Fullerton council orders staff to seek best-and-final offers from six trash haulers after RFP debate

Fullerton's City Council on April 14 directed staff to pursue negotiations with six solid-waste firms as it moves toward selecting a new trash hauler.

The action, passed after public comment and more than an hour of staff briefing and council questions, asks staff to obtain best-and-final offers from EDCO, CR and R Environmental Services (CR&R), Universal Waste Systems, Athens Services, Valley Vista Services and the incumbent, Republic Services, then return with a recommendation. The motion passed on a 3-1 roll call (Council member Jamie Valencia voted aye; Council member Zara voted no; Mayor Pro Tem Dunlap and Mayor Jung voted aye; Council member Charles was logged off when the vote was taken).

City staff framed the meeting around two constraints: the need to comply with CalRecycle's corrective-action-plan (CAP) deadline and new state requirements under SB 1383 that expand organics collection. Director Baez told the council the RFP received nine proposals, all firms were interviewed, and evaluators used 15 criteria — including SB 1383 compliance, service reliability, financial capacity and proposed rates — to produce the rankings staff presented.

Public commenters urged the council to weigh both cost and service quality. David Perez, president of Valley Vista Services, asked the council to consider his company's experience and said the firm's written proposal did not fully convey its capabilities. "We have the capabilities, the resources, and the people to provide the best services and the best abilities for any city, but specifically for city of Fullerton at this moment," Perez said.

Jeffrey Otter, treasurer of the Craig Park East Homeowners Association, presented a technical rating of cost proposals and urged the city to run a formal cost-of-service analysis. Otter said the evaluation produced wide disparities in cost scores (he cited Valley Vista 38 out of 40; NASA 35 out of 40; EDCO and CR&R about 20 out of 40; Universal 25 out of 30) and flagged a surname overlap between EDCO's marketing director and the city's solid-waste specialist as an appearance-of-conflict issue that the city should address.

Council members pressed staff on several specific programmatic details: a proposed reclassification that treats multifamily properties of four units or fewer as residential and five or more as commercial; a change from an unlimited bulky-item pickup to a quarterly bulky-item pickup for single-family homes (staff said multifamily owners would generally manage bulky-item requests); and how hazardous-waste collection would continue through Orange County Waste & Recycling facilities, with some proposers offering curbside hazardous-waste pickups as enhancements.

Julie Barreta, senior vice president at CR&R, described the firm's enhancements and local capacity: local facilities within a few miles of Fullerton, the ability to provide union labor via Teamsters Local 396, and proposed community benefits she said totaled about $2 million in enhanced services and infrastructure support.

Council members also sought clarity about revisions to proposals. Director Baez said firms were allowed to submit best-and-final pricing and enhancements after interviews and that the final rankings included revised submissions; landfill-disposal rates were updated to reflect the county's waste-disposal agreement.

Legal counsel addressed campaign-donation concerns raised in public comment. Patrick Munoz, special counsel, said the Levine Act can create a disqualifying conflict for certain direct contributions but does not count contributions made to political action committees toward a legally disabling conflict; he said legally disabling contributions would appear in FPPC filings if present.

Several council members emphasized competing priorities: some urged protecting union jobs and service continuity, while others prioritized affordability and the best overall rates for ratepayers. Mayor Pro Tem Dunlap said he favored shortlisting a small set for best-and-final offers but including the incumbent as a courtesy to test competitive pricing; Mayor Jung moved to direct staff to negotiate with the six named firms and the motion carried.

What happens next: staff will solicit sharpened best-and-final offers from the six firms and return to council with trade-off comparisons and proposed agreement terms. Council members said labor absorption, service transition plans and any contract provisions related to community benefits will be considered during negotiations and in subsequent council deliberations.

Sources: Staff presentation and council discussion at the Fullerton City Council special meeting, April 14, 2026; public commenters including David Perez (Valley Vista Services), Jeffrey Otter (Craig Park East HOA) and others.