Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Henry Megia sorts through garbage at the SMaRT Station recycling plant in Sunnyvale. Materials that cannot be recycled and compacted are sent to Kirby Canyon Landfill in San Jose.
Recycling contract debate leaves City Council divided
Officials select Green Team/Zanker after marathon meeting
By Sam Scott
What some had labeled a struggle between the environment and money instead became a contest between the outsider and the insider.
In a 4-3 vote, Sunnyvale City Council on April 10, awarded Green Team/Zanker of San Jose a seven-year, $14.7 million contract to run the city's recycling plant. The move came after a motion by Councilman Jim Roberts narrowly failed to give the multimillion dollar deal to a more expensive proposal from a local, more visible business. The Green Team/Zanker proposal will save the city an estimated $1.6 million a year over its current contract with Waste Management. But Roberts said the cheaper service will lend itself to lower quality. Mayor Pat Vorreiter and Councilman Manuel Valerio sided with Roberts.
Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer Station, or SMaRT, is a Sunnyvale-based, city-led partnership between the city, Palo Alto and Mountain View. Workers sort recyclable material from the cities' trash before it goes to landfills. City spokesman Dan Rich said residents and business would realize the savings in reduced rates in garbage fees.
In December, Sunnyvale's public works staff took proposals from four companies to take over the plant at the expiration of the current contract. City staff graded the proposals on criteria that included experience, understanding, cost and minimum recycling level. Staffers said they weighted cost as the most important aspect of the proposal--a fact that companies were not aware of--with experience and recycling level tied for distance second in importance.
Green Team/Zanker's proposal received the highest marks for experience and cost, garnering the staff's recommendation. The company rated last, however, on the minimum level of garbage it pledged to divert to recycling, an estimated 14.52 percent.
The second-ranked plan, submitted by NorCal, pledged to divert a minimum of 21 percent of garbage to recycling. NorCal's proposal however, came in $2 million more than the Green Team/Zanker proposal.
The relatively light emphasis placed on recycling level struck some participants as strange, given Sunnyvale's $24 million investment in the Smart plant.
"It's like buying a brand new sports car and then taking it around town in first gear," Roberts said.
"Why not pick the highest recycling group," said Ole Olsen, who identified himself as an environmentally concerned resident.
Marvin Rose, Sunnyvale's Director of Public Works, said Green Team/Zanker would be given incentives to exceed the minimum level. He also said the involved cities would find ways to increase community-based recycling.
Councilman Tim Risch, echoing the logic city staff expressed in their report to council, said paying $2 million more to NorCal for six percent more recycling seem too costly.
The criteria, however, that Roberts seemed to most value was familiarity. Rather than pull for the lowest proposal or the highest recycling level, Roberts supported the most locally involved company, Bay Counties. The company holds the Sunnyvale trash contract. Of the four submissions, city staff ranked Bay Counties' last.
Chamber of Commerce members who spoke to support Bay Counties said the company has been involved in Sunnyvale for decades. It's head, Jerry Nabhan, is a member of the chamber's board and the company, according chamber members, is active in the community. The familiarity with which council members addressed Nabhan suggested the close relationship. Council members called him by his first name, while addressing all other participants by their surnames.
Despite assurances from staff that the risk lay on the company's shoulders, Roberts remained uncharacteristically untrusting of the proposal process.
"You must know something about time and motion these companies don't," Roberts said to Ken Ethrington, Green Team's general manager. Green Team's bid called for far fewer employees than other proposals.
Roberts instead advocated going for the known quantity, despite staff recommendation. "Right in the middle we have Bay Counties," Roberts said as he made his motion to give the contract to the company. Mayor Pat Vorreiter quickly seconded Roberts' motion. She said she feared the city was being used as a "test tube" for Green Team/ Zanker, which recently formed as a union of separate companies.
But, in contrast to Vorreiter's and Roberts concerns, Risch said he had the most confidence in the winning company. "They were the most technically conversant contractor I met with during this whole process,." he said.
With Valerio siding with Roberts and Vorreiter and Councilman Fred Fowler and Vice Mayor Jack Walker joining Risch, the vote stood three-three. Councilwoman Julia Miller cast the swing vote in favor of Green Team/Zanker. Firmly in the hot seat, Miller kept her cool, explaining her vote to the 60 or more people still in the audience at 1:35 a.m.
Miller said she had to trust the staff recommendation. "Jerry, I am sorry," she said. "I have to vote for Green Team/Zanker."
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
