The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 51 - December 20, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................11
Classifieds............................8
Crossword/Sudoku.............8
Legals.............................. 9,10
Obituaries.............................2
People...................................2
Real Estate.......................5-7
School Spotlight..................4
Sports.............................. 4,10
Weekend
Forecast
Let’s Celebrate the Holidays
this Year with Better Sweaters!
Be sure to send us a photo of your favorite holiday sweater, along with some season’s greetings. This week’s adorable front page shot, entitled “Llamas Are So Hot this Year,” arrived courtesy of Shannon
Humphries. Send your photos to web@heraldpublications.com by Wednesday, Dec. 26. The winner will receive a $25 gift card.
Trash Talk Results in a Council
Impasse in Year’s Final Meeting
By Brian Simon
A staff recommendation to enter into negotiations
Aquatics Center Grand
Opening is January 5
The City of El Segundo Recreation &
Parks Department is excited to announce
the grand opening event for the City of
El Segundo-Wiseburn Unified School
District Aquatics Center on Saturday, Jan.
5! You will have an opportunity to hear
from City and school officials starting at
10:30 a.m., followed by fun activities and
an open recreation swim from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m. The address is 2240 E. Grand
Ave. in El Segundo.
Come and enjoy live music, food trucks,
community booths, synchronized swim
demonstration and much more! This
event is free and all ages are welcome!
Bring your beach chair, sunscreen, towel
and swim suit. Get ready to take a dive
into the new pool! For more information
please contact the Recreation & Parks
Department at (310) 524-2738.
– Source: El Segundo
Recreation & Parks
with a new solid waste collection
company and move from manual to automated
service sparked lengthy discussion during Tuesday
night’s El Segundo City Council meeting, but
did not yield any resolution. With Mayor Drew
Boyles (also suffering from a nasty cold that
prompted him to hand over the gavel to Mayor
Pro Tem Carol Pirsztuk to lead the group’s final
meeting of 2018) recusing himself due to owning
a related business, the remaining four Council
members could not come to any consensus on
the next step. After multiple failed motions, they
finally agreed to continue the matter to Jan. 15.
After a panel reviewed bids from four firms
vying for the City of El Segundo’s next trash
contract and then interviewed the candidates,
staff felt the best package came from EDCO
Waste & Recycling Services – which earned
the highest scores in the evaluation process
and, according to Public Works Director Ken
Berkman, “distinguished itself” from the pack.
EDCO also came in with the lowest bid for
automated services, which staff feels is “more
effective, efficient, cleaner,” will encourage
residents to reduce their waste stream, and
provide a specific green waste container that
will also accept organics (which will be a
required collection component in the future).
City Attorney Mark Hensley noted that expected
state regulations will make it “difficult
legally” to stay with non-automated service.
Additionally, the City’s solid waste consultant
reported that the industry has gone automated
and most other municipalities have made the
transition – due to both the convenience factor
and out of worker injury concerns. Only two
other cities in LA County besides El Segundo
still provide manual pick-up.
All that said, the Council members had
mixed options on the matter. Councilmember
Don Brann made a motion to negotiate with
the City’s long-time (25 years) hauler Republic
Services and to stay with manual. Republic
came in with the lowest bid for manual,
although the annual amount was higher than
automated – as was the case with the other
companies. Brann explained that people in
town already don’t want to pay for trash (a
fee that the Council can impose next year at a
maximum of $20 monthly per one- or two-unit
residential customer after the recent Prop 218
trash protest ballot fell short), don’t want to
switch to automated or change companies. In
a survey question on trash collection, Republic
scored a perfect 10 for its service.
Brann’s motion failed, but other ideas also
lacked support. Councilmember Chris Pimentel
thought it best to work with EDCO, but stay
manual because the community overwhelmingly
prefers that type of service. Councilmember
Scot Nicol looked to go automated with EDCO
and mentioned the savings of $1.4 million
over the length of the contract that could be
used for other important purposes. However,
he ultimately proposed to delay the decision to
next month to allow more public input. That
suggestion also lacked backing at first until it
was apparent the matter would remain at an
impasse -- and so Nicol eventually got the
necessary three votes (with Brann dissenting).
“People will be upset with us no matter what
we do,” Nicol said. Meanwhile, an official from
Republic earlier asked the Council to extend
the same courtesy it did during the recent golf
course RFP process when the City entered
into negotiations with the top two bidders
first before settling on its preferred company.
An El Segundo Police Department (ESPD)
presentation unveiled future plans to incorporate
unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, into local
crime enforcement. The primary goals are to
protect officers in the line of duty and enhance
overall public safety, while also diminishing the
need for police helicopters. The presentation
included video feeds from the Torrance PD,
which already employs drones, showing the
effectiveness of the flying camera technology
See City Council, page 9
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