PRESS RELEASE
From: Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc.
John Winkler, President and legal counsel
(904) 384-9918 www.jaxtaxpayers.org
April 26, 2009 Jacksonville, Florida

The legality of Mayor Peyton’s efforts to give Waste Management a $750 million City contract without competitive bids was challenged in a lawsuit by a local citizen’s group late Friday. The Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, on behalf of all local residents, are requesting a court ruling on whether the Mayor’s proposal for the Trail Ridge landfill can even legally be considered by City Council. John Winkler, President of the CTDC, said his group is unaffiliated with any potential landfill operator. “Our sole purpose is to insure that the City follows the spirit and letter of its own laws on giving out large contracts, ” said Winkler. “City Council must determine both who will run the landfill and how much it will cost the residents for the next thirty years or more. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are at stake, and the process has to be transparent, fair, and free of corporate intimidation of either the public or public officials.”

Winkler explains that the suit asks the court to declare that a vote by City Council to waive the city competitive bidding rules is illegal, as would be entering into the restated contract on Trail Ridge. The CTDC maintains the Mayor’s request to City Council violates local law because the overriding public purpose of the Procurement Code and the contracts it covers make it clear that landfill operations must be bid. The proposed “restated” contract is also unlawful because it contains provisions which could force the City to sell the entire 977 acre Trail Ridge site, together with the newly-purchased City “dirt mine,” to Waste Management without following the City ordinance on land sales.

“The citizens must guarantee City Council is not intimidated by Waste Management’s threats of litigation, amplified by the Mayor, into approving execution of an illegal ‘no-bid’ contract on the landfill,” Winkler reiterated. “Moreover, even a legal contract that could force the City into selling its only landfill site to a private company is irresponsible. The people of Duval County are unwilling to take that risk.”

See filed court documents below.

Complaint For Declaratory And Supplemental Relief

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2 Part 1

Exhibit 2 Part 2

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4

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Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County board member Phil Laibe made the following comments about the April 9th City Council hearing on the proposed Trail Ridge contract.  His comments are his own and do not reflect the opinions of Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County.

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So you want to know how to justify putting the taxpayer on the hook for $200,000 ($125,000 loan and $75,000 grant) to a business to expand its truck washing facilities?  Tell everyone that it reduces crime!

Yes, it’s true!  According to the City Council analysis of bill 2009-185, more than half of the 18 new full time jobs created by this expansion will be available to assist the re-entry of felons back into society.  Jacksonville businesses apparently have caught on to the fact that if you want to get money from the city government, it helps to have a crime prevention angle going for you.  It is not only absurd to use economic development money to do crime reduction, but also expensive since we are spending over $11,000 per job.

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