Approval of 25-year garbage-disposal contract was rushed, however, parish attorneys say
Attorneys for Jefferson Parish acknowledge the review process for a controversial $160 million garbage-disposal contract with the River Birch Landfill was flawed, but they have denied a rival trash firm's allegations of a conspiracy between former Parish President Aaron Broussard's administration and River Birch.
View full sizeThe Jefferson Parish landfill, foreground, and the River Birch Landfill, background, were photographed in January 2008. Parish attorneys said in a court filing that Broussard's administration failed to properly analyze whether the 25-year contract was a good deal and rushed the approval process, violating a parish ordinance along the way.
But the attorneys denied Waste Management's claims that Broussard and two top aides schemed with River Birch in awarding the contract, which is under federal investigation.
The parish staked out its position in a response to Waste Management's counterclaims in a federal lawsuit filed by the Broussard administration to end Waste Management's contract to run the parish dump, which must be closed before the River Birch deal can take effect.
Waste Management used the terms "conspiracy," "scheme" and "bad faith" to describe the process by which River Birch was awarded a contract in 2009 to dispose of all household garbage, a landmark deal that mushroomed from a seemingly narrow request for proposals to handle "woody waste," such as tree limbs.
In its 10-page response, parish attorneys repeatedly said the conspiracy allegations were "denied as written."
The parish admitted several other Waste Management allegations, agreeing that the selection process was "rushed" and that "no formal study" had been conducted to determine whether the parish would save money by closing its dump and sending trash to the private landfill. But the parish's filing asks a judge to dismiss the counterclaims, which form the basis of Waste Management's argument that the River Birch contract is invalid.
'Denied as written'
It is unclear how the dismissal request squares with Parish President John Young's repeated statements that the parish hopes to use the lawsuit to obtain a court ruling invalidating the River Birch contract.
Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee, who has called the River Birch contract "invalid and unenforceable on its face," said parish officials won't comment on the pending litigation.
Young has said his administration is taking steps to nullify the contract, which is part of a sprawling federal criminal investigation that prompted Broussard to resign last year, along with his top aide, Tim Whitmer, and former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson. Both men played key roles in the River Birch deal, and are targeted by Waste Management's conspiracy claims.
The use of the phrase "denied as written," instead of simply "denied," could signify that the parish's attorneys have qualms about the wording of the conspiracy allegations.
But it's not clear how the parish's request to dismiss Waste Management's counterclaims would advance its cause. After all, the sole reason River Birch was added to the suit in April was as a defendant to Waste Management's allegations at the parish's request. Parish officials declined to clarify the seeming contradiction.
Meanwhile, River Birch filed its own motion Monday seeking to have the counterclaims tossed, arguing that Waste Management lacks the legal standing to make the claims because it is not a party to the River Birch contract and did not submit a competing proposal. River Birch, which has yet to file a response to the counterclaims, is requesting an Aug. 3 hearing on its motion.
Trial delayed
The trial, originally scheduled for this month, has been postponed until March 19. The parish has racked up more than $250,000 in legal fees, prompting some residents to call for parish officials to drop the suit and simply cancel the River Birch deal.
But Young has said that revoking the lucrative contract would undoubtedly trigger a lawsuit and that a ruling on the contract's validity could be obtained more quickly and at less expense through the existing suit.
Although the parish shares Waste Management's goal of revoking the River Birch deal, the parish's court filing does not ascribe ulterior motives for what the parish agrees was a flawed process to award the contract.
For instance, a committee that reviewed River Birch's proposal did not include two midlevel administrators as required by a parish ordinance. Waste Management alleges this enabled Broussard's top executives to skew the review process in River Birch's favor, noting that one of the excluded administrators had expressed reservations about closing the parish dump.
In its response, the parish acknowledged the committee lacked the required members but "denied as written" the allegation that the omission was part of a scheme to benefit River Birch.
Allegation from 2004
Similarly, Waste Management claimed that Broussard had wanted to oust Waste Management in favor of River Birch as early as 2004 because he was unhappy with how a member of his administration had been treated while working for Waste Management.
The parish's response denies the allegation without elaborating.
River Birch officials have repeatedly denied any suggestion that they colluded with parish officials to obtain the contract.
The Parish Council unanimously approved the deal in June 2009 after the Broussard administration estimated the parish would save about $20 million over 25 years.
Waste Management claims that figure was improperly calculated by multiplying the savings for the first three years out over the 25-year length of the contract, a method that the parish's landfill engineer would not endorse. The parish's court filing acknowledges that a thorough financial analysis of the River Birch contract was not conducted before the deal was signed.
A subsequent parish-commissioned study completed in January concluded the parish could save at least $9 million by continuing to use its own dump. But River Birch's own study pegged the savings to the parish at about $50 million if Jefferson closed its dump and used the private landfill.
Federal prosecutors began investigating the River Birch deal more than 18 months ago after the revelation that Whitmer's wife had a health insurance contract with River Birch, which had its offices near Gretna raided by federal agents in September.
Whitmer, who had instructed subordinates to broaden the request for proposals to dispose of woody waste to include all household garbage in what he called a "fishing expedition," resigned in January 2010. Broussard resigned a few days later, and Wilkinson, who negotiated the contract, stepped down in March 2010.
Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3785.