Here is an interesting nugget I ran across from Jan 17, 2017 [page 11] regarding the last time City council renewed their trash hauling contract.
WAY back then (three whole years ago), the City of Lampasas used Waste Management for their trash hauling. That contract was due to expire in the spring of 2017. Here is what then-council-member Misti Talbert said about renewing the contract with Waste Management:
“City council is not unhappy with Waste Management but wants to see if it is possible to save money on trash collection”
Wow. Smart thinking, Misti. I would agree that it NEVER HURTS to look around for a better deal. Seems to be something City council rarely does with anything else (*cough Azbell cough*), but I wholeheartedly agree it is a smart thing to do with EVERYTHING.
So what happened in 2017? Finley and the gang looked at FIVE different companies and let them bid for the new contract (yes, there are FIVE companies out there!). According to 2017 Finley, this “is a highly competitive process” [1/20/17 front page news].
Oh goody! Competition! That is always good for getting the best price!
They determined that Waste Connections “had the highest score of the five companies that submitted proposals for trash service” [3/3/17 front page news].
They did all this work for a three-year contract…since that Waste Connections contract was to last until April 30, 2020 (two weeks from now). All well and good. Nice job, 2017 Misti and 2017 Finley!
Fast forward three years to 2020 Talbert and 2020 Finley. Waste Connections’ contract is now up for renewal and the new period will be for FIVE years. Do 2020 Talbert (now mayor) and 2020 Finley still have the same zeal for “seeing if it is possible to save money on trash collection”?
Nope. Finley now can’t be bothered with that stuff. He says his “recommendation for council to extend [the current Waste Connections] contract is because of the company’s good performance and the potential disruption of service if the city sought a different provider” [2/18/20 front page news]
Weird how nobody worried about “potential disruption of service” three years ago when they let five companies go at it to get the best price. So what changed?
Well, as I have already mentioned previously, three members of City council (Talbert, Toups, Kuehne) won a bribe prize back in 2019 in a karaoke contest hosted by…..you guessed it! Waste Connections! They took home a whopping $2,500 in Oct 2019 and before that, $5,000 in 2018.
In short, Waste Connections handed three members of City council thousands of dollars just months before those same council members would be making a decision on a new five year, $5.5 MILLION dollar contract
Sooooo….back THEN (2017) it was worth it to check around for a better price just for the hell of it. But NOW (2020), after winning a bribe prize from Waste Connections, you are perfectly happy NOT to bother looking around for a better price, despite the fact that there is a “highly competitive process” out there and despite the fact that THIS contract is for a much longer period (5 years versus 3).
Got it.
My how things change in 36 months.
Just to be clear, you can hardly call this a bribe…since ALL the money Waste Connections handed to City council (plus another $7,200 swiped from the HOT slush fund) was immediately wasted on some giant metal letters. They didn’t PERSONALLY see any gain from the money. HOWEVER, they were without a doubt in my mind, influenced and not intelligent enough to see it. Unwittingly duped, as it were.