The most visible rivalry for South Coast trash contracts is over, as local trash hauler MarBorg Industries has purchased Allied Waste Services of Santa Barbara, Noozhawk confirmed Wednesday.
“Allied Waste Services of Santa Barbara is … is gone, it’s been purchased,” Allied General Manager Stephen MacIntosh said.
Allied Waste Services has served the South Coast since 1972, but it suffered a particularly hard blow in April when the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors awarded an eight-year contract to MarBorg Industries.
The city of Goleta also passed on an Allied contract in favor of MarBorg, leaving Allied with only Santa Barbara’s Westside, or Zone 1, a contract that expires in 2013. As a result of losing two of the company’s three South Coast trash contracts, Allied laid off nearly a third of its local work force — about 20 people.
The two companies have been in a contentious bidding war for the remaining contract. The City of Santa Barbara even hired a consultant in May to help with what would have been a highly contentious process of awarding the contract. Now, MarBorg will ask to take over Allied’s Zone 1, but the City Council must approve the transfer of the contract before MarBorg can begin service.
The contract for only Zone 1 will exceed $80 million if the term is 10 years, Kristy Schmidt, the city’s employee relations manager, told the City Council in May.
MacIntosh didn’t know the details of the deal to purchase Allied, which he said came from higher up at the parent company, Republic Services. After Allied’s earlier layoffs from the loss of the county contract, MacIntosh said he guesses that MarBorg will hire on the majority of Allied’s remaining employees.
MacIntosh will continue working for Allied, since he is also the general manager of the Del Norte Regional Recycling and Transfer Facility in Oxnard.
“I will say, I think it’s going to be good for the community,” he said of the sale to MarBorg. “They have a long history of serving the South Coast. People won’t be disappointed with their new service provider.”
MarBorg officials wouldn’t comment on the deal Wednesday, and said the terms of the deal were subject to a confidentiality agreement.
Mayor Helene Schneider confirmed that she was asked to meet with officials from MarBorg on Tuesday, who said the deal had already occurred. She received a letter from a top executive at Allied confirming the deal, stating the company wanted the mayor to know about it before it became public.
Schneider also said that MarBorg officials had asked whether the item could go before the City Council at its July 12 meeting.
Long term, it’s unclear how the city will proceed while working to award a new contract after the 2013 agreement expires. She said a policy question still exists about how to proceed and whether the two haulers combining would change that process.
“The most important thing to me right now is that trash service in Zone 1 remains seamless,” she said, “and residents and customers don’t see any difference in service.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews.