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No stink from new garbage contract, says Penticton CFO

Jim Bauer is standing by city hall’s pick for its recently assigned waste management contract
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The City of Penticton is standing by its decision on a new waste management contract recently handed out. File photo

The City of Penticton’s process for choosing a new waste management contractor was up to snuff, according to an evaluation by the city’s chief financial officer.

The evaluation comes after Summerland-based Appleton Waste Services Inc. claimed it wasn’t given a fair shake in the request for proposal process the city undertook in the spring. That result of that process preferred Texas-based Waste Connections — which bought the previous contractor last year — to Appleton.

While the city at the time claimed Appleton lacked the experience in curbside collections, Appleton fired back at the time, saying he runs four trucks in Edmonton everyday.

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But a news release from City of Penticton CFO Jim Bauer said all of the processes were properly followed to find the best deal for the city.

The city underwent the RFP process for a new waste management contract at the same time as the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. According to Bauer, two city staff reviewed the bids separately under pre-established criteria and scoring agreed upon by five RDOS municipalities.

According to Bauer, just 30 per cent of the criteria was weighted to price, while the remaining 70 per cent was relegated to quality, experience, methodology and performance.

“The evaluation for services in Penticton resulted in Waste Connections receiving the highest ranked proposal at 89 points,” Bauer wrote. “Appleton Waste Services Inc. was tied for the lowest score at 71 points.”

Those points were based off three main criteria — proponent, proposal and price — two of which were divided into several criteria.

Under proponent, the city looked at things like qualifications, experience and past performance and references, while the proposal criteria looked at things like methodology, scheduling and environmental performance.

Appleton charged the least of all four firms that bid on the contract at just under $993,000, with Waste Connections charging the next lowest at just under $1.1 million. The highest bidder, Waste Management of Canada, was closer to $1.9 million.

“Upon reviewing the procurement process, my assessment is that the steps followed by the city for evaluating and awarding this contract was conducted fairly and appropriately, using the predetermined scoring criteria,” Bauer wrote.

“Waste Connections has been servicing the entire South Okanagan region for several years and the company maintains an office in Penticton employing approximately 35 people.”