Santa Barbara County could pick just one company to provide trash-hauling services for unincorporated areas in its next contract cycle.
The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to change a 2010 ordinance that requires at least two companies to provide solid waste collection and hauling services.
The amended ordinance allows the county to consider awarding every zone’s contract to the same hauler.
The change is timely: Four companies responded to the county’s request-for-proposals to provide trash services for North County unincorporated areas, including MarBorg Industries, the Santa Barbara-based company that already serves the South County unincorporated areas, Cuyama Valley and three cities.
Public Works and procurement office staff couldn’t even consider MarBorg’s proposal until the ordinance was changed, since it required a minimum of two companies countywide.
E.J. Harrison & Sons, MarBorg Industries, Waste Connections and Waste Management submitted proposals for the North County exclusive contracts that start in July 2024, according to Leslie Robinson, collections and materials manager for the Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division.
Supervisors Joan Hartmann and Bob Nelson, who represent the Third District and Fourth District of the county, said the previous ordinance was based on a “flawed premise.”
The county awards exclusive operating contracts for each of the five zones, so companies don’t have to compete once they’re awarded those contracts, Hartmann said.
She said opening up the RFP process to all companies — including ones providing services in other county areas — could actually increase competition.
“In my office, I hear concerns about the current waste hauler, and yet we really had to keep that one because we had to have a different one than was down here,” Hartmann said of Waste Management.
The county will make a decision on awarding the contract later this year.
“Three cities currently have agreements with MarBorg, two have agreements with Waste Management, one has an agreement with E.J. Harrison & Sons, and two provide their own municipal collection services,” Public Works staff said.
In a report explaining the rationale behind the previous ordinance, staff wrote: “The ordinance update would not guarantee the award of any additional zones to MarBorg Industries, but would instead allow for the company’s proposal to be considered. The existing ordinance language pertaining to the minimum number of franchised haulers was approved by the board in November 2010.
“At the time, the intent was to maintain a competitive environment and motivate the county’s haulers to offer new and expanded services. The county has benefited well from the competitive market, and has been able to negotiate many service enhancements for customers in the unincorporated area.”