Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2009

Despite pleas, Garner chooses higher-priced company for garbage pickup

GARNER -- Town leaders voted earlier this week to hand garbage-pickup and recycling duties to a company that did not bid the lowest, a move that drew heated complaints from several people who criticized the town for not saving taxpayers’ money in a tight budget year.

The Town Council voted Monday to award a garbage, recycling and yard-waste pickup contract to All Star Waste Services, a Johnston County company with ties to Garner. If the town had chosen Shaw Sanitation, a minority-owned solid-waste company based in Wake Forest, it could have saved about $120,000 a year during a three-year contract.

“I was just a little bit taken that we’re being chastised for bidding low in this economy,” Harry Jeffreys, vice president and secretary of Shaw Sanitation, told the Town Council on Monday.

Council members voted 4-1 last month to hire All Star. Mayor Ronnie Williams said after that meeting that he hoped the council would reconsider and go with the lowest bidder, which was Shaw Sanitation. On Monday, in front of a standing-room-only crowd, council members voted 4-1 in favor of All Star again, despite the town staff’s recommendation to hire the lowest bidder. Councilman Jackie Johns was the only council member who voted against the move during both meetings.

“I look at trying to save a dollar for the taxpayers,” Johns said, earning the applause of many who attended Monday’s meeting.

Johns said he has served on the town board for more than two decades, and the board typically chooses the lowest bidder for projects and services. “If you’re not going to recognize the bid, there’s no point in having a bid,” he said.

Some council members said they thought the town would get the best level of service from All Star. Mayor Pro Tem Buck Kennedy said he realized $120,000 a year in potential savings seemed like a lot of money but he considered more than that.

“Is it worth the cost?” Kennedy asked. “I believe it is.”

Councilwoman Kathy Behringer questioned Shaw’s low bid for leaf pickup. The company said it could pick up yard waste weekly for $2.42 a month per household – nearly half the price of All Star’s bid.

Singleton said he was impressed with All Star’s promise that it would have a team of workers devoted to the town’s trash, recycling and yard-waste pickup. The company would be part of the Garner business community, he said.

The council member said he was concerned about past media reports that indicated some Shaw workers were mixing recycling products with the trash. Jeffreys said the company fixed the problem. He also said he was unaware that Shaw would have had the option to keep its trucks in Garner.

“That’s easy,” Jeffreys said. “That would have been better for us.”

Singleton dismissed insinuations that he made his decision based on his familiarity with the Sims family, which owns All Star. Tommy Sims’ father, Andy Sims, lives in Singleton’s neighborhood.

“I don’t play those political games,” said Singleton, whose seat on the council is up for re-election in the fall, along with Behringer’s.