City Approves 25-Year Garbage Contract With Athens Services

The City Council approved a garbage contract with the Athens Services company that guarantees Athens a 25-year term if the city wants to cancel the contract.

In exchange, the city received new benefits, including Athens agreeing to provide sidewalk washing for the city at no additional charge to the city,, saving the Council a $48,000 expense that was coming from the city's redevelopment funds, which have since been cut by the state.

The contract is a 25-year "rolling contract," where it is automatically renewed each year until the city chooses to cancel the contract, at which time Athens would remain the city's provider for the next 25 years.

The contract was approved at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, according to city spokeswoman Elisa Cox.

The city could still get out of the 25-year-term in the event Athens breached the terms of the contract or went bankrupt, according to the city's report.

The city's contract with Athens was due to expire in 2026.

The sidewalk washing will be done on West Sierra Madre Boulevard between Lima and Baldwin and on Baldwin Avenue, between Highland and the post office.

According to the city's report, other benefits in the new contract include:

• A $100,000 up-front and $18,000 annual contribution to the city that could be used for community events (though the use of funds is not restricted to that, according to the staff report).
• An agreement for Athens to install 15 dog waste stations with disposable bags on Sierra Madre streets.
• Sierra Madre residents will be eligible for bear resistant trash cans.
• A new hazardous waste recycling and disposal program for residents.