On Thursday, the recent trash strike became an issue in the Chula Vista mayor's race.
Rudy Ramirez, one of the candidates seeking to replace Mary Salas, stood at a park that sits beneath the landfill owned and operated by Republic Services, the city’s waste management company, and bashed the city council’s handling of the strike.
"When the strike started, for the city to get involved [then], and should have been involved months ahead of time before it happened instead of just letting it happen," Ramirez said. "What I see now is a little bit of a failure of oversight."
Ramirez, a former council member, said the city must have a good relationship with Republic in order to move forward with sustainability projects with the company.
"If what’s happening here today can help us achieve that future objective than we ought to explore all those possibilities," he said.
When pressed about the trash hauler's responsibility to the city, community and employees, however, Ramirez made it clear he didn’t want to give Republic a pass.
"You may have heard Republic Services is a billion dollar company, and the city of Chula Vista may not be so prepared to enter into long term litigation that’s just going to cost the citizens and the taxpayers of Chula Vista money and not really advance a lot of the important things that we can do here in the future with this landfill," he said, adding that Republic may not end up with the city's future contract. He said he's okay with that too.
Ramirez said he does not take contributions from Republic Services.
He was joined in his news conference by several environmental advocates, who spoke about their ideas and projects in the works. Tina Matthias, the chair of the city's Sustainability Commission, said the company did give them a $2,500 grant, but said their work far exceeds that donation.
Current councilmember Jill Galvez, who is also running for mayor, said sustainability and holding Republic accountable are completely separate issues and the city can and should hold them accountable.
"You always have to do the right thing by your constituents," she said. "You know my job is to represent my constituents first and foremost. Part of that is having a good relationship should not come at the expense of people being taken advantage of."
Galvez has been vocal about pressing the company to do right by their employees, customers and city contract. She said the city wants Republic to refund customers for the month they were billed without having services, and to reimburse the city for doing their job for them, as well as paying the fines agreed to in their contract for failing to collect trash.
She said Republic agreed to give customers a 46% bill credit, but said that is not good enough.
"It falls short of what we were hoping for and continue to press forward with Republic Services," she said.
