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Mayors press for solutions on abandoned vehicles and white-goods disposal as vendor capacity, procurement and EPA role complicate cleanup
Summary
Mayors told the council that abandoned vehicles and white goods along roadways create safety and health risks but disposal is hampered because few vendors will perform disposal work. Council staff said funding exists but disposal vendors are scarce; mayors urged formation of a transition/committee to coordinate with EPA and DPW to route resident complaints and set clear responsibilities.
Several mayors used the unfinished-business portion of the meeting to press the Mayor’s Council for more active steps on abandoned vehicles and white-goods removal, citing safety concerns for residents and the island’s roadways.
Council staff reported the tire bid has been signed and transportation vendors were secured for some items, but that a disposal vendor for white goods and scrap vehicles has not participated in procurement. Staff said funding availability is not the chief constraint; rather, the island has few vendors capable of providing legal disposal services. A mayor said the Guam Police Department’s practice of impounding vehicles following arrests contributes to vehicles being left on roadways, stripped and abandoned.
One mayor raised a numerical claim about prior fee collections for an abandoned-vehicle fund, saying that "we're supposed to be collecting 4,000,000 annually" from the fee but that EPA is providing "1.5" (million), asking where the remainder went. Council staff did not provide a direct reconciliation during the meeting and said EPA and DPW are processing contracts and an MOU; the council’s MOU with EPA was noted to run until March and DPW has made a formal request to EPA for removal/disposal services.
Mayors proposed forming a transition committee to centralize resident complaints and to work directly with EPA so village offices would not be the default complaint-handling body. Council staff agreed to follow up with DPW, EPA and the Attorney General (the AG was asked about procurement thresholds; an earlier submission requested a threshold determination at $150,000). The council also discussed practical interim steps such as photographing vehicles and submitting requests to DPW under an existing public-law process (referenced as Public Law 3760).
