'MISSING' TRASH REPORTS NEVER EXISTED, OFFICIALS SAY.Byline: Heather MacDonald Mac·don·ald , Sir John Alexander 1815-1891. Canadian politician and the first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada (1867-1873 and 1878-1891). He is considered the organizer of the Canadian confederation, established in 1867. Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - At least six reports requested by the firm that is auditing the city's trash haulers and contracts do not exist, officials said Thursday Thursday: see week. . Though City Councilwoman Laurene Weste has characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. the documents as ``missing,'' officials said the requests concern action the council never took or proprietary information the haulers were not required to disclose to city leaders. ``The audit is still ongoing and has not been impacted in any way,'' said Steve Stark, the city's director of administrative services. Weste said Thursday that she wanted to wait for the entire audit to becompleted before commenting further. The audit began last month, six months after it was ordered by the City Council to determine whether the city staff negotiated the best possible deal or whether community residents have been overcharged by Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal Co. and Atlas/Consolidated Disposal Service. Auditor auditor n. an accountant who conducts an audit to verify the accuracy of the financial records and accounting practices of a business or government. A proper audit will point out deficiencies in accounting and other financial operations. Troy Dahlberg of Ernst & Young requested 46 documents, including trash contracts and amendments, along with notes and minutes of meetings about the city's hauling franchise, as part of the initial stages of the audit. Dahlberg did not return phone calls Thursday. ``We've given them everything they asked for that we have knowledge of,'' Stark said, but some requests apparently involve action that never occurred, he said. For example, Ernst & Young requested all of the documents related to the most recent solicitation solicitation In criminal law, the act of asking, inducing, or directing someone to commit a crime. The person soliciting another becomes an accomplice to the crime. The term also refers to the act of obtaining bribes, as well as to the crime of a prostitute who offers sexual of bids for the city's trash contracts. However, the City Council voted in April 2000 not to solicit competitive bids, but instead directed the city staff to negotiate the best deal with current haulers Blue Barrel and Atlas Atlas, in Greek mythology Atlas (ăt`ləs), in Greek mythology, a Titan; son of Iapetus and Clymene and the brother of Prometheus. . The city has never put the contracts out to bid. Minutes of city officials' negotiating sessions with Blue Barrel and Atlas representatives were among the documents provided to the auditors AUDITORS, practice. Persons lawfully appointed to examine and digest accounts referred to them, take down the evidence in writing, which may be lawfully offered in relation to such accounts, and prepare materials on which a decree or judgment may be made; and to report the whole, together , along with all notes and draft agreements created by city staffers, Stark said. The firm asked for copies of the city's waste-stream and hauler audits dating back to 1998, but there have not been any such audits. The auditors also asked for the haulers' reports on sales of recyclables dating back to 1998 and some other information on the companies' revenues. That is proprietary information haulers are not required to supply to the city under the franchise agreements, said Blue Barrel General Manager Karl McCarthy and Atlas General Manager Matt Terrell. ``To my knowledge, there aren't any missing documents,'' Terrell said. McCarthy and Terrell said the companies have reported to the city on the quantity of recyclables diverted di·vert v. di·vert·ed, di·vert·ing, di·verts v.tr. 1. To turn aside from a course or direction: Traffic was diverted around the scene of the accident. 2. from area landfills. They said the companies would cooperate in the audit. ``We have given the city all of the reports we were required to in the franchise agreements,'' McCarthy said. ``We'll continue to cooperate.'' |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion