New Orleans City Council members grilled officials from Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration Monday about a hotly-disputed garbage contract in the French Quarter, criticizing what they described as legal inconsistencies and a lack of transparency in the bid process.
The hearing marked the latest flashpoint in a legal standoff between the council and mayor, as Cantrell pushes to terminate an emergency contract held by business owner Sidney Torres’ IV Waste. IV Waste hauls trash in New Orleans’ French Quarter and Downtown Development District under that deal, which the city awarded last year as infighting over a different, long-term trash contract threatened to leave New Orleans without a trash hauler ahead of Super Bowl LIX.
Cantrell wants to abandon Torres’ deal early and allow the $73 million long-term deal, which the city inked with Troy Henry’s Henry Consulting last July, to take effect…