The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday agreed to exclusively negotiate a new $400 million trash-hauling contract with MarBorg Industries.
It was the first meeting in three weeks for the council. With COVID-19 transmission rates high, all members, except for Mayor Randy Rowse, wore masks during the meeting.
The seven-member panel also unanimously agreed to extend MarBorg’s current contract, which expires next year, by one year to allow time for negotiations.
“We are really hopeful we can come to an agreement with MarBorg Industries,” said Alelia Parenteau, acting sustainability and resilience director.
With the company so firmly entrenched, the council agreed not to embark on a competitive bid process and instead work with MarBorg on a new 15-year contract. That pathway is quicker, according to city officials, and allows the city to negotiate specific requirements directly of MarBorg. In the past 20 years, state laws have passed that require more environmental responsibility, greater diversion and modern technology.
“We do need a brand-new agreement,” Parenteau said.
In the unlikely scenario that the two sides can’t reach an agreement on a new contract within eight months, the city then would put out a request for proposals. As a practical matter, MarBorg has a firm hold on everything from trash hauling and recycling to portable bathrooms and fences, so switching trash haulers would involve a colossal effort. MarBorg also serves the city of Goleta.
MarBorg in 2003 wrested half of the city’s trash-hauling contract from BFI, with State Street the dividing line. A few years later, MarBorg took over the entire city, and BFI quietly left the city of Santa Barbara. Since then, MarBorg has built a trash and recycling empire as the city’s sole operator.
Parenteau said that even though the city won’t be conducting a competitive bid, it will conduct an “inventory of similar service areas to see what types of rates they are paying and provide a sanity check against where we end up.”
Derek Carlson, MarBorg’s general manager, said: “MarBorg is uniquely situated to fulfill the City of Santa Barbara’s goals with a new waste management contract. MarBorg and the Borgatello family have been in this community, serving this community for more than 80 years.”
He noted that MarBorg invested in a compressed natural gas filling station for its CNG facilities, and its construction and debris recycling and diversion facility.
“MarBorg’s been an excellent partner for our entire community for 80-plus years,” Councilman Eric Friedman said.
Friedman said MarBorg is a local company that provides local jobs.
“It’s very important that we support that, especially when a company is high-performing and provides excellent service,” Friedman said.
Police Station Speeds Ahead
The council voted 7-0 to award a $4.5 million design services contract to the Cearnal Collective for Santa Barbara’s new $92 million police station project.
The current police station at 215 E. Figueroa St. needs a seismic upgrade. It also has soil contamination in the parking lot, and multiple plumbing and electrical infrastructure deficiencies.
The city leases three other buildings to house its police services.
Santa Barbara has been struggling for more than two decades to figure out a way to build a new police station. A bond measure for that purpose was rejected by voters in 1999. The city’s Measure C, a 1% sales tax increase, created a revenue stream to help build the facility.
“I am really happy to be here and to be moving this forward,” Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said.
The new headquarters, at the corner of Cota and Santa Barbara streets, calls for a three-story, 53-foot-high, 65,000-square-foot structure, and an 86,000-square-foot-parking structure with 236 parking spaces. Emergency service antennas would be installed on the roof of the parking structure. Eight additional vehicle surface parking spaces and four bicycle parking spaces would be provided for visitors.
Harmon suggested that the city think about working with the Housing Authority to build affordable housing at the site of the current, building on Figueroa Street. Since the city owns the land, conversations about building housing at the 215 E. Figueroa site should go hand-in-hand with building the new police station at the corner of Santa Barbara and Cota streets.
“The (current 215 East Figueroa) site is well-suited for Capital A affordable housing,” Harmon said. “It makes sense for working families.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
