Placer County Development

Western Placer Waste Management Agency Update: Chosen Vendor FCC in Hot Water AGAIN in Polk County Florida for Service Failure

Feb 152022

FCC can’t get their s–t together. Literally.

Since last summer, commissioners have complained about FCC, which is under a county contract through 2024. County Attorney Randy Mink sent the company a letter saying they’ve defaulted on their agreement and asked that they show improvement within 30 days.

Yikes – but this part we knew. However, it has gotten worse: (Note Commissioner = Supervisor in CA. Combee and Braswell are Commissioners in Polk County)

Since then, “it’s gotten worse,” Commissioner Bill Braswell said Friday.

“They are making us look like a bunch of fools,” added Combee.

He pointed out that FCC recently signed a contract with neighboring Hillsborough County to pick up household trash there.

He directed county staff to get a copy of the Hillsborough contract to present to the commission.

“They don’t have enough equipment to get the job done, but they can go over to Hillsborough County?” said Combee. “They’re serving a lot of customers over there. So they’ve got trucks; they’ve got equipment. They can start picking up in Hillsborough County, but they can’t get us serviced. That’s unacceptable.”

The bottom line, it looks like a neighboring county is doing OK but FCC can’t handle their S–t in Polk County.

But it’s not as simple as firing the company. FCC currently collects trash from 78,456 households on the west side of the county. Before the county terminates, they’d have to find another company able to handle FCC’s responsibilities.

That could be a challenge, Beasley has advised the commission.

“We don’t have access to the resources,” he repeated Friday.

County spokeswoman Mianne Nelson said the county is doing all it can to avoid terminating the company, which would likely result in litigation.

So, FCC got a contract with Polk County. They are not performing and now the county knows FCC will sue them for terminating the contract! Note – FCC has sued other jurisdictions as well, we’ve written about it.

“I’m sorry that we are still discussing this,” Commissioner Martha Santiago said Friday.

Commissioner George Lindsey said that previous efforts to bring the company into compliance haven’t worked. Now it’s time to dig deeper, he said.

He suggested relieving FCC of some of their duties. Perhaps the county could start handling bulk and yard waste pick up in the short-term and let FCC focus only on household trash bins, he said.

This is coming to Placer County and based on past performance, Northern Roseville is going to reek due to their composting methods.

Why is this happening? It sure looks like the staff of the District got caught and then doubled down.

Don’t worry though, your intrepid blogger will be right here to remind everyone when history repeats itself.

Placer County Trash Bash Series Continues: FCC’s Polk County Florida Troubles Suggest What Is Coming to Placer? Where Was WPWMA Staff?

2022 Elections, Placer County Development, Placer County Local Elections No Responses »

Jan 112022

And why is it so easy for your Intrepid Blogger to find one FCC contract after another with serious issues? Again, we ask where was the staff of the Western Placer Waste Management Agency and where was the board of the WPWMA?

It looks like there is another recent FCC disaster in Polk County Florida.

The problem with these new wrinkles, however, is that the county cut back on services even while charging more. The new contract hiked the annual cost of garbage collection by 23 percent.

Why am I not surprised to find another one of these so easily? Here is an editorial about the Polk Co paper about FCC once again.

The very biased staff of the WPWMA found an industrial accident by the company they railroaded in the bidding process, but they failed to mention that FCC killed someone in Polk County. The WPWMA staff should be ashamed of themselves.

BARTOW — The widow of a Lakeland man who died in February when the motorcycle he was riding was struck from behind by a garbage truck has settled her wrongful-death lawsuit against the driver and the trash hauler.

Court records show that Michelle DiMezza’s settlement, which isn’t disclosed in the court file, was approved Nov. 27 by Circuit Judge Catherine Combee.

DiMezza had sued FCC Environmental Services in Circuit Court in February, seeking in excess of $15,000 for the death of her husband, 53-year-old Michael Louis DiMezza. He had stopped his 2009 Harley-Davidson motorcycle for a red light at Socrum Loop Road and Lakeland Park Boulevard. It was about 5:30 a.m. Feb. 27, and he was northbound on Socrum Loop Road on his way to work as IT operations manager for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

In fact, your intrepid blogger has detailed several instances of FCC, major injury, death, etc. The WPWMA staff missed all of those, instead choosing to go on a rampage to manipulate the board in to believing that your intrepid blogger was the issue it appears.

The sloppy work by FCC in Polk is well documented and the Board of Commissioners (aka Supervisors in CA) went off on them.

Commissioners seem satisfied with the performance of Waste Management, which collects in the east half of the county. The frustration is aimed at FCC Environmental, which services the west side of the county, including unincorporated parts of Lakeland.

The operation with both companies is a $21.2 million expense to the county. For the service, residents pay $206 a year, which reflects a recent $10 increase.

Combee said in a phone call that he’s waiting for direction from county management over how to handle the matter since FCC is still under contract through 2024 to perform the work.

“Can we switch to the other contractor and have them do all the work?” he said. “Can we fire them? That’s what we are asking the county manager: How does that process work?”

Even more rate increases? But, I thought the WPWMA board did the fiscally conservative thing by choosing FCC???

A holiday season’s worth of trash sits in a smelly heap on the curb outside Graham Allen’s home.

It’s been 13 days and counting since a hauler has come through his Gibsonia neighborhood and emptied the bins, he told Polk County Commissioners on Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of trash and a lot of stink in the air,” said Allen, one of the roughly 147,000 residents of unincorporated Polk County who pays $206 a year for once-a-week trash pick-up.

It’s a service many residents on the west side of the county say they haven’t been regularly receiving.

Complaints against FCC Environmental about missed collections have mounted throughout much of 2021, and during the commission’s first meeting of 2022, the elected leaders took action to address the problem.

It looks like once again FCC can’t handle their s–t.

That’s a far cry from the technological innovations the company touted when the contract was secured in 2017, Commissioner George Lindsey said.

Sound familiar? Where was the technical review by the WPWMA???

Commissioners expressed shock that the company uses paper maps to keep track of its route.

Perhaps FCC gave the staff of the WPWMA paper maps of Madrid?

By a unanimous vote Tuesday, the commission directed County Attorney Randy Mink to send a letter to FCC Environmental with an ultimatum: Show improvement within 30 days or lose the job.

Would the WPWMA board do this? Would they cross swords with their staff?

In the month of July, Polk County received 1,248 complaints from residents who say their curbside trash wasn’t picked up by the county’s contracted haulers, according to data provided by the county.

That’s more than 40 complaints per day, nearly double the amount the county received in June.

Hey wait, isn’t this the 4th separate instance of FCC failing to do their job that your intrepid blogger has detailed since taking up this cause? Why the hell didn’t anyone in the back office or the WPWMA Board themselves ask any questions or even find this stuff out?

There is something key to note – FCC had part of Polk County and Waste Management the other. Note that it was FCC that was the disaster.

Something smells.

WPWMA Update: On The Heels of the Staff-Led Rampage To Favor the Flawed FCC, An Anon Bombshell Hits My Inbox

2022 Elections, Placer County Development, Placer County Local Elections 2 Responses »

Dec 142021

Dear WPWMA Staff: I will not stop until the whole truth is exposed behind this WPWMA contract. If you want to make it about your intrepid blogger, it is party time.

For the benefit of the readers, the WPWMA Board was ready to go with a different provider than FCC. Late the Friday before Thanksgiving week, the staff released a report recommending the local affiliate of FCC to do services for the dump and composting. We did an expose’ on FCC. It showed PROVEN Bribery and Corruption overseas. Domestically, we saw proof of underbid contracts, severe issues at several of their facilities, toxic compost that was not completed correctly and several lawsuits related to FCC’s plants causing severe and foul odors all around the areas.

How did Staff Respond? What looks like an ego-feuled rampage where they met with the board members individually to pressure them in to moving the FCC contract forward. Some were said to have even made it about your intrepid blogger.

The Staff took the time to do due diligence on Green Waste/Zanker – that they did not do on FCC in order to assuage their bruised egos from getting torched by your intrepid blogger. That opposition research came out in the Jam-Down Board meeting where the board rubber stamped the recommendation of staff.

There is apparently a whole lot more than I have written about. 2021 is going to feature a demolition of the inside of the WPWMA. You will also recall that your intrepid blogger had to torch the staff of this district because they were preparing to give a no-bid contract extension to the Nortech people who proved they were overmatched by the requirements of this district. Then there is the small matter of the planned junkets to Spain by the WPWMA staff as well… (We have leaks all over the county, and people talk, a lot)

This bombshell hit my inbox:

It’s good to see you’ve picked up the latest on the WPWMA again. I’ve heard the City of Roseville has a separate action they are considering this Wednesday to strike (or further) their own deal with Recology, which I’d say is smart of them since I’d imagine that gives them a little more leverage than when they are represented by 1 seat at the WPWMA (where the County has 2) even though they comprise 40% of the revenue/customers. It will be interesting to see where this all lands. Thank you for your coverage of the issue.

There may be justice after all. If the City of Roseville charts their own path – the WPWMA will collapse. After the antics of the staff and the acquiescence of the board who rolled over for their demands, this may be the only answer to stop the rampage.

(WPWMA = Western Placer Waste Management Agency, FCC = Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. )

P.S. Please also note that George Soros owns 25% of FCC.

Placer County and Orange County Rumor Mill Update

2021 Elections, 2022 Elections, Placer County Development, Placer County Local Elections 1 Response »

Dec 022021

I have written some blogs about the Western Placer Waste Management Agency. I have heard that the staff went on a rampage and rode the five members of the board to get their way on the contract. The truth may be a little less hyperbolic, but your intrepid blogger now has the “Trash Bash” as an issue I will be tracking. I will be watching the staff of the agency, the performance of FCC and every nuance of what happens.

Every time I take up a cause, I also hear the rumors that people were invoking my name and saying “Don’t let him win”. Yawn. The fun part is knowing that I am living rent free in people’s heads and that I am vetting rumors of all sorts of unethical and maybe illegal behavior. We will see where they end up. After all, FCC has a proven record of bribery.

For those interested, I am 100% aware that the Green Waste people (whom WPWMA Staff screwed over) has three major issues in their file including the death of an employee in a freak industrial accident. Three discernable issues was all I found on them and I found 15 related to FCC in about 10 minutes of effort. Please note, my file on FCC is growing daily further adding to my theories of malfeasance by the staff of the district.

Lastly, Please note that I have worked for Bill Halldin professionally for many years. This includes helping elect him to the Rocklin City Council and as a campaign operative for his Assembly effort. I think he screwed up and made a bad choice picking FCC and acquiescing to staff, that is all. Mr. Halldin is also a friend of many years and I’d vouch for his character. My focus is on what the staff did to manipulate the outcome and their relationship with the provider they chose.

Mr. Halldin is the Chair of the WPWMA board. Supervisor Bonnie Gore is also on the board. I ran an independent expenditure trashing Jack Duran on her behalf. I am not close to Bonnie, but I have known her for 20+ years, have observed her for 20+ years in the public arena and I’d say the same thing about her character as I do about Mr. Halldin’s.

Speaking of Bonnie Gore – is she going to run for that new Roseville / Citrus Heights Assembly Seat? I hear that her other bad vote against Map A was borne out of some entanglements with some prospective donors / stakeholders for an upcoming race for legislature of some sort. My personal preference is for her to run for re-election as she should not waste herself on being a speedbump in Sacramento. It should be noted that then Bonnie Mertus became known as she was a legislative staffer for Senator Rico Oller amongst others.

Paul Joiner vs Shanti Landon – with the District Map Set, this race is going to be a WWIII Barn-Burner. It will effectively be Police/Indians vs everybody else. Landon has a slew of endorsements and strong fundraising. Joiner (another friend of many years) has the ability to write himself a check for what Shanti has raised thus far and the money bomb from those two special interests will be significant. Rocklin Councilmember Joe Patterson was drawn in to this district, but Bill Halldin is in District 2 as well. I spoke to Patterson, he is staying in Rocklin.

Speaking of Sup D3: Jim Holmes is now a 3 year lame duck. I do want to thank and applaud Mr. Holmes for “falling on his sword” at the last meeting and admitting his mistake with regard to his pubic comments about the map-drawing and his efforts to have map C created. It is rare to see someone man up like that in politics. While I still have major issues with Holmes, his actions on Tuesday deserve mention. Holmes made the motion to adopt “Map A”, which carried 3-2. Map A effectively ends Holmes’ 20 Years in office.

Suzanne “Crazy Suzy” Jones. The feedback I got about her was about her lack of awareness and her comments that belied her lack of intelligence. It is actually really sad to hear that stuff because despite the fact that I am close politically and personally with Kirk Uhler – for the good of Placer County I wanted to see her do well before I help run her out of office in 2024. She appears to be as inept and incompetent as Joe Biden. Will Suzanne file for one of the new legislative seats? She has run for office 8 times for 6 different offices and she is mid-term.

James Gallagher / Kevin Kiley – they got drawn in to the same district. I have read a lot of stuff that the citizen’s commission was having secret meetings with interest groups and I am certain that the process was corrupted. When I looked at the district they created with Kiley and Gallagher in it, I know 100% this was deliberate.

Kevin Kiley for Congress? I have been told he has been in contact with the NRCC and leadership. Kiley would be another McClintock type member of Congress in most every way. I hope Kiley takes on the Fraud Doctor Ami Bera – he’d wreck that loser. If Kiley runs for Congress, I’d be inclined to endorse him.

Gallagher? He has two terms left in the Assembly, my guess is at that point LaMalfa retires and Gallagher gets to realize his dream of being in Congress. Godspeed James.

Let’s shift to Orange County where some of the biggest losers I have ever dealt with in politics exist:

Loser #1 John Moorlach. You’d think after getting clobbered twice in the last two years that he’d go somewhere far, far away. But, he is on the minds of people (or perhaps those are the voices in his head). Is it Moorlach for OC Assessor? Is it Moorlach for Senate against Scott Baugh. (I seriously don’t think Moorlach has the balls to take on Baugh, but never underestimate ego) Or is Moorlach going to join the OC Supervisor free-for all?

Loser #2 Diane Harkey. Yes THAT Diane Harkey who I shredded earlier this year. SHE’S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK and the whole OCGOP establishment have been pulling all the levers for her! She was early endorsed by Feckless Freddie and crew. (Fred Whitaker is the establishment patsy chair of the OCGOP) Well, it looks like there is another fly in the Harkey ointment (despite the gigantic opposition research file that is) – none other than Diane Dixon, the squishy Mayor of Newport Beach is going to join the fray.

Dixon is rumored to be quite aggressive interpersonally and Fred Whitaker found out personally. It has been rumored that the OCGOP may reconsider the endorsement of the deeply flawed Harkey (In favor of another 70-something?)

That gives us Kevin Muldoon, Diane Dixon, John Moorlach(?) and Diane Harkey. If that is how the race shapes up, I will be getting writer’s cramp as all three candidates over the age of 65 have opposition research files like Three Mile Island. (Or an FCC compost plant) Muldoon is Under 45.

It appears that several in Orange County are bristling against the concept of retirement and may need some more occupational therapy from your intrepid blogger.

I am sure there will be more. This is politics after all.

AS the Western Placer Waste Management Agency Prepares to Adopt a New Contract – Let’s Summarize The Vendor FCC and Why It is Not Wise to Do Business With Them

Placer County Development, Placer County Local Elections No Responses »

Nov 292021

The Contract is down to Green Waste and FCC. The staff of the WPWMA has inexplicably recommended FCC. There is no way that the staff of the WPWMA did any due diligence.

Please note the language in the RFP (Request for Proposal), it is very clear:

Proposal Section 10 – Legal Compliance and History

State with particularity how and why the Proposal complies with applicable public contracting laws, including, without limitation, the specific California statutory provision(s) that Proposer is relying on for that determination.

Describe all civil legal actions with government agencies or current/former facility owners now pending or which have occurred in the past ten (10) years with the potential liability or actual damages greater than $50,000; any actions involving allegations or findings of bribery or public corruption; and all criminal legal actions now pending or that have occurred in the past ten (10) years against the entity submitting the RFP and any parent or affiliated company for actions filed in the United States.

<<<SNIP>>>

Western Placer Waste Management Authority

Request for Proposals for Recovery Facilities Conceptual Designs and Operational Services

Describe any illegal or unethical practices discovered within the Proposer’s firm in the last ten (10) years and describe actions taken to eliminate these practices. Include a corporate resolution or ethics code that demonstrates the prospective Proposer’s commitment to ethical and legal business practices.

Allow your intrepid blogger to fill these in. (Based ONLY on what I know from my limited research)

Fines and hundreds of screw ups in Orange County Florida.

A $160,000 Fine in Washington that was reduced to $119K on Appeal.

Delaware regulators shutting down a plant in Wilmington

A $425 Million Lawsuit in Utah

World Bank Debarment from 2019-2021

Bribery allegations in Mississippi

Bribery charges in Panama

Fraud and Bid-Rigging Charges in Colombia

Suing Panama’s Government to get out of a contract

BONUS:

Based in Spain. No experience in California’s extreme regulatory environment

Promoting and selling an age old failed process that produces overwhelming, foul odors and sometimes produces compost that is toxic.

There is no way that the Staff of the WPWMA did any due diligence. Worse, it appears they played games with releasing their recommendation of FCC, waiting until the late afternoon of a Friday before a Holiday week.

So, this is what smells – the Staff of the district played games, there is alleged to be some sort of junket to Spain coming pending acceptance of the contract with FCC and then the pattern of FCC all over the world.

One City – Forth Worth Texas did not get taken in by the corporate big-timing of FCC. From an article dated 11-9-2021:

This comes despite at least one company, FCC Environmental Services, estimating it could save the city $60 million in that time period.

Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington said in an interview with the Fort Worth Report before the council meeting that it is easy for competitors to make such claims when they don’t have to back them up.

It appears that Fort Worth learned from Houston, who did sign up with FCC and promptly got a rate increase request from FCC because their rates were below market.

“Again, I think it’s easier for a competitor to say, ‘Yep, we can come in and do it for way cheaper,’ but understanding the structure of our solid waste and how we do it here in the city of Fort Worth, that’s a hefty ask. We ask for a lot from our vendors, especially when it comes to our solid waste services and our diversion-based strategies. We want to preserve the life of the landfill,” Washington said.

(Washington is the City Manager of Fort Worth)

I think the Board of the WPWMA need to address the myriad issues with FCC head on and award the contract to the California-Based Green Waste people.

Then, once the contract is awarded, the staff of that district need to be held accountable for what they did. Where was the due diligence? There needs to be a full investigation to determine if it was simply a miss and a failure to do the job or if there was something else at play there.

I hope by the time this blog is read that the board will have dodged a potential disaster for the County of Placer.

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