Parish council committee votes to develop a rating system for the job
More waste-disposal companies seem to be interested in grabbing St. Charles Parish's garbage pickup contract as the Parish Council tries to find a way to rate the firms.
St. Charles Parish Councilman Billy Raymond Sr., has been pushing for a rating system for the parish garbage contract. The parish's residential garbage contract, worth $2.6 million a year, expires Feb. 28.
The council's contracts committee continued to go over specifications for the service Wednesday night and voted 6 to 3 to move forward with developing a rating system.
Councilman Billy Raymond Sr., who has been pushing for the system, said he wants to rate the firms on financial stability and qualifications, as well as price.
The parish's current contractor, IESI, is paid $11.99 per customer for twice-a-week collection and company representatives have said that fee is among the lowest in the region. However, SDT Waste and Debris Services has proposed a $10.29 fee for twice-a-week pickup.
Customers currently pay $18.39 a month for garbage collection, which includes a disposal fee, a parish official said.
The contract requirements would be weighted, with price taking up 50 percent of the score, qualifications 15 percent, technical expertise 25 percent and financial stability 10 percent.
Raymond said after the meeting that it has not been decided how those categories would be scored. The parish deadline for proposals for the five-year contract is Oct. 29.
Raymond defended the rating system despite objections from council members Paul Hogan and Carolyn Schexnaydre, who said adding subjective criteria would politicize the process.
"The cheapest doesn't always mean the best," he said.
Hogan, Schexnaydre and Terry Authement voted against the criteria. Those voting in favor of the criteria were Raymond, Shelley Tastet, Wendy Benedetto, Larry Cochran, Marcus Lambert and Dennis Nuss.
"I would hate to be sitting out there in the audience knowing that if I bust my butt to put in a proposal, knowing that if I'm the lowest bidder, I might not get the job, and if I'm the highest bidder, I might get the job," Hogan said. "It makes no sense. If we want something, let's put it in the contract."
Hogan and Schexnaydre walked out of the meeting after the vote.
Nuss said under that criteria, someone who won the lottery could make a low-ball proposal to get the parish business.
"Does that mean I'm going to give good service to the parish?" he asked, adding that it would be difficult to remove a contractor in the middle of a contract.
"So do you want to get to that point two years from now, or do your due diligence up front?" Nuss said. "Why are we scoffing at doing our due diligence up front?"
Nuss also took umbrage at Schexnaydre's contention that the criteria would inject politics into the process.
"If it's politics, why am I sitting through all these damn meetings," he said. "If it were politics, I'd be going off and doing what I want and getting the person I wanted. It's not about politics."
The committee has set an Oct. 19 meeting to finalize the proposal requirements.
Contractors who have shown interest in the contract are IESI, the incumbent contractor, SDT Waste and Debris Services, Ramelli Waste and Allied Waste, formerly BFI.
Matt Scallan can be reached at mscallan@timespicayune.com or 985.652.0953.