The trash will continue to get taken out in Hawthorne -- and in the same bins.
After a year of haggling, the former and current residential trash haulers have settled on a price to buy about 31,000 trash bins that have been caught in the cross-hairs of a legal battle.
Allied Waste Services got the trash contract last year, after H & C Disposal was pushed out in May 2007 for failing to pay about $1.5 million in city franchise fees. H & C was not happy about losing its contract after 50 years, and demanded $1.3 million for the bins. Allied offered $210,000.
In May, H & C decided to liquidate its assets and agreed to sell the bins for $155,000.
Earlier this month, the City Council agreed to a 3 percent trash fee increase to residents, bringing the average customer's monthly cost from $17.35 to $17.84. The increase was approved earlier this month but will be retroactive to July 1.
The transition from H & C to Allied has been rocky. H & C was badly managed and left Allied with incomplete records.
Part of H & C's problems was that at least one of its former managers was allegedly embezzling money from the company. Les Wixon is accused of stealing $80,000 while he worked as operations manager there in 2005 and 2006. Several other employees are also suspected of stealing.
Wixon will be in court later this month for a scheduled preliminary hearing.
Leave a comment