(Chuck Muth) – I’ve always known something didn’t smell right about the City of Las Vegas attempting to rush through that new billion-dollar, 14-year, NO BID trash-hauling contract with Republic Services back in April…
But until I obtained copies recently of some “smoking gun” documents that were hidden from the public before the vote, I had no idea just how putrid this whole scandal really was!
Get this…
MuniServices LLC “provides comprehensive revenue enhancement services to help municipalities preserve, enhance and manage their revenue base.”
The company’s studies and audits have “helped local governments discover, recover and generate over $2.4 billion in revenue” in over 800 cities nationwide.
In other words, these guys are EXTREMELY experienced and credible in analyzing and evaluating municipal contracts like the Republic deal.
Unlike city staffers, and especially members of the city council, the MuniServices folks are EXPERTS at such things, and…
“At the City’s request, MuniServices LLC performed an initial review of both historic and proposed documents related to your solid waste franchise.”
That’s the opening sentence of a secret draft report authored by Michael Balliet, Lead Auditor of MuniServices, entitled “Initial Review of Documents” that was “Prepared for the City of Las Vegas” and submitted on January 6, 2015.
Which means the city had been working on and negotiating this deal for well over TWO YEARS before the Las Vegas City Council voted on the final agreement on April 5, 2017…
An agreement the residents and ratepayers of Las Vegas weren’t allowed to see until just ONE WEEK before the vote…
And without the public even knowing of the existence of the MuniServices report and review, let alone what was in it!
Before going any further, let’s establish Mr. Balliet’s bona fides…
According to an Executive Profile published in Civic Business Journal (CBJ) in 2012, “Michael Balliet Consulting provides environmental consulting services to government entities specializing in franchise fee auditing and waste hauling industry related services.”
Here’s how Mr. Balliet outlined his experience and expertise in the CBJ interview…
“I have been helping municipalities and county governments with all areas of solid and hazardous waste compliance since 1991. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on every phase of this process; from developing city planning documents to implementing and managing programs. I’ve been doing this for most of my clients for over 10 years, and over 20 for the City of Costa Mesa (CA).
“The natural progression of this work has been to manage and audit exclusive and non-exclusive franchises, private recyclers, and ancillary haulers as an agent for municipalities. I also have collaborative relationships with several national auditing firms. My primary partnership in that area is with MuniServices, LLC. We have been working together since 2007.”
So this man is a specialist. He’s an expert. Unlike city staffers.
And at the time of his report to Las Vegas, he’d been specializing in this kind of work, especially in California, for over two DECADES.
When asked by CBJ to outline “some ways that cities are currently missing opportunities to generate revenue and increase service standards in the area of waste hauling,” Mr. Balliet responded…
“There are two major problems I see throughout the state and even in other parts of the country. The first is relying too much on your trash hauler. Trust, but verify. Not enough cities are doing that. Too many cities rely on the hauler to create reporting methodologies and self-assess the cost-effectiveness of required programs. While not typical, in some instances these interpretations are unreasonable.”
When asked to describe “some of the issues with conflicts of interest involving waste hauling contracts” and how cities can “address these issues to ensure transparency and fairness when entering agreements,” Mr. Balliet responded…
“It is important for cities to recognize that their franchised hauler is an expert in contracting, negotiations, maximizing operating profits and managing their municipal clients.
“Familiarity with your hauler and loyalty can be good things. However, periodic reviews of your agreement and hauler compliance, performed by a third-party is the best way to ensure that the city is maximizing their benefits from this contract.
“Regular financial audits must include an assessment of franchise agreement compliance, including rate increases. I cannot stress that enough.”
Now, I have no idea how much the City of Las Vegas paid for Mr. Balliet and MuniServices to review the proposed waste-hauling contract extension for Republic Services. But it’s pretty clear these guys didn’t just fall off the turnip truck last night.
Mr. Balliet and MuniServices know exactly what to look for and where…because they’ve been doing exactly that for well over 20 long years in the biz.
Which brings us to the opening sentence of MuniServices’ review of the “Proposed New Franchise Agreement” that was under consideration by city staffers in January 2015…
“From our review of this document it appears to have been prepared by the current franchisee (Republic Services). This is never recommended.”
This…is…never…recommended.
Never.
The report goes on to outline several “areas of concern” MuniServices found with the proposal, which I’ll get into in detail in my next column on this matter. But here’s the most important thing to keep in mind…
MuniServices had SERIOUS reservations and concerns with some aspects of the original contract as it existed in January 2015.
The city then spent the next two years negotiating it in secret, behind closed doors, with Republic Services before the City Council voted on it.
And again, the public, city residents, ratepayers (both residential and commercial) – as well as competitors – were not given access to the full, finalized contract until just one week before the vote…
And with no idea MuniServices had been retained to evaluate it, let alone what MuniServices concerns and recommendations were.
As such, no one but the “insiders” at city hall who negotiated this deal behind closed doors and as far away from the light of day as possible, knows if the final contract addressed and resolved the concerns and recommendations of MuniServices before the city council voted on it.
There simply wasn’t enough time to review it even IF we all knew the report existed. Which we didn’t.
Again, I don’t blame Republic Services for this. Their executives and negotiators did exactly what was in their best corporate interest. Which is what they’re paid to do.
No, the blame for this outrage falls squarely on the backs of the five city council members – especially Councilman Bob Beers – who voted to ram-and-jam this contract through before anyone in the public could review and evaluate it…
Council members whose elected job is supposedly to represent the people and ratepayers in this deal.
They didn’t.
In my next column on this issue, you ain’t gonna believe some of the outrages I found in this secret MuniServices report…especially as it relates to issuing an RFP (request for proposals)! Stay tuned, Batfans…
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a free-market grassroots advocacy organization
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