5 MIN. READ

We all know garbage stinks, right?

There is only one thing that can smell worse than garbage, that is the municipal garbage contract. And in the Chicago Suburbs, there is a downright stench. About 45 minutes south of Chicago, a small suburb, let's call it Thinly Park, is where hefty political insiders thinly drape the wool over the eyes of the residents. And where garbage costs are some of the heftiest in the nation.

A familiar Illinois story. No home runs hit in this Park, only strikeouts.

"New Contract Saves Residents Money On Garbage Bills" reads the thin headline. The writer fails to mention that the suburb was questioned five years ago for allowing a no-bid contract to auto-renew for almost 30 years, leaving residents to pay the 2nd highest rate in the region. If this wasn't shady enough, the contract went to a hefty village commissioner.

This story made national news back in 2014. Why would a town keep awarding business to a political insider? The seated mayor at that time defended the practice saying he won't tell people who do business with the village not to get involved, because "that's a bunch of crap."

This time Tinley "thinly" covered their proverbial “behinds” by putting the contract out for bid. There were three (3) qualified vendors that submitted proposals. They were: Waste Management ($25.62 per month), Republic Services ($26.16 per month) and Homewood Disposal ($24.49 per month).

The competing firms must have known that they would not be lower than Thinly's current rate, since it was part of a major investigative story sill hungry for updates and advance, right?

Q: Why would Waste Management bid $25.62 when they haul the two neighboring suburbs at $22.80 and 23.00?
A: We don't know.

Q: Would a hauler knowingly overbid a contract?
A: We don't know.

Residents should feel very good knowing that their village was able to renegotiate their rate down AN ENTIRE 1% from $25.62 a month down to $24.49 a month. It gets better; rates will go up 3.5% every year for the next eight years.

More good news, they also removed unlimited collections from the contract and now charge residents $45 per bulk item, more than most things are even worth. 

It gets even better, the village requires the hauler to open and operate an office in town so residents can walk in and pay their bill. A lot of questions here:

1. Who gets the job of sitting in this office waiting all day for people to come in and pay their garbage bill?  Where’s my fingernail file?
2. Who is getting the commission and rent from the office tenant?
3. And most importantly, why does the hauler need to do this?

Can't the village hall collect the bill and save the residents the costs associated with this unneeded line item?

Q: Why would the exact same hauler charge two neighboring suburbs only $15.60 per month?
A: We don't know.

The Chicago market is the most competitive in the United States. With so much competition, why a village would take this contract makes no sense.

Look at the map below to see that there is a garbage game played around Thinly Park.

So if Thinly Park Illinois is making no-bid contracts with politically connected insiders, the neighboring mickey mouse operation, Orlando Park Illinois, just said, "Hold My Beer!" and extended a biddable contract mid-cycle. 

We love Section 12 of this contract. It states the hauler needs to pay the village $50,000 a year for the life of the contract. And the money can be used for whatever the village wants. Are we reading this correctly?

The hauler asks for an extension of a contract so it won't go out for bid then they raise the rate. THEN the hauler says they will send an annual check back to the town for $50,000 for no defined reason. They wrote this in the contract folks!

Poor Chuck Rizzo if he is reading this. He pled guilty to about the same thing that is WRITTEN INTO THE THE ORLANDO PARK CONTRACT, and he is serving 75 months for bribery and wire fraud.

To finish this story off, Thinly Park even loses the corruption game; they are only get a $15,000 yearly kickback on their new contract. 

We feel bad for the residents of the South Suburbs of Chicago. And we are here to help. Keep up with our stories by giving us a like on your favorite social media channel. And be careful, you might even learn somethin'.