The current contractor, IESI, is expected to challenge the move
A yearlong debate over who will pick up St. Charles Parish's garbage next year was resolved, at least temporarily, on Monday as the Parish Council chose SDT Waste & Debris Services for a five-year contract starting in March for a $2.25 per month decrease.
View full sizeThis SDT Waste & Debris Services truck was photographed in Metairie in April 2008. Residents currently pay $18.39 per month, including a $11.99 per month pickup fee paid to the contractor. The remainder includes landfill disposal costs and a 10 cent administration fee.
Parish residents will save more than $2.5 million over the course of the five-year, $10.5 million contract, compared with current rates.
However, the current contractor, IESI, is likely to try to force the Parish Council to throw out SDT's proposal. The company's attempt to stop the council from voting on the ordinance was rebuffed in 29th Judicial District Court earlier in the day.
Attorneys for IESI argued that the parish administration improperly waived an evaluation process set up by the council.
Judge Emile St. Pierre said he would not stop the council from voting on the ordinance, and that the company would have to seek redress afterward.
Councilman Larry Cochran said he and other council members tried to evaluate the six proposals after Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. said no one from his administration would participate.
"We found out that we were in over our heads," he said. "We were hoping to have the contract monitor's office tell us what we were looking at."
Councilman Dennis Nuss questioned why the process was advertised as a request for proposals when the administration and council majority were interested only in price.
"Why not just put it out for bid?" he said.
SDT owner Sidney Torres IV said after the meeting he is confident that the award will survive a court challenge.
"I'm ordering my trucks tomorrow," he said.
The vote to approve the contract was unanimous, although Cochran and Nuss said they were upset that a move to add curbside recycling to the contract was defeated after parish attorney Leon "Sunny" Vial said the $3.2 million cost addition was too great a change from the garbage-collection-only measure that was publicly advertised.
Several IESI employees who live in the parish spoke at the meeting, saying they are afraid of losing their jobs if their employer loses the contract, but Torres told the group that his company wants to hire local employees.
The process began last year when IESI sought a five-year contract extension that included a $1.04 monthly increase.
But council member Terry Authement began telling other waste haulers that the contract might be up for grabs. A total of six waste haulers submitted proposals on Nov. 5.
Matt Scallan can be reached at mscallan@timespicayune.com or 985.652.0953.