SPSA has rejected a proposal from a New York company to buy the regional waste authority outright.
The unsolicited bid from ReEnergy Holdings LLC was not publicly discussed, however, nor was it voted down in any public forum.
Instead, the request was rejected by SPSA's board of directors at a closed-door meeting Aug. 27, according to memos explaining the events sent last week to city managers and county administrators in South Hampton Roads.
Bucky Taylor, executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority, said Tuesday that the matter was debated outside the public eye under legal advice. Because it involved possible land purchases and contract negotiations, he said, there was no requirement for a public airing as prescribed in open-government laws.
"We didn't do it for the hell of it," Taylor said. "These things are typically handled this way."
The proposal came last month as "an exploratory letter" from ReEnergy Holdings, arriving at the same time SPSA was accepting bids to sell two of its big waste facilities in Portsmouth to the private sector, Taylor said.
Four different companies are seeking to buy SPSA's trash-sorting plant and its neighboring waste-to-energy incinerator on the Portsmouth waterfront, near the historic Cradock community. Together, the facilities handle half of all garbage generated in the region, converting it to steam and electricity.
A decision on their possible sale is expected later this year or in early 2009 as SPSA attempts to reorganize itself, settle old debts and steer a future course after three decades as a regional government experiment.
The ReEnergy letter "was a surprise to everybody," Taylor said Tuesday, "but was totally beyond the scope of what we wanted to do."
The offer did not include any asking price, he added.
William Ralston, an executive officer with ReEnergy, said Tuesday that the company was "basically interested in sitting down with SPSA and seeing what they were interested in selling. It's nothing more than that at this point."
The company, with headquarters near Albany, N.Y., is a branch of Riverstone Holdings LLC, an investment firm interested in renewable energy and other power sources.
Formed in 2000, the company has "development initiatives underway in multiple states along the Eastern U.S. seaboard," according to its Web site.
Its officers include former executives in American Ref-Fuels and TransRiver, two players in a proposed imported-trash port in Portsmouth. The project eventually died two years ago after being roundly criticized by local residents and politicians.
Ralston said he was not aware that SPSA had rejected ReEnergy's approaches and expressed hope that exploratory discussions still were possible.
Taylor said, however, that the proposal "is off the table."
Norfolk Councilman Don Williams, who chairs the eight-member SPSA board, said the proposal "totally came out of left field" and was "considered for about five minutes, really," by an executive committee.
SPSA's board consists of appointed representatives from each of the eight communities the waste authority serves: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Franklin, Isle of Wight County and Southampton County.
"We have no intention of getting out of the waste business," Williams said. "It just wasn't a relative item for us to discuss, publicly or not."
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Well actually, criticize all
Well actually, criticize all you want. My intent is simply to explain why I think the board acted correctly in this matter. I already mentioned the four proposals our staff and consultants are now evaluating, evaluations paid for by the fee required to submit a proposal. The member cities and counties are almost finished with an independent study of solid waste management alternatives which I presume will guide discussions about the future provision of these services. Perhaps privatization of this process, or parts thereof, will be the decision of some member jurisdictions, while others may wish to continue to develop facilities together. Clearly, there are pros and cons to each approach and it is important to understand the implications of each as we move forward.
Dsiband SPSA...
The only response that makes any sense to Mr. Barrett's unbelievable comments to deflect criticism of SPSA, is to demand that we disband SPSA in 2018 as a failed experiment in “Regional Money Waste”. It has only served to stroke mighty egos like his and at great cost to the rest of us, even if Suffolk is not paying a tipping fee... SPSA is proof that "regional solutions" pushed by people like Mr. Barrett usually equate to big wastes of public funds and little else. But I guess for one that spoke glowingly of the HRTA group, we could expect no more...
Roger A. Leonard, MPA
Suffolk...
Consideration
Perhaps that criticism would be legitimate except for the fact that the Board is considering the possible sale of the waste to energy system in accordance with a process established by Virginia statute and has received responsive proposals from several reputable companies that provided the information necessary so that the evaluation process can proceed.
What do you expect...
Come on guys, what do you expect the board and the executive director to do when a group of really smart business men with 10 times more expertise thant them propose to dissolve the very kingdom they've created for themselves and all of us peasants who are paying the tab... Privatizing the entire system has always been the best opportunity for the region to dig itself out of this mess. Mr. Barrett, you are a smart guy... You know that the ReEnergy people couldn't possibly provide details until SPSA turned over alot more detailed information on the rest of the system. For me, if someone came to me and showed me credentials and financial capabilities like ReEnergy and told me they could save my family millions of dollars, I think I'd slow down the runaway train and spend a few dollars and hours printing out some reports and listening to a real proposal that will really help... SPSA doesn't need a consultant to listen to a more efficient idea... This is just another sad example of SPSA pretecting itself at the expense of common sense and taxpayer money...
To Mr. Barrett
I often ask myself the following question as it related to the board of directors and the executives at SPSA:
DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE A CLUE AS TO WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH???
Sir, I don't see where a tele-conferance with ReEnergy Holdings LLC could hurt anything.
What would you have done?
As one of those who sits on the Board, I am surprised that two posters apparently would have spent taxpayer funds to evaluate and respond to an unsolicited offer sent in a letter with no details nor proposal. I guess the analogy would be receiving an unsolicited offer by letter to buy your home, and on the basis of that cleaning up your yard, repainting, staging your home, and hiring an appraiser at your cost to evalutate the offer, only to find out later it was an offer just like those posted to light poles: buy your home for cash. Would not it make more sense to follow your own strategic plan?
Secrets...
This is a prime example of how Authorities can turn their backs on the public that they are supposed to serve. As a past member of a local Authority, I know full well that they make decisions that are not in the interests of the public. This is of very keen note, given the fact that many cities in the region are now looking at digging us even deeper into this morass, by establishing “Community Development Authorities” (CDA’s).
These monsters will divert the stream of taxes from large areas of our communities, to the BIG Developers needs. The promised payments to the general funds to benefit the entire communities, will be diverted to the developers, not us. If you think SPSA was a huge waste and an arrogant group, what until your City Council approves a CDA to divert your taxes directly to the development community. The big guys will dip into the public trough like never before…
Roger A. Leonard, M
SPSA
Welcome to the wonderful world of authorities....they answer to no one and report to nothing but a few lackey's who sit on the "board."