Jefferson Parish officials settle on obscure Texas company to assist in review
A truck dumps its load as a compactor spreads garbage at the River Birch landfill in 2002.After an exhaustive search and an unusually high degree of scrutiny, Jefferson Parish interim President Steve Theriot's administration is recommending an obscure Texas engineering firm, MSW Resources, to help examine the plan to close the public landfill for the next 25 years.
Should the Parish Council accept the administration's choice today, MSW will partner with accounting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville of Baton Rouge to comb through a deal that could divert almost all household garbage to a private landfill owned by River Birch Inc. The full audit's cost will be capped at $85,000, according to council resolution.
The recommendation of MSW comes after a protracted legal battle and months of political twists that left the year-old contract with River Birch languishing.
In August, parish attorneys sued the public landfill's operator, Waste Management Inc., to end its contract. No settlement has been reached. And in December, federal criminal investigators subpoenaed parish documents related to River Birch, after disclosures in the news media that an agency owned by former Parish President Aaron Broussard's top aide, Tim Whitmer, was doing private insurance work for the landfill company.
Facing a politically poisonous atmosphere, the council in January demanded a re-examination of its agreement with River Birch. The council also set unprecedented ethical standards for the selected firm: It could not have any present or past relationship with River Birch or Waste Management, a stipulation that greatly limited the field of qualified companies considering Waste Management's global reach.
Both River Birch and Waste Management representatives have said they welcome the scrutiny and the chance that the parish can discover better ways to save money.
MSW was one of three companies that initially sought the auditing contract in February. Unsatisfied with the weak interest, the council expanded the search, eventually landing five more proposals. From that group the council selected Joyce Engineering of Richmond, Va. But that deal went south in late April after officials discovered Joyce had contracted previously with Waste Management.
In a compromise, Postlethwaite & Netterville was hired on condition that it must partner with a landfill engineering firm that doesn't have a similar conflict. That led the firm to drop its original partner, Environ of New Orleans, which also had worked with Waste Management.
Little is known about MSW. Documents from the Texas comptroller of public accounts show the company registered with the Texas secretary of state's office on Feb. 4, about a week before it put in a proposal for the Jefferson Parish work. There is no record of MSW in the Louisiana secretary of state's corporation database.
"I don't know that there's anything necessarily wrong with that, but I'd like to get more information about their longevity in business if that's the case," council Chairman John Young said Tuesday.
Parish documents state MSW is headquartered in Rockwall, Texas. However, Texas records show it is registered in Azle, about 73 miles to the west.
"MSW Resources combines business and engineering knowledge with solid waste industry experience to facilitate the needs of business, community and the environment relating to municipal solid waste infrastructure projects including landfills, transfer stations and material recovery facilities," reads the mission statement from the company's two-page website. It lists Bryan Griesbach, a former vice president for the Environmental Management Group of Phoenix, Ariz., as the only member of its "leadership."
Griesbach didn't respond to a voicemail and an e-mail left Tuesday seeking comment.
Jefferson Environmental Affairs Director Marnie Winter also didn't return a request for an interview.
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Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7052.