Town Board Has Acted Responsibly and Lawfully in Garbage Hauler Challenge
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
In a letter “Yorktown Officials Failed to Secure a Reliable Garbage Hauler,” (July 18-24) the author, Jann Mirchandani, clearly presents you, the reader, with many accusations without offering any solid proof or any proof at all. The author’s comments also show a clear lack of understanding of municipal law.
In municipal law, the town MUST go through a bid process to grant contracts above a certain amount. During the bid process the town MUST select the lowest bidder UNLESS the lowest bidder cannot be designated as responsible. The previous iteration of the Town Board as well as the existing Town Board take every aspect of town government very seriously and have a deep-rooted knowledge of municipal law and how it works.
The claims that Competitive Carting went bankrupt in 2019 is not accurate; the company the author is referring to is a different entity with a different name. That previous entity, which once held the contract in Yorktown prior to AAA, did a fair job for the people of Yorktown.
The claim that the Town Board abdicated its responsibility when it hired Competitive Carting is categorically false. When we vetted this company, we looked at every aspect closely including whether they had the proper equipment. We even verified truck purchases with the dealer selling the equipment. That was only one of the many aspects of the vetting process that we fulfilled.
According to municipal law, the lowest bidder gets awarded the contract and there really was no justifiable reason to disqualify Competitive Carting at that time. If we disqualified Competitive without solid, justifiable reasons, it would have placed the town in legal jeopardy. Municipal laws exist to facilitate fairness and transparency, hence the bid rules, but sometimes they have an adverse effect.
The private sector and the public sector are very different. In the private sector, firing Competitive Carting and transferring the contract to another vendor is much simpler. In the public sector, government contracts are handled much differently. There is an “emergency” provision that can be implemented on a temporary basis. If the emergency provision is implemented, we could bring in a new hauler immediately to cure the existing issue for a temporary period. It is important to understand how the public sector and municipal law really works.
Competitive Carting has been given ample opportunity to take corrective action. The Town Board has acted, in a lawful manner, toward a resolution. Currently, we issued a seven-day notice to cure and fined Competitive Carting over $59,000 for their failure to perform. The seven-day cure followed the legal and lawful procedure that allows us, at this point, to terminate at will.
Responsibly, however, we must have a new hauler in place prior to any such act to avoid disruption or discontinuation of service. The entire Town Board is looking at every potential option and resolution. In the interim, we will continue to levy fines against Competitive Carting.
One last note on Competitive Carting: We do not blame their employees and we ask that everyone please maintain a high level of cordiality toward them as it is clearly not their fault but, rather, a severe internal management failure.
Finally, The Town Board hears you and we are working toward a permanent, legal resolution to the issue at hand.
Supervisor Town Diana
Councilman Ed Lachterman
Councilman Sergio Esposito
Councilwoman Luciana Haugwout
Councilwoman Mary Capoccia
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