Clovis council sends recycling, organics contract back for separate residential, commercial bids after heated debate

The Clovis City Council voted 3-2 on Feb. 20 to send the city's recycling and organics collection RFP back to staff and require two separate solicitations for residential and commercial service, delaying award of a 10-year contract.

The action followed a lengthy presentation by staff and extended public comment from bidders and residents weighing cost, service assumptions and longer-term risks such as state mandates and future electrification costs. Staff's procurement review had recommended awarding the combined contract to Mid Valley Disposal, which the staff analysis showed as the lowest-cost proposer under multiple assumptions.

The decision to split the RFPs came after council members expressed concern that the original RFP implicitly let proposers set differing assumptions about the necessary level of commercial service. Staff said each proposer submitted its own assumptions about how many commercial bins and how often they…