Friedel’s hypocrisy is on full display as he praises Republic Services for its long-standing commitment to Fountain Hills.
“A hypocrite is a person who has the audacity to act as if they are building the house, while they are secretly pulling out the foundation.”
— A.W. Tozer
In a stunning display of hypocritical political theatre, on May 11, 2026, Gerry
Friedel’s personal PR machine posted a press release on the Town’s website announcing that “Republic Services and the Town of Fountain Hills are partnering again to provide an eligible local nonprofit with grant funding.” (See comment section.)
Based on the ROT majority’s irresponsible and potentially illegal decision to end the Town’s 10-year relationship with Republic Services, the press release should have read: “Republic Services and the Town of Fountain Hills are partnering for the last time to provide an eligible local nonprofit with grant funding.”
The culture wars have claimed more victims: our nonprofits that will lose thousands of dollars of desperately needed funds; residents, who will lose a reliable and highly regarded service provider and be forced to switch to a company with a history of irresponsible underbidding; chaotic transitions; and F ratings for customer satisfaction.
All lost because Republic Services values diversity, equity, and inclusion, achieved a 100 rating on the Corporate Equity Index, and because two years ago its Employee PAC donated to Ginny Dickey’s and Peggy McMahon’s campaigns.
There can be no question that the ROT majority’s decision to award the contract to UWS was influenced by factors that had nothing to do with their responses to the RFP. The majority cannot credibly contend that the decision was based on the Selection Committee’s scores – 88 for UWS and 87.8 for Republic Services. When in making the motion to trash Republic, Councilmember Allen Skillicorn unadvisedly made the following admission:
“Both companies gave, you know, a bid that, you know seemed to meet the needs. There are some minor differences, but there’s also intangibles. When I do a little bit of research myself and I go to websites of the companies, I do notice that Republic has a DEI program. I do notice that they have a 100 percent score with HRC [Human Rights Campaign], which really doesn’t meet the values of Fountain Hills. And frankly, Fountain Hills has an ordinance against that. So, I think that the choice is just crystal clear. So, I’d like to make a motion to approve this as drafted for Universal Waste Management or Systems.”
While explaining his vote, Skillicorn went on to make another damning admission: “And I do notice that the people of Fountain Hills should look up there was a pretty significant donation from Republic Services to someone at (sic) this dais back on March 3, 2024. My vote is yes.”
Skillicorn, ever eager to draw attention to his culture warrior status, clearly articulated the “intangibles” that influenced the decision. But it was Friedel who did everything in his power to keep the public from learning about the deficiencies in the UWS proposal that mandated the award of the contract to Republic Services.
Although Universal’s representative was afforded ample time to discuss the merits of his company proposal, Sadiq Young, Republic Services’ North Phoenix General Manager, was required to submit a comment card to obtain the “privilege” of addressing the Council. Young was given three minutes to educate the Council and the public of the flaws in the UWS proposal that, if they had been taken into consideration, would have resulted in the award of the contract to Republic Services. Young was only allowed to mention the fact that UWS had not provided the mandatory financial statement or identified a facility that would accept its recyclables, before Friedel cut him off with a bang of his gavel and denied his request that he be allowed additional time.
Subsequently, Councilmember Kalivianakis, who appeared to be startled by Friedel’s rude treatment of a senior representative of the Town’s long-term “partner,” made a motion to table the item for two weeks to allow additional time for the Council to determine if Young’s concerns about the flaws in the UWS submission had merit. The ROT majority, making it clear that they had no interest in allowing additional time to review any shortcomings in their favorite’s submission, voted down her proposal.
Skillicorn then fulfilled his roll of prematurely cutting off discussion of any controversial issue and brought a motion to “call the question.” Predictably, the ROT majority once again voted in favor of suspending the Rules of Procedure to cut off further Council discussion and the contract was awarded to UWS.
In March, Republic Services challenged the contract award to UWS by filing an informal protest, the precursor to an administrative action challenging the propriety of the award. The protest was based on the following concerns raised during the hearing:
• UWS failed to provide the mandatory financial statement, which should have resulted in an automatic 10-point deduction from its score and award of the contract to Republic Services.
• UWS identified the Salt River Recycling Center, owned by Republic Services, as the facility where recyclables could be processed, without first obtaining Republic’s agreement.
As to the significance of the failure of UWS to provide a financial statement the protest stated:
“UWS did not provide a financial statement demonstrating its financial responsibility and capacity to perform this contract. That fatal omission renders UWS irresponsible. Without such information, the Town has no basis to conclude that UWS is financially able to perform. This omission independently renders UWS’s proposal incurably defective.”
The Town denied Republic Services’ protest. It appears based on documents produced in response to a records request that Republic elected not to file an appeal that would have led to a Contested Case Proceeding and an award of the contract to Republic Services.
Even though Republic may have given up its right to disqualify UWS through an administrative proceeding, it has not lost its right to sue Fountain Hills based on the Council’s improper and illegal consideration of “intangibles” in awarding the contract to UWS.
There is undeniable evidence that in awarding the contract to UWS the ROT majority was influenced by Republic’s alleged political support of Ginny Dickey and Peggy McMahon, its adoption of a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, and its 100 percent HRC score.
Public procurement laws are designed and intended to prevent favoritism, corruption, and politically motivated decision‑making. Accordingly, RFPs must be evaluated based on criteria disclosed in the solicitation and directly related to the contractor’s ability to perform the described work including: price; operational capacity; equipment availability; experience; safety record; regulatory compliance; and service reliability.
Republic Services’ alleged support or failure to support political candidates or its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and workplace equity should not have played any role in the Council’s decision to award the contract to UWS.
Republic Services has compelling evidence that the procurement process was tainted by bias and improper considerations. A contractor that can demonstrate that a public body’s decision to hire a competitor was motivated by retaliation for protected political activity or discrimination based on viewpoint can file suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Under the inept guidance of an unqualified Town Attorney, the ROT majority, in their pursuit of the culture wars, placed their interest in political theatre over the interests of residents in dependable waste management services, maintaining quality relationships with service providers, supporting our nonprofits, and avoiding litigation.
