By George Pardon
When Valley Vista submitted their bid proposal in 2014, the proposal boasted that Valley Vista Project Director George Briggeman has been intimately involved with the Boys and Girls Club, the Woman’s Club of Cypress, Chamber of Commerce, BRACE of Cypress, and Cypress College through his support. The proposal indicated that this support has continued for over 35 years and that he is familiar with their resources.
After a review of all the proposals submitted, Valley Vista was awarded a 10-year contract in September 2014 to start in July 2015. In 2015, the Fair Political Practices Commission fined George Briggeman from Valley Vista Services for his support of City Council candidates in 2012. Two of those individuals were candidates for the Cypress City Council: Rob Johnson and Mariellen Yarc. Should Council Members Johnson and Yarc have recused themselves from the vote to award the initial contract to Valley Vista? I think so.
Council Member Jon Peat was elected to the City Council in November 2014. Jon Peat has been on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club since 2013 now serving as 1st Vice Chair. As stated previously, George Briggeman acknowledged having been intimately involved with the Boys and Girls Club for over 35 years as of 2014 which would currently be over 40 years. Mayor Morales and Stacy Berry were also elected in 2014.
In 2017, Valley Vista, through George Briggeman, requested an extraordinary adjustment to their contract which included service reductions and a rate increase. The city hired a consultant to review the request.
The consultant’s conclusion was that there was no basis for the adjustments requested by Valley Vista but the City Council approved the changes anyway with Council Member Stacy Berry being the only No vote. Both Rob Johnson and Mariellen Yarc termed out in November 2020 with Anne Hertz-Mallari and Frances Marquez elected to replace them.
In 2020, Valley Vista came back to the City Council for additional concessions. They wanted to build a trash transfer station and a Compressed Natural Gas facility on the City Yard in order to reduce their costs further.
The proposed project was next to a residential area and there was substantial pushback from the residents, so the City Council backed off. A controversy did arise in 2021 during the consideration of a two-person subcommittee to review the Valley Vista request for a joint venture or another extraordinary rate adjustment. Then-Mayor Jon Peat proposed appointing himself and newly elected Council Member Anne Hertz-Mallari. Council Member Hertz-Mallari is a long time Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cypress which is now the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Anaheim and Cypress.
At the time the subcommittee was proposed, Council Member Stacy Berry challenged the appointment of Council Member Anne Hertz-Mallari because of her long-time connection to George Briggeman. Responding to that challenge, Council Member Hertz-Mallari acknowledged that she and George Briggeman have known each other for 15 years and he’s donated to Boys and Girls Club events and given them free trash services for 15 years.
The effort to reward Valley Vista continues. The requirement by the State for cities to implement an organic waste disposal system has led to yet another review of the Valley Vista agreement. Rather than the proposed revision being limited to the organic waste program, the revisions also included an adjustment increasing the recycling cost because Valley Vista says they are losing money on it.
The changes also include a substantial increase to the cap on annual CPI increases and probably the most egregious change is an extension to the contract to 2037. The original contract was a 10-year contract with an allowance for a 2-year extension and 2 one-year extensions. With these new changes, this will end up being a 22-year contract without going out to bid. Neither Council Member Peat nor Hertz-Mallari recused themselves. Would you have recused yourself?
The City Council pushed through these proposed contract changes during Thanksgiving week. Starting this process during Thanksgiving week and expecting residents to focus on it during the holidays and a heightened COVID transmission period raises the serious question as to the transparency of these changes.
Probably the most glaring cause for concern is that Los Alamitos, which is an adjacent city to Cypress, went out to bid for the new state changes and saw their price go down with only a 7-year contract. In fact, if the changes proposed by the Cypress City Council are ultimately implemented, Cypress residents will pay $21.43 per month which is 54% more than Los Alamitos residents who will pay $13.90 per month. Westminster residents pay $14.75 per month.
Given the significant difference in the proposed rate for Cypress residents compared to Los Alamitos and Westminster residents, this contract should be bid out as soon as possible. Since the City Council extended the contract by 2 years in 2017, the current contract expires in 2027. This contract should not be extended to 2037 without a bid.
Given Mayor ProTem Hertz-Mallari’s position at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Anaheim and Cypress and Council Member Peat’s position on the Board of Directors, they should both recuse themselves. Mayor ProTem Hertz-Mallari chose to recuse herself when the City Council allocated COVID funds to the Boys and Girls Club. Why shouldn’t she recuse herself when the City Council is considering substantial contract changes that benefit a company that provides free services and financially supports the organization she works for.
Similarly, since Council Member Jon Peat is on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club, he should have recused himself when the City Council allocated funds to the Boys and Girls Club and he should recuse himself from voting on these changes to the Valley Vista contract.
While there may be a legal path that allows them to avoid recusing themselves, the question is what should they do to avoid a perception of a financial conflict of interest?
Editors note: George Pardon is Director of the Citizens for Responsible Development of Cypress.
