BLUE BARREL BOSS DEFENDS FIRM'S RECYCLING RECORD.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The head of Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal Co. on Thursday rejected assertions made by two council members that he lied to the City Council about whether the city had met a state recycling mandate.

District Manager Karl McCarthy said he believed that Santa Clarita had met or exceeded a state mandate to reduce waste by 50 percent when he urged the council last year to approve a new 10-year contract with his company because of its successful recycling programs.

``It only made sense,'' McCarthy said. ``We had recycled 50 percent the year before and had added more recycling programs. I just couldn't imagine that we would fall short.''

A few council members said this week that McCarthy should have told the council he had been working with city staff for months to discover why state statistics showed that Santa Clarita recycled only 25 percent of its waste in 2000, far below the mandated level.

``Waste management certainly misrepresented that information,'' said Councilman Cameron Smyth. ``The facts are clear, and the documents are clear on this point.''

Mayor Frank Ferry and Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy said these concerns were nothing new and had already been resolved. The council voted to approve the contracts four days after the discrepancy was revealed.

City staff have already been admonished by the council members for not informing them of the problem with the recycling rate and the potential failure to meet the state's mandate.

``I certainly did not deliberately mislead the City Council,'' McCarthy said.

Those documents were compiled as part of the City Council's audit of the trash companies, which lasted 5 1/2 months and cost $145,000 in legal fees and other expenses. No evidence of fraud, mismanagement or criminal wrongdoing was unearthed by the inquiry, according to auditor Troy Dahlberg.

A study by Long Beach-based SCS Engineers found that a large portion of the trash from the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County that surround the city was mistakenly attributed to Santa Clarita by officials at Chiquita Canyon Landfill and Blue Barrel employees.

Further studies to determine the city's actual 2000 diversion rate are under way, and city officials are hopeful it will approach the 50 percent level, according to Environmental Services Manager Jill Fosselman.

The city will not face fines as result of failing to comply with the state law because of its ``good-faith effort'' to increase recycling, according to California Integrated Waste Management Board officials.

At its next meeting on March 26, the City Council is expected to decide whether to execute the new contract with Blue Barrel and the city's other hauler, Atlas Disposal Services, or to solicit bids from other companies.