A councilman’s inquiry into the Ceres Public Works report for the month triggered a discussion among the Ceres City Council members about Bertolotti Disposal’s zero tonnage figure for illegal dump clean-ups.
On Oct. 12 Councilman James Casey asked why the report showed a zero figure for the amount of illegal dumps picked up by the city contractor.
Joshua Casas, the city’s Public Works superintendent, said yes, while Bertolotti is responsible to pick up illegal dump sites he was unable to explain why the amount on his report showed a zero.
“I would have to get back to you on whether the number didn’t get reported or if for this time period there was no scheduled illegal dumping (pickup),” Casas told Casey. “It is still part of their contract and they will respond to the list that we send them.”
At times the city Code Enforcement team will pick up smaller dump sites which are not sent to the garbage company, Casas said.
Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra inquired as to the criteria for Bertolotti to handle certain clean-ups versus Code Enforcement.
“It really it comes down to Code Enforcement,” answered Chief of Police Trenton Johnson. “If they’re not busy and it looks like something they can handle quickly they’ll attend to it. If it looks like it’s going to be maybe an extensive job or maybe 30 minutes or so, and it’s a lot of manpower, they will refer it to Bertolotti.”
Casas also noted that at times the city street crew has helped picked debris left in the streets, adding “we’re trying as a community of workers to get the dump sites cleaned up.”
Casey continued to ask about the requirements in the contract to pick up illegal dumping in the streets, noting «it’s confusing to me when you see a sofa that’s been in front of somebody’s house or to the side to the house for months at a time.”
“I mean, if it’s part of their contract, I don’t understand at all why they don’t pick up more stuff,” Casey said.
Casas noted that Bertolotti is not responsible for rolling through neighborhoods looking for piles of debris, but only responds to “the list that we send them.”
Casey continued to hammer on a theme that the city needs to act as a team so that if city employees, police officers, firefighters or garbage truck drivers see something that needs to be taken care of that it should be reported to Code Enforcement.
Interim City Manager Steve Williams said he and Casas would “review the contract and find out if there are any gaps, if there are any specific contract language that Bertolotti is not holding up to.”
Councilwoman Cerina Otero asked about the reporting process between Code Enforcement and Bertolotti. Chief Johnson said Bertolotti doesn’t pick up piles every week but often Code Enforcement does initiate a pick-up of a discarded sofa in the street if it is reported between the days-long gaps of Bertolotti service.
“I know we’re all busy,” said Otero, “and the task that all city staff is doing, some department are short staffed, but even like other staff who drive around throughout the city, if they see something I would hope that there’s a way for them to report it, even if it’s through the GoGov app. I’ll use myself. I work for the county and I was talking to an employee recently and they were saying when they’re driving out in the county areas they’ll actually report piles or junk that’s out so a certain county department can pick it up.
“I just hope that if everyone can contribute and reporting it, and then there’s a way to really track that Bertolotti is actually picking it up, than just making a phone call. Then maybe we can make sure Bertolotti is actually meeting the contract as well.”
