Norcal Loses Contract in the Wake of San Jose Scandal

Date: August 24, 2006

Source: News Room

The City Council of San Jose recently voted unanimously to reject a bid by Norcal Waste Systems to renew its contract to haul the city's waste. The action is the latest in a saga begun on June 21 when the district attorney indicted city Mayor Ron Gonzales and Norcal for allegedly engineering a deal to secretly compensate Norcal for the additional costs to hire Teamsters instead of Longshoremen at a city recycling plant. With Norcal's contract expiring July 1, 2007, the company had put forth a bid to extend it for two years. Instead, the council rejected the bid 10-0 in favor of six year contracts to be awarded to Garden City Sanitation and California Waste Solutions, Norcal's recycling subcontractor. The action will cost rate payers $6 more per month than current rates and $1 more per month than the Norcal proposed rate. Most believe that the transition will be fraught with at least some service interruptions.

For more information, visit www.norcalwaste.com and www.sanjoseca.gov.

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