Santa Rosa's City Council Tuesday granted the city's trash-hauling company a 10-year contract extension that promises to generate an extra $1.8 million annually for city coffers.
"It is strictly a bottom-line situation," said Councilman Gary Wysocky, head of the council's Solid Waste Committee that recommended approval of the extension.
Wysocky, while generally supportive of competitive bidding, said the extra revenue North Bay Corp. will give the city annually above the $3.3 million it already provides cannot be rebuffed at a time the city is facing a $10 million budget deficit.
"The money is very appealing at a time we need it," agreed Councilwoman Veronica Jacobi.
Deputy City Manager Greg Scoles, who led the city's negotiations along with the committee, told the council "it's a contract you should all be proud of."
Besides generating millions of extra dollars for the city, the contract will continue to guarantee Santa Rosa residential rates remain among the lowest in the county, Scoles said. North Bay will also expand its services, launching a program to turn food waste into energy and taking over the city's street-sweeping services.
North Bay's current 10-year contract is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012 but the extension will take it through 2022. It will begin paying the increased revenue to the city immediately.
On Jan. 11, the council committee of Wysocky, Jane Bender and Marsha Vas Dupre unanimously recommended the full council approve it, Scoles reported.
On Tuesday, Vas Dupre cast the lone "no" vote in the council's 6-1 decision.
After the meeting Vas Dupre claimed Scoles "must have misunderstood" her position. She said the committee did not obtain adequate answers to several questions she had about the contract regarding in-county diversion and whether smaller companies could bid on part of the contract.
She also suggested during the meeting that the extension be put on hold until it could be put out for competitive bidding when the contract expires in 2012.
"Why rush?" she said.
But waiting those three years would cost the city $5.4 million in additional revenue from North Bay, an amount the other council members indicated they were unwilling to give up.
After the meeting, Vas Dupre said she remains concerned about North Bay's lack of clear answers about its relationship with troubled financier Clem Carinalli. North Bay has said that Carinalli has never owned a stake in the company or its subsidiaries. Carinalli, who is listed in state records as an officer at two North Bay business units, reported selling his share in North Bay subsidiary Unicycler in 2008 to founder James Ratto.
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