Parish Council scraps six proposals amid debate over fairness
As it scrapped the latest plans Wednesday to renew curbside garbage recycling in Jefferson, the Parish Council roused a rare debate among its members about the strict rules that govern the submission of such proposals.
Jefferson Parish Council members Louis Congemi, left, and Byron Lee
Officials said confusion seemed to color the process from that moment in April when competing companies made their pitches.
"At the end of the day, it is not the first time, nor is it the last time that we as the council have concerns about a process," Councilman Byron Lee said. "And so ... I requested we start over, based on what I've read, conversations that I've had, and we have the prerogative to do so."
Jefferson Parish has been without curbside recycling since Hurricane Katrina roared ashore in 2005. After failed attempts to restart the service in 2008 and 2009, the council's decision Wednesday marks the third time in four years that recycling has been put on hold.
"Well, we just need to make sure on the fourth time that we do it right," Lee said.
At the heart of Wednesday's 5-2 vote was the question of fairness in how the six proposals were evaluated.
An evaluation committee -- assistant parish attorney Jacques Molaison, interim Purchasing Director Brenda Campos, Environmental Affairs Director Marnie Winter and Alan Gandolfi, the council's research and budgeting director -- considered six proposals and dismissed four immediately:
- Waste Management Inc., for not completing and notarizing a state-mandated affidavit disclosing any fees it collects from agreements with public agencies.
- Organic Energy Corp., because it offered a plan to convert waste to energy rather than a plan for curbside recycling, Molaison told the council.
- Richard's Disposal Inc., because it didn't have the required two years' experience in running a curbside recycling program.
- Waste Pro USA, for not providing any of the disclosure affidavits requested by the administration.
That left IESI Corp., which holds the garbage-hauling contract for unincorporated Jefferson and Jean Lafitte, competing against Allied Waste, also known as BFI and Republic Services Inc.. IESI quoted $2.04 per household each month for weekly collection, $1.49 for semi-monthly collection. Allied Waste quoted $5 for weekly collection, $4 for semimonthly.
The evaluation committee gave IESI's plan a higher rating and planned to send that recommendation to the council.
But Waste Pro intervened. After meeting with Molaison and Campos, Wally Carter, the company's regional vice president, showed it had included the required affidavits in its original proposal but had failed to duplicate them when making copies for each committee member.
Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee said the committee then waived Waste Pro's disqualification.
IESI protested, accusing the administration of meeting privately with Waste Pro. Foshee told the council that the meeting reinstating Waste Pro had been public and that proper notice had been posted in timely fashion.
Councilman Chris Roberts implied that the evaluation committee had made an arbitrary decision to negate a technical violation for one company without considering whether other proposals' mishaps could be considered similarly. Foshee responded that Waste Pro's offer was the only one dismissed on technical grounds, which can be reversed under parish rules.
Councilman Louis Congemi questioned the fairness of dismissing at least two proposals, IESI and Allied Waste, that fully complied with the rules the first time around. He and Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng voted against Lee's resolution to scrap the process and start over.
"I'm assuming that all of these guys will come at us again. And you're going to see prices change, and you're going to see how many playgrounds they want to build and how many streets they want to do and all kinds of stuff," he said. "So you're going to have a second bite at the apple here, which I think is patently unfair, but I'm going to vote against rejecting them all."
Councilman Elton Lagasse countered that disclosing the companies' prices and asking for new proposals will most likely produce even cheaper proposals.
"I just think people want recycling, and I think we want them to have recycling. I don't think there's any doubt about it, but there is a cost to them. They're the ones who have to pay for that," he said.
"I bet you that if we rebid every project that we'd that we'd be getting better prices. It all depends on how many times we do it. Maybe we ought to say, 'Let's do it three times,'" Congemi said before his sentence was drowned out by laughter that filled the council chamber.
•••••••
Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7052.