Local Bureaucracy at Its Best

Apparently the Santa Barbara City Council has decided not to decide, at least not on their own.  Ignoring the fact that the County and the city of Goleta have already decided on Marborg as the new trash hauler, the city council will spend up to $110,200 on a consultant to help it decided instead going with the local choice by other entities.  Shame on you City Council.  In hard times like today, a possible wrong choice of trash hauler is a better choice than SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY.  I, of course, without any training or special capabilities would have helped them choose for FREE.  What were they thinking ???


So I sent an email to the mayor and here is the response:

Mr. Lapman -

The Santa Barbara City Charter requires the City to create a competitive bid process for franchises. The two trash hauler contracts are the city's largest franchises. So, the Council could not just decide to award a contract with just one company. The City of Goleta does not have that requirement, nor does the County. Even if the City was able to decide to sole source this contract, it would have to negotiate the terms of what could end up being a 10-Year $80Million contract. Ensuring that our residents have the best service possible at a fair rate requires outside expertise, so the Council would have had to hire a consultant for that portion of the process in any case, similar to the City of Goleta and the County. The funds used for this process are not general funds and will be reimbursed to the City by the successful hauler as part of their new contract.

I hope this information gives you a better insight of our required decision making process.

Sincerely,

Helene Schneider
Santa Barbara Mayor

I was quite surprised. First, that the Mayor took the time to EVEN answer me- but more importantly, that bureaucratic pork has crept into our city charter REQUIRING an extra expenditure of time and monies.  I will be quite surprised if they don't come to the same conclusion as the County and the City of Goleta.

 

Male vs. Female at drive up ATM

MALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to the cash machine.
2. Put down your car window.
3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.
4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.
5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.
6. Put window up.
7. Drive off.

FEMALE PROCEDURE
1. Drive up to cash machine.
2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write deposit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided.
23. Give appropriate one-fingered hand signal to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release Parking Brake.