February 20, 2025 — The Clovis City Council has decided to delay awarding a new 10-year recycling contract, instead directing city staff to seek separate bids for residential and commercial services. The decision came during Tuesday night’s council meeting, where a 3-2 vote halted plans to move forward with a proposed agreement.
City staff had initially recommended awarding a combined contract to Mid Valley Disposal, the lowest bidder. However, Councilmembers Lynne Ashbeck, Matt Basgall, and Drew Bessinger voted to rework the bidding process, citing concerns about future city growth and pricing sustainability. Councilmembers Vong Mouanoutoua and Diane Pearce opposed the delay. Basgall emphasized the complexities of recycling services and the importance of obtaining accurate cost assessments. Pearce, who opposed the delay, criticized the decision.
The council’s vote means Republic Services, the city’s current recycling provider, could continue offering services in the short term. A company representative stated that Republic is open to a temporary extension while Clovis reevaluates its options.
In a surprising turn, Public Utilities Director Scott Redelfs revealed that HF&H Consultants, the firm that assisted with the original request for proposals, was not involved in the final processing and scoring of bids due to a potential conflict of interest. Kalpakoff denied any direct involvement between his company and HF&H.
The city had paid HF&H $60,000 for its consulting services. Prior to the conflict disclosure, some council members had already expressed dissatisfaction with the firm’s performance. Ashbeck had proposed reissuing the bid request without HF&H’s involvement before the conflict was made public.
Pearce defended the city’s handling of the situation, stating that staff had taken appropriate steps to prevent any appearance of impropriety. Basgall supported rebidding the contract to resolve any lingering concerns.
The existing contract with Republic Services expires on July 31. Three companies, Republic Services, Mid Valley Disposal, and Caglia Environmental, submitted bids for the new contract, all of which were significantly higher than the current $4.6 million residential service agreement. City staff cited inflation and new state requirements for organic waste collection and disposal as key reasons for the price increases.
Mid Valley Disposal’s bid of $5.5 million represented a 20% increase over the current cost. Caglia and Republic submitted bids reflecting price hikes of 45% and 79%, respectively.
Commercial recycling services are billed separately, and bids from all three companies were comparable in that category. The city of Clovis continues to handle trash collection in-house.
Representatives from all three bidders addressed the council, with Republic Services’ Ashley Collie and Caglia Environmental’s Richard Caglia raising concerns about the original bid request’s structure.
Kalpakoff defended Mid Valley’s bid, noting that all companies had received the same RFP and had one opportunity to submit their best offer.
Caglia expressed support for splitting residential and commercial contracts and suggested that Clovis consider outsourcing residential trash collection as well. He argued that doing so could help the city offset costs associated with state-mandated fleet upgrades to electric trash collection vehicles.
With the council’s decision to rework the bidding process, staff will now prepare a revised request for proposals. The outcome of the new bidding process will determine Clovis’s recycling service provider for the next decade.