No-Bid Now, But Hersh Wanted Bids In Weston
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Weston Mayor Eric Hersh negotiated a no-bid $1 billion deal with Wheelabrator for solid waste this year, but when it came to Weston six years ago he insisted on bids.
I know garbage hauling for one city is not the same as disposing of garbage for the whole county. City haulers pick up garbage and delivers it to Wheelabrator for burning.
But I thought it was interesting to explore Hersh’s record on garbage.
I discovered from newspaper archives that he was a vehement proponent of bidding the hauling contract for his city.
Hauling and disposal have similarities other than they both deal with garbage.
Many city garbage hauling contracts are automatically renewed without bidding after negotiations like the huge Wheelabrator deal. The argument is the same — the current vendor knows local community, has relationships with the officials and would be willing to do a better deal to keep the business.
Hersh explained the benefits of the Wheelabrator no-bid deal like this:
“At the end of the day, we have negotiated an outstanding deal that will save taxpayers millions of dollars. And as I told you, my motive it to get the cheapest price without risk to the residents of Weston, which is the model that has worked well for Weston.
That is not how it worked in Weston.
In 2002-2003, Hersh insisted on taking bids when his city’s garbage hauling contract came up for renewal. Four companies bid.
The hauler BFI Waste Services was charging a base rate of nearly $21-a-month for single family homes. The bids came back from $13 to $17-a-month.
A new hauler, All Service Refuse, was picked.
“There is no question that the change of contract has been a windfall for residents and city government,” Hersh was quoted as saying.
So why no bidding on the much bigger Wheelabrator contract?
Hersh believes this time, the residents got a better deal with no bids.
I believe we will never know. Many companies expressed interest in the contract, but no firm bids were taken.
Hersh said it best when discussing why Weston was bidding its hauling contract in 2002-2003:
“It’s important to explore all the avenues so we can get the best deal for our residents.”
Hmmmm.
December 12th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Do not trust him. Always different rules for different circumstances, depending who is pulling his strings or maybe making campaign contributions?
December 13th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Even in a world with politicians going to jail and all kinds of distrust, I really think you people are flying off the handle here that Eric Hersh can’t be trusted.
What in the world does he have to gain from how your garbage is handled? He was picked to help get that done on the part of the community and it appears that the outcome is great for residents.
The report is that residents will pay less than they did before and not have to invest in creating another plant. That sounds very good to me, exactly what is the problem here? This notion of you can’t get a better price unless you go to bid is an amatuer’s sterotype. Professionals in government see better pricing coming out of negotiations over bids all the time. There are different procurement strategies for different situations.
Not everything that happens in government smells like a dead dog OK? There actually are people out there trying to do the public good and without question Eric Hersh is one of those people. Agree with him, disagree. He is an honorable man and trash talk aimed at him so recklessly is unethical.
December 13th, 2009 at 9:49 am
besides being arrogant, besides being an attack dog, besides hersh and his city manager running the city with an iron fist and not allowing the other commissioners to have their own ideas and thoughts, he is also a hypocrite as evidenced by what nevins has just so accurately pointed out. there is not a genuine bone in the mayor’s body, and even though i don’t like term limits, thank god they got em in weston. oh, and when he gets in his attack mode ways to destroy and besmirch good people, he fabricates, lies and exaggerates with his sad sack of shit attorney jamie worm cole, who also lies at the drop of a pin.
December 13th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Trust me, there is only one company that can do it…
Try and understand, Politicians know nothing about the garbage business and never have, BUT, they think they do because of their power. Don’t believe them, they’re idiots and just want that power. Besides, any Garbage Co. Business can charge as much as they want to burn the garbage because there is ONLY 1 Company that does this… Think about it… and they have to pay that company to be able to do it too!!!
December 13th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Think about it Folks, WHO OWNS WHEELABRATOR??? DUHHHHHHH???
December 13th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Actually the county owns the land…they could sub it to someone to do it cheaper…hmmm
December 13th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
According to Sunbiz.org and Forbes Magazine:
Mark A. Weidman
President of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc.
Waste Management, Inc.
Houston , TX
Sector: INDUSTRIAL GOODS / Waste Management
Officer since June 2001
52 Years Old
Mark A. Weidman, President of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, since March 2006. Vice President – Operations of Wheelabrator from June 2001 to March 2006.