Mayor Mike Yenni has extended Kenner's contract with its garbage collector for another five years, saying Ramelli Janitorial Services provides good service at a low price. Kenner pays Ramelli $10.63 monthly per household, which Yenni said is lower than surrounding communities. Plus, he said, City Hall gets few complaints about Ramelli's service. "This contract is a very good deal...
Mayor Mike Yenni has extended Kenner's contract with its garbage collector for another five years, saying Ramelli Janitorial Services provides good service at a low price. Kenner pays Ramelli $10.63 monthly per household, which Yenni said is lower than surrounding communities. Plus, he said, City Hall gets few complaints about Ramelli's service.
Mike Yenni"This contract is a very good deal for this city and its residents," Yenni said, comparing the service to what Waste Management provided before Ramelli started in 2005. "We used to get tons of complaints with the previous provider."
Kenner's mayor has sole authority to award and extend professional services contracts, such as the one for garbage collection, without seeking competitive proposals or getting City Council approval. Council members Jeannie Black and Maria DeFrancesch agreed with Yenni's decision to extend the Ramelli contract.
But council members Michele Branigan, Kent Denapolis and Joe Stagni said he should have sought competition to drive down the price. "I was shocked to hear that they had extended it," Branigan said.
Stagni agreed. "We have a good contract, and I think we have excellent service," he said. "The question is whether it could have been a better deal. The only way we can answer that question is through competition."
Yenni said his staff surveyed eight communities and found only one with a lower price: Westwego, which pays $10.52 per household. Stagni, however, said St. Charles Parish pays $9.79.
The figures represent the total amount of money paid to the contractor divided by the number of households. The money comes from several sources, typically a user fee, a property tax and general fund revenue. Yenni said Kenner risked losing Ramelli's low price by seeking proposals from other companies.
Stagni, Branigan and Denapolis all referred to the council's decision in 2010 to open up Kenner's auditing contract to competition, though some members at the time worried that the price would go up. The price went down, from $118,000 annually to $95,600, with the same company.
Denapolis led the effort to redo the auditing contract. He said he wishes Yenni would have extended the Ramelli contract only two or three years rather than five.
"I always have a problem with lengthy extensions," he said, adding that a shorter contract would give the city time to figure out whether it can get a better rate sooner.
Black and DeFrancesch backed the mayor, saying Ramelli's price is right and service great. "I have not received any (complaints) about their performance," Black said.
DeFrancesch said most people who have talked to her have "been very, very happy with Ramelli's service. "The people of Kenner are getting a really good price for garbage pickup," she said.
Ramelli's new contract will go into effect July 1. Yenni signed the contract extension in December, because the contract required an extension be signed 180 days before the contract expired.
. . . . . . .
Mary Sparacello can be reached at msparacello@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7063.