Politics & Government

Los Alamitos Heads to Trial Over Trash Contract

Citizens for a Fair Trash Contract's suit says the city unduly awarded its trash contract.

A lawsuit filed a year ago against Los Alamitos over the awarding of a trash contract heads to trial Friday.

Citizens for a Fair Trash Contract accuses the city of corruption in awarding the contract to Consolidated Disposal Service.

, filed during last year's contentious City Council race, says city leaders accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the trash hauler and its officers and then bypassed city procedures to award the contract to Consolidated. Critics of the suit called it a political stunt aimed at undermining the campaigns of the council incumbents who voted for the contract.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“What is at stake is whether or not City Council members are required to follow the very ordinances they enact,” Citizens said in a formal statement. “The city is very diligent enforcing compliance with city codes and ordinances to the citizens, yet when it comes to the largest contract award in the city, the current council majority simply ignored the ordinance.”

Court proceedings start at 1:30 p.m. at 700 Civic Center Dr. West, Santa Ana, Department C-11, with Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew P. Banks presiding.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The judge could decide that the city must start the bidding process over and award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder from among those companies that had already bid, Citizens said in a statement.

In June, Banks threw out the case against City Council members Troy Edgar, Marilynn Poe and Kenneth Stephens, finding no evidence that the city officials were influenced by the campaign donations. At a hearing in July, the judge refused to throw out the remaining claim that the city violated its own policies designed to ensure contracts are awarded fairly, allowing the case to move forward.

The judge did, however, find that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that they were the injured parties in the matter.

Edgar has repeatedly defended the trash contract with Consolidated, calling it one of the best in Orange County, with rates under $12 per month for residents.

The contract adds $275,000 in revenue to the city coffers and a nearly $300,000 onetime payment, according to city officials. The city also contends that the new contract resulted in a 19 percent reduction in residential collection rates. Also as part of the agreement, the trash hauler will provide street-sweeping services at no additional cost to the city.

In the suit against the city, Citizens for a Fair Trash Contract contends that officials contorted the city’s contracting procedure in order to award the contract to Consolidated Disposal Service even though the company’s bid was more than $6 million more than that of another qualified bidder.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here