SOUNDING OFF:

There’s an old saying, “The devil is in the details,” meaning they are important.

But if you watched the last Newport Beach City Council meeting, details were anything but important when it came to awarding a more than $10 million rubbish contract.

The council chambers were packed Tuesday. When public comments opened, concerned citizens spoke but the majority left after the comments section was over, leaving just a handful of spectators.

What they missed was a very important detail about how the city was about to spend more than $10 million of its tax dollars in a process that should have raised lots of eyebrows and questions.

On the table was a 10-year contract for residential solid waste transfer and material processing and recycling services; but how the city handled the bidding process is questionable.

Bidders were Waste Management, CR&R; and Rainbow Disposal. In a city document released April 29, it shows Rainbow as the lowest bidder, but with all the bids now public, the city decided it needed to rebid.

A consultant contacted Rainbow, saying he was acting on behalf of Newport General Services Director Mark Harmon, who was out of town. The consultant wanted details as to how Rainbow’s transportation rates were derived, confidential information to which the city would be privy.

Problem was the consultant was not authorized to contact the bidders and question the transportation element, a fact Rainbow discovered when Harmon called them a half hour later — and he was not out of town.

Did anyone ask the consultant who else is he working for, and are there any conflict of interests?

After this misstep, Harmon requested the transportation portion of the contract be rebid specifically stating that the processing portion was already accepted by the city. Rainbow was the lowest bid of that element of the contract. One down, one to go? Apparently not.

CR&R; came back with a bid essentially paying the city to transport its waste. The staff report shows they reduced the original bid by 67%, but in actuality the transportation element was reduced by 244%.

No one asked why this would make any business sense to any company.

City Atty. Aaron Harp did not want to deal with the details. He stated both elements could be awarded to CR&R; but suggested CR&R; should indemnify the city against any legal action resulting from this contract.

A big red flag, yet the contract was approved.

Did they see the small audience and think no one would notice? Were they just closing ranks behind city staffers who made errors or worse?

Or is it as simple as this: With millions of dollars in play, let’s be quiet about how dirty some will play.

BARBARA VENEZIA is a columnist for the Daily Pilot and lives in Newport Beach.