MarBorg Industries is on track to lock up another 10-year contract for trash hauling and recycling in the city of Santa Barbara.
The City Council voted 6-0 on Tuesday to continue negotiations, while offering its full support of the job MarBorg is performing.
“They meet a lot of our needs and have a high level of customer service,” Councilman Eric Friedman said.
MarBorg has held an exclusive contract to haul trash for the past decade, after wresting control from BFI.
The city in July agreed to begin a negotiation process with MarBorg, and it appears that the two entities are poised to reach an agreement. The council is set to finalize the new 10-year contract in March, which also allows MarBorg the option of extending the contract for another five years.
By negotiating exclusively with MarBorg, the city is able to build specific requests into the potentially $400 million contract up front.
“We have an ability to really improve the product we are offering the public, both commercial and residential, and hopefully minimize those costs through efficiencies,” Friedman said.
Changes to the contract include expanding bulky item collection service to include large residential units within five business days of requests by residents, which would triple the amount of bulky item collections available to residents. The new contract also proposes that palm fronds be included as “bulky items.”
MarBorg also would pick up “abandoned waste,” which would be provided within 48 hours of city direction and provide for a greater number of abandoned waste collections based on the city’s needs.
In addition, the new contract calls for MarBorg to collect palm fronds that are cleaned up by city crews on city property.
Other enhanced services include providing more household hazardous waste collection events for residents.
“Any changes in MarBorg’s compensation that might result from service delivery changes and that would require adjustments to the city’s customer rates will be subject to future council action,” according to the city.
The city conducted an online survey for solid waste customers from June to September 2022, which indicated that a majority of customers are either satisfied or very satisfied with MarBorg’s services.
“I really appreciate the enhanced services,” Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said.
— 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.