Trash Talking in Yorktown as Board Weighs Garbage Bids
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Tempers flared at last week’s Yorktown Town Board meeting over a multi-million-dollar contract up for grabs to pick up the town’s garbage over the next several years.
The town’s current five-year contract with AAA Carting of Cortlandt expires at the end of the year. Yorktown has paid AAA $2 million annually since 2018.
When Yorktown went out to bid earlier this year on two occasions, AAA was the lone bidder with a price tag that featured a “significant” cost hike, according to Supervisor Matt Slater.
Yorktown decided to seek more bids. AAA bid again, coming in at $3.75 million, which would keep its current level of service of two days of garbage pickup and one day of recyclable material removal intact.
However, a new company surfaced, Competitive Carting, which bid $3.45 million annually for five years.
Competitive Carting’s owner Brian Amico appeared at the meeting last week with his attorney, former Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace. Amico was formerly head of Competition Carting, which won Yorktown’s garbage contract 10 years ago before being bought out by R&S Waste Services. R&S was outbid five years ago by AAA.
“I’m ready to go. I did this for five years,” Amico told the board.
Grace also sang the praises of Amico, saying, “We had no problems with Competition Carting. He’s done the labor. He’s done the routes. You were very well served before.”
Angelo Cartalemi, AAA Operation Manager, cautioned the board to thoroughly investigate Amico could deliver what he promised.
“This is the same exact thing you did five years ago. The same song and dance,” Cartalemi remarked. “Doesn’t make sense to go down the same path again. It’s like he doesn’t have the answers to the questions you’re asking him.”
Slater took offense with Cartalemi’s remarks, snapping back, “I find it insulting you would even infer we wouldn’t do our due diligence.”
Fellow board members insisted no contract would be awarded unless they were satisfied the company chosen could adequately serve residents.
“We’re not going to say yes just because it sounds good,” Councilwoman Luciana Haughwout said.
“We are going to vet this in the best way we can,” Councilman Tom Diana said. “Last time we negotiated a garbage contract we almost had fisticuffs outside. I don’t want to see these negotiations get to that level ever again.”
The Town Board is going to meet with AAA and Competitive Carting individually and privately over the next few weeks to dissect each of their proposals.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
