Porterville’s City Council discussed privatizing the city’s trash services on April 21, introducing the idea to the public for the first time — but not to a group of major players.
Visalia, Tulare, Hanford, and Porterville’s garbage services are currently handled owned and operated by city governments.
According to the agenda packet, “The Refuse Division is staffed by 19 employees, collected and disposed of 40,000 tons of waste, including 5,425 tons of recyclables and 9,000 tons of organic waste.
For attendees, the April 21 agenda was the first indication Porterville was considering privatizing their garbage collection service since a 2023 study recommended the city avoid privatizing its trash service.
According to documents unearthed by a group of Porterville residents, that agenda item came after nine months of discussions between Porterville City Manager Richard Tree, Lindsay City Manager Kuyler Crocker, and Caglia Environmental — a Fresno-based waste management company to which Crocker is a consultant.
(Caglia‘s website does not list any services in Tulare County, and services in Lindsay are provided by Kingsburg-based Mid-Valley Disposal.)
City officials deny that any one company has received a blessing to take over Porterville’s trash service.
“Assumptions that a certain company has been pre-determined is not true,” Tree told the Valley Voice.
He added that the city is going to reach out to all interested waste management companies.
“We will rank the companies and then see if the council agrees to go ahead,” he said.
To privatize or not? – depends who you are
The April 21 meeting agenda item states: “Consider and authorize advertisement of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Solid Waste, Recycling, and Organics Services, and direct staff to return to the City Council with an evaluation of service delivery options and a recommendation.”
Karen Anderson, a Porterville resident, said that Porterville’s sanitation department is doing a good job, are dedicated workers, and that Porterville is clean. She voiced concern about the fate of employees and families of those who would be laid off if the city outsourced its garbage services.
“Privatization of solid waste management can mean higher costs, less control, and fewer options when things go wrong,” Porterville resident Diane Wagner said. “Private companies are not in the business of public service but are in the business of making profits.”
Wagner added there would be much less accountability once a contract is signed with a private company.
“Rates go up, fees get added and the customer will be paying more for less service,” she said.
When two men representing the refuse company Caglia Environmental came to the podium with prepared statements, it raised a few eyebrows as to why they were the only refuse company present.
The president, Richard Caglia, said he wanted to express his interest in serving the city of Porterville. He said that Caglia Environmental had been serving the Central Valley for over 90 years and employs 300 local families.
He said his company’s implementation of the latest technologies such as their system of automation, AI, and robotics keeps costs down and he can pass the savings on to the customers.
Keith Hester, General Manager of Caglia Environmental, said customers would actually have more control over their garbage service if it were privatized.
He concluded by exclaiming, “I love the wraps around your buses! We would proudly wrap out trucks in old glory.”
When it was time for the council to speak Mayor Greg Meister countered that if the city did privatize he would negotiate for lower rates.
Meister said rates went up last year and he reminded the public that three more rate increases were scheduled.
He also said he would make it a condition that the chosen company has to hire Porterville’s employees currently working in the sanitation department and that the city would maintain some control over rates.
Meister pointed out that not only would the company be paying Porterville a franchise fee of $1.5 million a year but that Porterville could take advantage of a loophole in the system mandating electrification of garbage collection fleets.
Private garbage collection companies were not required to electrify their trucks he said, while municipalities were. Meister was referring to the California Resource Board (CARB) legislation declaring that all cities must electrify their garbage truck fleet by 2042.
But according to Trisha Whitfield, Tulare’s Public Works Director, it’s only a matter of time before CARB figures it out and mandates private and public fleets convert to electric.
She added that even if a city has an outside vendor, the city is responsible for monitoring that vendor and thus is on the hook for electrification.
“Visalia bought one electric garbage truck and Tulare just bought two. The drivers love them and the trucks easily finished a ten hour route,” she said.
Toward the end of the discussion, Tree suggested that the city council change from asking companies for an RFP to a simpler process, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) — in the event the city decides not to privatize, Tree said the companies and city staff would not have wasted hours of staff time preparing a labor intensive document.
An RFQ, Tree said, would be about a page long and ask interested companies to list their qualifications and how they would serve Porterville.
Megan Crouch, City of Porterville’s lawyer added that California law does not require cities do a competitive bidding process when outsourcing services, and that no requirement is written in Porterville’s Municipal Code.
Couch rationalized that because the chosen garbage collection company would be paying the city a franchise fee it would make the bidding process not legally necessary.
May 5 council meeting raises more questions than answers
Despite the fact that privatizing Porterville’s trash and recycling services had generated robust public dissent during the April 21 meeting, city staff placed the item on the consent calendar for the May 5 meeting.
According to the agenda, “All Consent Calendar Items are considered routine and will be enacted in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these matters unless a request is made, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Calendar.”
The item stated, “Consideration to authorize the issuance of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for solid waste services and authorize negotiations with the highest-ranked firm regarding a potential franchise agreement.”
City Council Member Raymond Beltran pulled the item and requested it be discussed with the general agenda.
Before the meeting got to the regular agenda public comment launched straight into skepticism over Caglia’s presence at the April 21 city council meeting.
Local resident Heather Thompson asked the council how one waste company happened to be at the last meeting.
Brock Neeley, a local activist, asked how it was that Caglia Environmental already had a tour of Porterville’s Corporation Yard before the April 21 meeting and before anyone knew Porterville was considering privatizing their services.
Tree explained in a phone interview with the Voice that there are many online tools available for companies to alert them to what cities are discussing on their agendas.
“My inbox is filled with vendors inquiring about city services,” said Tree.
Tree added that he hoped the city receives interest and inquires from all the local garbage and recycling companies. He said Tule Trash and Mid-Valley Disposal have also toured the corporation yard but he could not remember exactly when.
“We want to see if the best operator will work for Porterville,” he said.
Beltran had similar concerns explaining why he pulled the item from the consent calendar.
He asked Tree, “Can you tell us who initiated contact with Caglia Environmental and who was on the tour?”
Tree said he was at the League of California Cities Conference in October, 2025 where Caglia Environmental had a booth. He said The Caglia Environmental wanted to see Porterville’s operations
“So I initiated that tour, showed them our fleet and answered any of their questions,” said Tree. “They seemed pretty interested.”
In response to an email from a member of the public, the League of California Cities stated that Caglia did not have an exhibition booth at the conference.
“They (Caglia) did not have a booth with us. Let me know if you need anything else!” the email reads.
A series of emails also contradicts Tree’s assertion that he first met Caglia Environmental at the League of California Cities Conference.
Emails spanning over September 8 and September 9, 2025 between Crocker and Tree make clear that the Caglia Environmental tour of Porterville’s Corporation Yard happened more than a month before the conference.
Transcribed is the email chain between the two city managers.
Email from Crocker to Tree Monday, September 8, 3:29
Rich,
Thanks or meeting with us last week. The guys are really excited about the possibility to serve Porterville. I have included additional questions the team has aas they are working on fine tuning the numbers. What does your schedule look like to check in either in person or a phone call for you and I? Let me know.
Thanks Kuyler
Email from Tree to Crocker Monday, September 8, 4:09
Hi Kuyler,
We will start working on the answers to the list of questions, but it will take us some time. Wednesday before noon is the best day and time for me this week.
Email from Crocker to Tree.
Understood, Want to grab coffee at 9 or have a call?
Email from Tree Monday September 8, 6:29pm
Yea let’s grab coffee at 9. Where do you want to meet up?
Email from Crocker
Staffords?
Email from Tree to Crocker, Tuesday September 9 1:42
Perfect, see you then
Email from Tree to a city staff on Tuesday, September 9, 1:10pm
Howdy,
From the recent Caglia on-site visit, they have come back with the following list of questions. Do we have any of this information somewhat available without too much work? You don’t need to answer the questions below right now, I am just curious what we have available and what we don’t have at all.
- Total tons per year by commodity type
- Residential trash, Residential recycling, Residential organics, Commercial trash, Commercial recycling, Commercial organics
- Will the City continue to provide billing or would it prefer the contractor to bill?
- Total debt for solid waste system.
- What is the historic bad debt percentage on both residential and commercial?
- Is the City seeking a franchise fee, and if so, what percentage?
- What are the miles/hours on the trucks (by truck?)
- Can you supply the maintenance records for the trucks?
- Can you provide an asset list of all containers detailing size, age, and asset value?
- Can you provide a wage list by position for the solid waste system (drivers, mechanics, etc.)?
In a phone interview with Tree, the Voice asked again how he came into contact with Caglia Environmental.
“I was talking with a city manager and they brought it up,” he said.
When asked which city manager, Tree replied, “I don’t know how that matters.”
The Voice asked Tree when Caglia Environmental toured the Porterville Corporation Yard.
Tree responded he did not know the date — and when asked what month, he said he also did not know.
The Voice inquired about who was on the tour, Tree said he did not remember.
When pressed for an answer, Tree said “Maybe Richard.”
In another document that shows behind the doors collaboration between the two city managers was a PowerPoint sent in an email.
The first slide explained why the recruitment of a contractor should be “sole source” process. “Sole source” is when a city focuses on one company and does not engage in an open bidding process.
A second slide explained why Porterville should choose Caglia Environmental.
The slides showed a City of Porterville logo, but Tree said the PowerPoint was not created by him or his staff. He said the PowerPoint was created by Caglia Environmental in order to earn the city’s business.
Tree also said that “a lot has changed” since a study done by consultants recommending Porterville keep trash service in-house.
The RFQ has not been drafted, Tree said, and he did not expect the issue to come back to the council until the end of the year.
The city council might suggest changes and then give final approval, but final approval is far away, Tree said.
“Even if we get to that point it will be at least a year.”