Dispute Halts Recycling Switch

Expansion of once-weekly recycling and garbage collections citywide has been stalled until at least the end of August by a dispute over who gets to sell the city 130,000 blue recycling barrels.

Faced with a lawsuit over who should get the contract, city officials agreed Tuesday not to award it to anyone until an independent hearing officer rules on which of three bidders should get it.

The delay won't affect garbage and recycling collections for 29,000 homes on the far East Side that have already received recycling barrels and been switched to the one-and-one collection system.

The rest of the city, however, will continue to receive twice-weekly garbage collections, with recyclable materials collected by a private vendor every other week.

Los Angles-based Rehrig Pacific Co. was originally given a $4.8 million contract to fabricate the barrels at $35.99 each after city tests found its barrels superior to two competitors'.

Rehrig Pacific had already delivered 29,000 of the barrels when its contract was canceled last week, and a new agreement was issued to Toter Inc. of North Carolina, the low bidder at $35.05 per barrel, after Toter and a second unsuccessful bidder protested the city testing procedures.

Rehrig Pacific sued on Monday to enforce the original contract and sought a restraining order to block the city from finalizing its contract with Toter.

Rehrig Pacific argued it had already purchased a large stockpile of materials and turned away other business to complete the city job on time.

It also contended the barrels offered by Toter and Otto Industries, another North Carolina company, didn't meet city specifications.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Ted B. Borek postponed any decision on the Rehrig Pacific request after the city agreed to submit the dispute to an independent hearing officer. That hearing has been scheduled for July 31.

The city also agreed not to award the contract for four business days after the hearing officer rules to give anyone dissatisfied with the decision a chance to reopen the court case.

That means even if the hearing officer rules immediately, the contract couldn't be awarded until Aug. 7.

Solid Waste Director Eliseo Garza said by the time the winning company gears up production and delivers a big enough stockpile to resume distribution to residents, it will be late August or early September.

Even that timetable depends on a speedy decision by the hearing officer, however, which Procurement Director Wayne Casper said can't be guaranteed.

Casper said the city will ask for a decision at the conclusion of the hearing or as quickly afterward as possible to minimize delays.

But he noted the disputes raised by the competing companies are complex and it could take the hearing officer some time to sort them out.

Borek said he will also make a decision on the request for a restraining order following the hearing, if one of the companies requests it.

If the delay is relatively short, Casper said, it's possible the city and the manufacturer can accelerate the production and delivery to still have the whole city changed over by December.

Attorney Michael Meehan, representing Rehrig Pacific, argued that his company's barrels were the only ones to pass tests done by the city in April and re-tests done in June following the protests.

He said it wasn't until another round of tests using a different procedure that the competing barrels were certified.

Meehan said the additional rounds of tests shouldn't be considered because the competing barrels don't meet city specifications.

Casper said the Toter barrels do meet city specifications.

Attorney Michael Green, who represents Toter, said the original city tests had to be thrown out because they "were not scientific or reliable," and the city did the right thing by throwing them out and retesting after consulting with a plastics expert.

He said that if Rehrig Pacific has a valid claim for the cost of the materials or tying up its factory, there are ways to compensate it through financial damages without delaying the recycling program. – Arizona Daily Star