate payers were overcharged as a result of excess profit in violation of the contract, Killian said.

Holober said she is concentrating on the rate negotiations and is not currently considering opening up the contract for a competitive bid.

"City staff and Scavenger have a disagreement," Holober said last night. "But we really need to focus on rate negotiations right now."

The Millbrae City Council holds its first meeting after a summer long hiatus on Sept. 14.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail at silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.