Dear Editor,
Response to Questions About Recent Changes to the City’s Franchise Waste Agreement
Thank you for giving me another opportunity to share the facts about the City’s trash collection contract with Valley Vista Services. The agreement is very complex and, unfortunately, the discussion in the community about it has been characterized by misinformation.
Response to Questions
- The City put the trash contract out for competitive bid in 2014 and we are still in the middle of our agreement with Valley Vista Services.
- Cancelling the contract and putting it out to bid ahead of schedule would have exposed the City to lawsuits, fines and penalties.
- I am unaware of another city in California that attempted to cancel its trash contract to implement organic recycling.
- Los Alamitos and Santa Ana are the only OC cities to bid their trash contracts in recent years and in both cases, the contract reached the end of a negotiated term. They were not cancelled ahead of schedule.
- As our Public Works department has documented, trash rates in Cypress are among the lowest in Orange County.
o Los Alamitos – $13.91
o Seal Beach – $19.76
o Cypress – $21.11
o Buena Park – $21.84
o La Palma – $22.17
o Anaheim – $24.50
o Garden Grove – $27.18
- When comparing trash rates across different cities, it is important to recognize that rates vary from one city to the next based on service levels and each city’s unique needs. Trash collection does not operate with a traditional economy of scale as you can see when comparing rates in small versus bigger cities. I don’t think Los Alamitos has a better trash contract, so much as it has a different contract.
- Los Alamitos’ trash contractor, Universal Waste Systems, didn’t bid for Cypress’ business in 2014.
- Council Member Marquez has not been prohibited from communicating with City staff.
- The City’s Charter establishes that we operate under the Council-Manager form of government. Council Members and the City Manager take an oath to uphold the Charter.
- After multiple violations of the City Charter, Council Member Marquez has been required to conduct City business through the City Manager.
- All information related to organic recycling and changes to the trash contract was available to all Council Members and residents through the City website and multiple City Council meeting staff reports.
- Link to city website https://www.cypressca.org/government/departments/public-works/trash-recycling
- The City fully complied with Proposition 218, which gives residents a vote on new or updated fees. Like any election to ratify a City Council’s action, the election occurs after the City Council votes. Only about four percent of Cypress’ residents protested the fees.
Conclusion
The City Council and Valley Vista Services have worked very hard to provide Cypress residents great trash collection service at a fair price. The trash contract is the biggest one the City manages and it affects everyone who lives or works in Cypress. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve our great City and to help correct the record about the trash contract.
Submitted by:
Jon Peat
Council member, Cypress
