Begin Article7.pbo End Article7.pbo start articleparagraph1.pbo SAN BERNARDINO >> After years of uncertainty going back at least to the first month of bankruptcy when the city started moving forward with outsourcing its refuse services, 72 city employees learned Monday night who their new employer will be: Burrtec.
Employees and city officials both largely applauded the move, which will bring $5 million upfront and then $2.8 million a year in franchise fees for the city for the next 10 years.
The company also pledged to employ existing full-time employees, retain salary levels and benefits, and give employees another $6,900 as a bonus.
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Customers will pay the same rates for now, though that’s not guaranteed, said Andrew Belknap of consultant Management Partners, who recommended Burrtec.
Along with outsourcing fire services, Monday night’s vote to outsource trash and related services was one of the keys to the bankruptcy exit plan the city submitted to bankruptcy court in May. Unlike with fire — and unlike the situation when the city first moved to outsource its refuse in 2012 — employees and residents who spoke were in agreement that a company should take over job.
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The disagreement was over which company, with Athens arguing that the city’s Request for Proposals process was flawed. Multiple employees from Athens argued that they — not Burrtec, as a team of consultants and staff concluded — would in fact save the city more money and would also treat employees better.
Councilman Fred Shorett, on the losing side of a 6-1 vote to go with Burrtec, said he found Athens’ allegations disturbing and wanted to delay the vote another three weeks so the city could consider them. City Manager Allen Parker and Belknap also said new information from Athens deserved more time for study.
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Employees, though, said they were tired of having the decision hanging over their heads, and they wanted closure. A crowd of orange-shirted employees attended the meeting, applauding Burrtec.
Outsourcing to either Athens or Burrtec made sense from a money decision, the majority of the City Council said, so why not please city workers?
“(Staff information says) it’s $5 million down, each company; $2.8 million annually, each company,” said Councilman Rikke Van Johnson. “This boils down to me as a heart decision. And our family came to us and said, ‘This is where I want to go.’ And we’ve treated them like stepchildren for a long time – red head, freckle-faced stepchildren. Now there’s a chance where we can do the right thing.” end articleparagraph1.pbo start articleparagraph1.pbo
The city will now spend 60 days preparing a contract, which the City Council will then vote on, before the outsourcing goes into effect.
In another vote Monday, the City Council unanimously voted to have staff send a letter objecting to a pipeline that Southern California Gas plans to run through the city, suggesting the company use an alternative route the city provided.