Frontier Waste Solutions representative Robert Smith spoke during public comment and read aloud a letter from Bill Killian, Frontier’s vice president of its South Texas division.
In the letter, Killian said Frontier employees followed Ameriwaste trucks on their League City routes and determined recyclables Ameriwaste collected were not being recycled but instead being sent to a Galveston landfill.
Smith on behalf of Frontier asked City Council to delay approving Ameriwaste as the city’s garbage collector pending the city and Frontier discussing establishing a true recycling program.
City Manager John Baumgartner said he spoke to Frontier early in the bidding process and never heard anything about a recycling discrepancy.
“This is the first I’ve heard that there is an issue there,” he said.
Council Member Andy Mann made a motion to postpone the second reading approving Ameriwaste the city’s garbage collector. City Council approved the first reading Oct. 11.
Mann said his concern was a vendor was claiming to have information the city doesn’t know. A two-week delay would allow the city to investigate before making a decision, he said.
Council Member Larry Millican said he would hope the city would have a true recycling program and that the matter may be worth auditing. Still, Millican said he was happy with the bidding process that staff conducted to determine Ameriwaste was the best bid.
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“I’m very happy with Ameriwaste and the performance that they’ve done for League City,” he said.
Council Member Nick Long said there is no market to domestically recycle material. If that market were to come back, Ameriwaste would start recycling again, but as of today, the city sells Ameriwaste recyclables to do with what they want, and if the city did not do so, garbage collection rates would rise, Long said.
Council Member Chad Tressler said City Council should not postpone and vote on the matter that night.
“I don’t think it’s proper to reward what I would call bad behavior for coming in complaining about losing a bid,” he said of Frontier.
After Mann’s motion to postpone failed, City Council approved the second and final reading naming Ameriwaste the city’s garbage collector. The vote was 7-1 with Mann opposed.
