Kensington Garbage Collection Company Should Be Held to the Contract It Signed

Is the public obligated to ensure the profitability of businesses which serve them even when those companies fail to estimate foreseeable costs in their operations?

That is the question being posed to Kensington residents by Bay View Refuse and Recycling Services, which collects garbage in our community. In 2009, Bay View signed a contract that extends until 2015 but now contends that the agreement provides insufficient profits.

In the current contract, the company agreed to cheaper rates for a smaller 20-gallon garbage can but now says that the popularity of this lower rate has reduced their profits. They asked the Kensington Police Protection & Community Services District to tear up the contract and agree to a 6 percent rate increase. When KPPCSD seemed reluctant to act, Bay View sent a letter to Kensington residents advocating directly for the higher rates.

I have been happy with the service provided by Bay View and the professionalism of their employees. But it’s a simple fact that they made an agreement with our community at the current rates, and it was their decision to agree to a lower rate for the smaller cans.

In my work as a software engineer, I am asked to give estimates for the time and cost necessary to complete projects. I learned early in my career that failing to do so accurately can have unpleasant consequences. I was at one point self-employed and had a fixed bid project that took longer than I expected. Breaking the agreement with my customer was not an option. I felt obligated to put in extra hours without additional pay. After that, I learned to think about unforeseen problems that could arise and worked hard to both consider them in my estimates and find ways to avoid them.

Bay View has been operating for a long time, and they know their business a lot better than we do. They should understand what they need to charge to provide the service they agreed to and make a reasonable profit. If, during negotiations Bay View had given KPPCSD these higher rates, our community might very well have considered other vendors.

The reason our community agreed to a contract with Bay View in the first place was to lock in a set rate for their service for the duration of the agreement. Many Kensington residents live on fixed incomes, and agreements such as this are an important way to control costs. Especially during these challenging economic times, it makes no sense to walk away from an agreement our community negotiated in good faith.

Contracts such as the one we have with Bay View are the basis of our economic system.  I believe we should hold them to our agreement for the duration of the contract. After that, they are welcome to ask for whatever rate they see fit during negotiations. And Kensington may choose to consider bids from other service providers and decide which is best suited to meet our needs.

The recent banking bailout may have given some businesses the impression that the public is responsible for ensuring their profitability. By rejecting Bay View’s request for a new contract and higher rates, Kensington can demonstrate that that’s not how things should work.

Rodney Paul works as a software engineer in San Francisco. He has lived in Kensington since 1998 and chairs the Colusa Circle Improvement Association, a residential group.