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Council authorizes negotiation with Mill Valley Refuse Service, waives competitive bidding for new franchise term
Summary
After months of talks staff recommended, and the council approved, authorizing the town manager to negotiate a new franchise agreement framework with Mill Valley Refuse Service rather than issuing an RFP; council asked staff to include protections such as termination provisions and transparency on profit and capital-interest treatment.
The Corte Madera Town Council unanimously directed staff on July 1 to waive the competitive bidding process and to negotiate preliminary terms for a new solid-waste franchise with Mill Valley Refuse Service (MVRS), the town's long-time hauler.
Why it matters: the current MVRS franchise began in 2006 and expires December 2026. A new franchise determines collection, recycling and disposal rates, service levels, capital investment, and contract-term protections that affect residents' bills and local diversion goals.
What staff proposed: after months of meetings with MVRS and consultants (r3 consulting), staff presented a term sheet negotiated with the company that would: (1) allow limited changes to how MVRS recovers profit (moving the calculation to an operating-margin basis, which staff and consultants said mathematically increases allowable profit by about 1 percentage point compared with the current cost-plus approach); (2) permit interest on capital financing as an allowable cost to help MVRS finance fleet and infrastructure upgrades; (3) use CPI-based adjustments for the first two years of the new agreement while deferring any…
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