Trash hauling bid waiver deadlocked, 4-4
With Councilman Sheldon Dill recusing himself, the Council discussed a resolution to waive the bid for the Town's trash hauling services. I'm not going to get into all the background tonight... it's too late. But there is one thing I have to say...
I was truly shocked tonight when people started using the information from the so-called bid the Town issued five years ago. Here is the information: .JPG)
And here's the problem with the so-called bid... Cheshire's trash hauler got wrapped up in this:
James Galante, the accused architect of a sweeping conspiracy to inflate trash-hauling prices in western Connecticut and New York, is expected to drop his long-standing claim of innocence and plead guilty to federal tax and racketeering charges as early as this morning.
Galante, who runs a network of trash companies worth tens of millions of dollars, is accused with 33 others of conspiring to carve up territories, monopolize carting routes and drive up prices paid by customers. He was named in nearly 100 counts of an indictment that accused him of racketeering; conspiracy; tax, mail and wire fraud; extortion; and witness tampering.(Courant, by EDMUND H. MAHONY)
So the Feds accused and convicted several dozen people for inflating trash-hauling prices. And the Council wants to waive the bid?
Just checking... what planet is this?
Also worth mentioning... for all the concern voiced about budgetary certainty... the DPW Director said that if we started today we should be able to have a one year contract locked in before the Council votes on the budget.
And finally... why is the Solid Waste Committee Chairman bringing this up now at this late hour? Where's the accountability?
It's the same old song'n'dance... "we don't have time to think about this! Just do as your told and vote!"
Some Council members need to be fired in November.
Tim White
10 comments:
This clearly shows the lack of intelligence some of the council members have.
Frivulous use of our money.
We can only hope they are removed in November.
Here was the vote.
‘Yes’ is to waive bidding.
Altieri (D) YES
DeCaprio (D) YES
Ecke (D) YES
Hall (D) YES
Dill (D) n/v
Ruocco (R) NO
Sima (R) NO
Slocum (R) NO
White (R) NO
What an embarrassment. My national party stood for transparency and accountability. My local party has grown fat and comfortable with power. They are lazy and shameless.
The Feds should investigate Matt Altieri.
First, as chair of the Solid Waste Committee, he failed to ensure a timely bidding process. Then when it was too late for bidding, he proposed a no-bid contract, using a 2004 document which may well have been used as evidence in the corruption trial of U.S. v. Galante et al.
Is Altieri just incompetent, or are there other things going on? The Feds should investigate.
calling them Curley, Larry, and Mo (Matt, Matt, and Mike) is being kind. yes, the feds should investigate Mr. gimme turf/ gimme no-bids.
This is just like returning the turf money. Sometimes you have to suck it up and do what is right. Giving the contract back to AJ is something that I never would have believed would be happening...especially w/o a bid process. I am embarrasssed as a voter who actually casted votes for a few of these folks.
Actions speak louder than words. Clearly our Democrat majority lacks an understanding of how to take the moral high ground on basic issues. Are they just so lame or is something else needing some disclosure yet?
Firms that have been convicted and sentenced for committing serious felonies against their customers should find themselves quickly without customers.
This isn't just "stupid". It's scandalous if not criminal.
In today's Meriden paper:
Arthur Wallinger, owner of (Cheshire's) trash hauler AJ Waste Systems, was found guilty of racketeering in 2007 by the Department of Justice... White said the town's contract was negotiated when AJ Waste and other companies inflated prices by rigging bids. He thought the contract should be rebid...
"The trust in this case was clearly broken," White said.
Ecke said waiving the bid and contracting with AJ Waste for another year would give the town time to investigate other trash-hauling options, such as automated pick-up.
-------
Bottom lines: Altieri and Ecke had a whole year to "investigate other trash-hauling options" and they did NOTHING. They (deliberately?) failed to put out for bidding, thereby forcing the town to pay a rigged, inflated price for a no-bid contract for another year.
I agree that the FBI should investigate those two.
come on!! the council people have scores of issues they are responsible for..it is the pd staff that should have been on top of this..
Personally, I don't think there's any funny business going on among any Council members.
But I do see this as another example of the Council refusing to hold anyone in Town Hall accountable for anything.
In turn, who gets blamed?
The voters didn't blame town staff for the pool. The voters have recourse only with the Council.
I see people are quoting Tim in the Record Journal... did you notice how Tim is judging AJ Waste not on merit or ability but on who the PREVIOUS owner was? It's a different leadership there and it isnt fair to say that they are corrupt because AJ made some bad decisions. Since everyone likes to state bits and pieces from other news sources, consider that Galante associates were known to torch the trucks of people who did not do things his way. Consider that AJ Waste was $70,000 less than the next bid. Consider that Coventa is upping the price to take trash.
Tim, try being original. Stop repeating what the person before you said.
Post a Comment