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# Janitorial services at source of debate
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/janitorial-services-at-source-of-debate/
- Published: 2007-01-11T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:43:58.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Government & Politics, Pier, #archive-import

*City staff waiting for council to make contract policy*

CITY HALL — A disagreement over who should be taking out the trash and cleaning bathrooms at the Santa Monica Pier has highlighted the need for elected officials and city staff to work aggressively on reorganizing City Hall’s management structure, as well as formulating a new policy for when it’s proper to contract with private firms.

After hearing objections from those with close ties to the pier, the City Council decided to postpone action on a potential three-year, $1.09-million custodial contract with The Resource Collection.

The contract is for one year, with two additional one-year renewals. The contract also includes a termination clause that requires a 30-day notice, city staff said.

“With both the pier tenants association and … Pacific Park, the biggest tenant on the pier, both opposed to this, I think it makes sense to me that we not approve this,” said Councilman Ken Genser. “I would hope that we give staff the greatest flexibility to maintain interim services so that staff can come back quickly, if it works, with a plan for bringing this in-house.”

The debate was an extension of a discussion held Saturday on City Hall’s contracting policies. There have been calls for doing more work in-house because city employees tend to have more pride in their work and are more dedicated than contract employees.

Roughly $16 million, or five percent of the City Hall’s total operating budget, is spent on contracting services that include everything from tree trimming to toxic waste disposal.

Since the living wage ordinance was passed, the amount of money saved by contracting out has been reduced for some duties, some have argued.

In the case of the pier, merchants and members of the Pier Restoration Corporation (PRC), which manages the city’s most popular landmark, said private companies have provided poor service and their employees are hardly the type of ambassadors that should come in contact with the estimated 4 million people who visit the pier annually.

“The PRC board and many on the pier feel it is very important to bring custodial services in-house, and the time is now,” said Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the PRC. “Janitorial staff is in constant contact with the public and the pride of ownership you see in city employees is just the sort of thing we need to see on the pier.

“We need a flexible workforce,” Franz- Knight added as he pointed to the cleaning of an historic plaque as a case when a contract may need to be amended, whereas city employees could simply be directed to perform the task without having to get permission from corporate headquarters.

“Bottom line … the pier is a unique venue that requires in-depth knowledge of weight limits, structure of the deck board and all things vital to the successful operation of the pier,” Franz-Knight said.

Representatives from The Resource Collection could not be reached for comment.

Franz-Knight said the PRC had not been consulted about the contract.

At least one board member expressed displeasure that the contract was even presented to the council given the strong opposition.

“It is extremely frustrating and happens all too often,” said one PRC board member who did not want to be identified. “What is the point of having a pier board or any other citizens oversight commission if city staff can’t be bothered to consult with us.

“Just the fact that this was on the consent calendar when everyone involving in running the pier has been against it for months shows just how out of touch City Hall is,”the board member added.

Economic Development Director Miriam Mack, who oversees the pier, said the PRC board was not consulted about the contract because it was standard practice to contract out custodial services on the pier.

Mack said she is fully aware of the complaints expressed by merchants and the PRC about service provided by prior companies, and there were clauses in the current contract that would require employees to speak English and be representatives of the pier.

She also said there was an agreement that the contract could be terminated at the council’s discretion if elected officials decided to bring the services in-house.

City staff is waiting for the council to come up with a concrete policy on when to contract out as well as how to restructure City Hall, both of which are currently underway.

“We certainly anticipate (contracting) to be dealt with as part of the reorganization of the departments, but we knew that would be taking place in a larger context and while that was taking place, we wanted to make sure we had still had janitors on the pier,” Mack said. “We are fully aware of the criticisms of the past and we are looking forward to getting a new contractor in place to provide better services.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)