Landfill agreement called into question

An agreement originally made in 1999 between the city of Simi Valley and Waste Management resurfaced Wednesday night at the second meeting of the independent Simi Valley Landfill Expansion Task Force.

The seven-member citizen task force, handpicked by Councilmember Barbra Williamson, discussed a contract in which the city agreed to fully support any future efforts made by Waste Management to allow time extensions for the operation of the Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center, as well as any plans for its expansion.

According to a city staff report provided to the Simi Valley Acorn, the original agreement was effective for a term of five years. However, the City Council amended the agreement in 2002, under former mayor Bill Davis, to extend the term to June 27, 2034.

"The city seems to be involved in a conspiracy here," said Gary Selvaggio, one member of the task force.

The committee, which is led in an unofficial capacity by Williamson, was formed to investigate the effects of a landfill expansion after WM officially announced plans in April to double the existing landfill area to 371 acres.

The expansion would also call for doubling the trash intake to 6,000 tons per day and increase the height of the disposal mound to nearly 15 stories, according to task force member Louis Pandolfi.

The committee and the audience raised numerous questions during the meeting about why the city entered into the landfill agreement without further specification of the terms. Both the legality of the contract and its actual benefits to the community became major subjects of discussion.

"With this agreement, we can't get city government involved," said Bob Swoish, former city planning commissioner and a current member of the task force.

Still, the committee decided to draft a letter inviting City Manager Mike Sedell to the next meeting to address the public regarding the agreement.

They will also ask for an accounting analysis of the fees paid to the city by WM as part of the contract.

Further speculation made regarding WM concerned allegations of a criminal background.

According to Pandolfi, the company and its employees have been involved in more than 200 criminal convictions, including bribery of government officials. He said the company has been connected to organized crime activity and has paid more than $52 million in fines and penalties.

"They can't be trusted, and we're going to have a hard time ahead of us if we think we're dealing with the YMCA or the Boys & Girls Club," Pandolfi said.

Kit Cole, spokesperson for WM, said that the allegations are irrelevant to the "factbased discussions" that the company would prefer to have about the project.

"I understand their concerns, but the issues that they're bringing up at the task force are old issues that have been resolved," Cole said.

Furthermore, she agreed with the committee's recent request for a new environmental impact report analyzing the potential effects of the project.

"We appreciate that they sent a letter making that request, but that was something we were working on the whole time," she said.

Before the next meeting, the task force plans to send letters to surrounding cities asking if they've entered into similar agreements with WM. They also discussed plans of getting more of the public involved by setting up a website.

The tentative name for the domain is www.dumpwatch.com.

The third task force meeting will be on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Simi Valley Library.