The best price for a good or service can be obtained through competition, which is the basis of the bidding process. As an example lets pretend that I am going to buy your car. In one case, I ask you to tell me how much you will sell your car to me for and tell you that I want your car and will not buy a car from anyone else or even find out the price of a similar car from anyone else. In the second case, I ask you how much you will sell your car to be for ad tell you that I will be getting prices from 5 other people with nearly identical cars and will buy the one with the lowest price. In which case will you give me the lowest price? I think the clear answer is that the lowest price will be given in the second case where there is competition. Of course, some people may ask for the same amount in both cases, but it would seem pretty illogical for anyone to offer a lower price in the first case.
Well, most of the City Council has decided that Allied Waste is illogical and will offer the city the best price on garbage service if they are allowed to propose a 5 year contract without having to bid against other companies. Instead of finding out what other companies would charge to provide service they have decided to seek a proposal from one company only. Ray Soliman was that only Council member to speak up against this plan. The rest of the Council and the Mayor decided that financial responsibility and good government are not of importance.
It is possible that Allied Waste will provide the best service at the lowest price. However, we will never know if that is the case unless we allow all companies interested in providing garbage service to bid for the contract. What is the Council's reason to oppose bidding? Their publicly stated reason is that they believe that Allied Waste will bid a higher price if faced with competition than they would offer if only their proposal in considered. That seems to run counter to logic, but we all know that there are members of this Council who would never let logic stop them from violating every principle of good government that they can violate. As for the members who normally support the principles of good government and fiscal responsibility, I can only hope that they will realize their error before approving a contract without bids. Ray Soliman was the lone voice on the right side of the issue at the work session on November 21, but I will be looking for others to join him when the issue comes up in a Council meeting.
Another item to be aware of besides the decision not to put the contract out to bid, is that the Council is looking for Allied Waste to hold rates flat for the first two years and defer the increases until the third, fourth, and fifth year of the contract. I can assure you that the increases in the last three years of the contract will be considerable in order to make up for the lower rates the first two years. On top of this they are looking to allow Allied Waste to add a fuel surcharge if fuel prices go above a set price. The residents will be forced to help Allied Waste cover their fuel costs if diesel prices go up again, but we will not have our garbage rates go down if diesel prices fall. The City Council sees no problem with this one sided proposal.
The only possible positive is that they are looking to provide wheeled containers with lids to all the homes for trash and recyclables. There some definite benefits to this idea and I know a number of people have been asking for this. Of course there is no reason why this could not have been included in a request for bids from other companies.
