The San Dimas City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Nov. 13 at San Dimas City Hall and approved the rate increase of 3.43 percent for residential and commercial services requested by Waste Management.

This will apply to all citizens living in the city of San Dimas.

“The main cause of the increase is in the cost of living increase combined with the increase in disposal,” waste management representative, Teri Muse said.

Waste Management is also requesting the approval of a new premium rate for businesses that would like the option for services on Saturdays and Sundays.

The San Dimas City Council decided to hold vote on their request for premium rates until they can get more information.

During public comments, a group of sanitation workers attended the meeting to protest their labor rights.

One of the sanitation workers said, “We have been in bargaining for about 18 months. There is no deal without a pension promise and 70 percent of workers are ready to strike.”

Another sanitation worker said Mayor Curt Morris is a district 21 chairperson on the sanitation districts personnel committee where he is tasked with providing direction to management on the current labor negotiations.

This sanitation worker said there have been multiple attempts to reach out to Morris in hopes that he would listen to sanitation workers concerns but has claimed he was “too busy” to meet with employees.

“I’ve never said any of those two things,” Morris said.

Council also provided an update on the Foothill Gold Line light rail project from Glendora to Montclair.

Two of the four analyzed bidders are working on a redesign of the project which would instead go from Glendora to La Verne which would better fit the budget proposed for the project.

Since the project is shorter, the project could be expected to be done in 2024 only if La Verne is reevaluated as a temporary terminus for the Gold Line system which would have to be done by April.

If this happens, construction terms can be expected in May 2019. An amendment is being considered that would increase the budget by $570 million increasing the entire project budget to $2.1 billion in order to finish the project from La Verne to Montclair.

Mark Steres, San Dimas city attorney, is retiring at the end of the year and the council is looking to conduct interviews for the city attorney.”I’ve had a long career and a long time with the city of San Dimas,” Steres said. A date to interview possible candidates is still to be determined.

The San Dimas homeless update proposed by council member Ryan Vienna was held off due to his absence.

The San Dimas City Council will meet again for their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 29.