Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/09/2012 07:37:29 PM PDT

Special Section: San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO – Officials are working to outsource more functions of the city’s trash disposal, based on a memorandum from Mayor Pat Morris that interprets an earlier City Council vote in a way the initiator of that vote said was never intended.

Morris’ memo comes after he initially withheld his support for a motion, written by Councilwoman Wendy McCammack, to have City Attorney James F. Penman negotiate with the city’s current refuse franchisees.

That broad motion passed 4-3, but the city’s charter requires mayoral support on items that don’t have at least five votes.

That led to a face-off between Morris and Penman, who said he’d gotten his “marching orders” from the council and would work with Interim City Manager Andrea-Travis Miller to negotiate.

Morris, Penman and Travis-Miller met Tuesday and Wednesday and agreed to several key points, Morris said in a memo sent Wednesday evening.

That memo quotes extensively from the mayor’s April State of the City address, including sections saying the city must consider “franchising some aspects of refuse disposal as has been done by many cities.”

And the memo cites agreement to send out requests for proposals regarding refuse operations and waste stream processing. Four considerations should be prioritized, the memo says:

Cost efficient and effective operations.

Lowest possible rates.

Retention of existing employees with quality compensation.

A franchise fee that helps the city recover costs.

Penman said he interpreted that as outsourcing, but referred questions to the memo itself.

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