Refuse hauler says ‘something stinks’ in Yorktown no-bid contract

A refuse hauler claims that the Town of Yorktown created a fictitious emergency to justify rejecting its bid for a municipal garbage hauling contract.

AAA Carting and Rubbish Removal, of Buchanan, accused Yorktown of violating state law that requires competitive bidding for large municipal contracts and acceptance of the lowest responsible bid, unless immediate action is necessary.

But Yorktown knew for months that its refuse hauler was unable to handle the work, and then revoked the deal and issued a no-bid contract.

“There was no need to try to create some bogus emergency,” according to the petition filed Sept. 18 in Westchester Supreme Court. “Something stinks in the Town of Yorktown other than the garbage.”

Yorktown Supervisor Thomas P. Diana said “AAA’s lawsuit is frivolous,” in an email submitted by White Plains attorney Adam Rodriguez. “Suffice it to say, the town intends to vigorously defend itself, and we are confident that we will be successful.”

AAA Carting had handled the town’s garbage and recycling for five years, according to court documents. Last December a new five-year contract was awarded to Competitive Carting Corp., of Mahopac.

CCC was new and had no experience in municipal garbage collection, according to AAA. It did not have enough trucks to do the work and its sole shareholder had filed for personal bankruptcy protection.

Weeks after the contract was awarded, owner, Brian Amico sold 60% of CCC’s business to William Boyar Sr., without notifying the Westchester County Solid Waste Commission.

The commission fined CCC for not disclosing the ownership change, using unregistered trucks, and bouncing a $22,000 check to pay for some of the fines.

In July, Yorktown issued a default notice for alleged failures to perform essential functions and issued $155,500 in fines.

On Aug. 28, several trucks were repossessed and on Sept. 1 CCC was unable to provide adequate staffing due to failure to pay employees, the petition states.

Yorktown solicited proposals for a one-year, no-bid contract. AAA proposed a $4,224,000 deal, according to the petition. CRP Sanitation, of Cortlandt Manor, proposed $4,296.000.

CRP got the contract, despite costing $75,000 more than AAA’s proposal, the petition states, and $546,000 more than AAA had bid last year for refuse collection in 2023.

Yorktown’s need to immediately hire a new refuse hauler was a self-created emergency, AAA claims, because the town knew for months that CCC couldn’t do the work.

According to supervisor Diana, Yorktown “acted properly and followed all applicable rules and procedures when it entered into the emergency refuse and recycling contract with CRP Sanitation Inc.”

What’s more, he said AAA failed to act in good faith during negotiations for the emergency contract, “constantly shifting its positions and ultimately tried to utilize the emergency situation to obtain $2.4 million in taxpayer dollars for work it never did.”

AAA had sued Yorktown in February, seeking annulment of CCC’s contract. That case is pending.

Now AAA is asking the court to combine it’s new petition with the first case and to award the contract to AAA under the terms of its original bid.

AAA is represented by Manhattan attorney Nicholas R. Caputo.