Point Reyes Light - December 26, 2002
Bolinas garbage-pickup pact falls apart
By Ivan Gale
Directors of Bolinas Public Utility District last week made a surprising decision to call off the agreement with San Anselmo-based Biagini Waste Reduction Systems as its new garbage hauler just a week before their services were to start.
After four months of negotiation, both sides were unable to finalize a contract. Until the sudden final decision to cancel the contract with the new waste provider, BPUD officials characterized the contract negotiations as "routine" and "welcoming" of a hauler to replace industry giant Waste Management, and unlock their stronghold in West Marin.
Process reopened
With the decision, the bidding process is reopened to previous bidders Waste Management and Santa Rosa-based Industrial Carting.
Though Biagini officials previously said a contract would be set and garbage service could begin in November of this year, BPUD officials this week admitted they postponed voting on a contract to December because negotiations were not going as planned.
Last week, directors decided to open the bidding after learning that Biagini Waste Reduction couldn’t meet the terms it promised in its proposal. Waste Management, which is on a month-to-month contract with the district ending Tuesday, Dec. 31, has signed a new three-month contract with the district.
Too attractive an offer
District manager Phil Buchanan, contrary to prior explanations that the district had full faith in the new hauler, suggested this week that owner Mike Biagini made such an attractive offer to the district that he was unable to follow through.
"Some of the assumptions underlying Biagini’s proposal were overly optimistic," Buchanan said. "He was faced with a hardening insurance market, increasing cost of worker’s compensation and liability, coupled with his pledge to pay us a franchise fee."
Though the two other haulers offered to pay BPUD $40,000 for exclusive terms for a ten-year deal, Biagini’s offer almost doubled that.
Owner Mike Biagini told The Light Monday he felt it was only appropriate the district reopen the bidding process after his company couldn’t make the numbers add up.
"It wouldn’t have been fair to come in with a bid like that and then six or eight months later to say ‘we need an increase,’" he explained. Causing a key difficulty, he admitted, was the fact that one of his staff had miscalculated what the hauler could pay for the franchise fee.
Reset deadline
The district has set the deadline for a new round of bids to be submitted by Friday, Jan. 10. A vote will be taken again on Wednesday, Jan. 15 for the provider of garbage pickup and recycling services to more than 450 households in Bolinas.
Directors decided to award the contract to Biagini Waste Reduction in August after a tempestuous relationship with Waste Management. The global garbage conglomerate angered BPUD when it sued the district to offset the closure and cleanup costs of West Marin Sanitary Landfill in Point Reyes Station.