Midway City Sanitary District

Midway City Sanitary District
Special district overview
FormedJanuary 1939 (1939-01)
Headquarters14451 Cedarwood Street, Westminster, California
Special district executive
  • Robert Housley, General Manager
Websitehttps://www.midwaycitysanitaryca.gov/

The Midway City Sanitary District (MCSD) is a special district that manages wastewater and solid waste services to Westminster and unincorporated Midway City.[1][2] It is the only in-house trash collection agency left in Orange County,[2] all other agency contract out that service.

History

The Midway City Sanitary District was formed in January 1939 under the Sanitary District Act of 1923.[1][3]

Following demands of an 8% pay raise from MCSD employees in 1985 and the board not offering any counterproposals, workers went on strike.[4] The strike ended after three days after a $1.25 rate hike was imposed and a 1% increase in pay was proposed by board members.[5] However, union representatives did not continue bargaining until after the 1985 election where three incumbents were on the ballot as well as a ballot measure which, if passed, would have the district place advisory measures on future ballots before increasing rates.[5] Following a 12% countywide turnout,[6] two challengers displaced two incumbents on the board.[7]

During the 1988 campaign for the board of directors, campaign mudslinging involved two incumbent directors on opposing sides, accusations of inexperience and being power hungry, and a union flyer that linked consideration of contracting out trash and sewer service to the mafia.[8] Both incumbents were reelected.[9]

In 1993, the city of Garden Grove applied to the Orange County LAFCO to takeover the Garden Grove Sanitary District and the portion of the Midway City Sanitary District within Garden Grove.[10] By September 1995, action had still not been taken on Garden Grove's application, causing frustration with local elected officials.[11] By 1997, the reorganization of the Garden Grove Sanitary District into the city of Garden Grove was complete and a portion of the territory of MCSD was removed to make the boundaries more contiguous with the city of Westminster.[3][12]

The board in 2014 censured one of its members, Al Krippner, following allegations of physical and verbal assault at a district event.[13] Krippner, along with fellow Board member Frank Cobo had previously faced controversy for charging a stipend for attending a community concert.[14]

A compressed natural gas fueling station to fuel its trucks was opened in 2015.[15][16]

Governance

Midway City Sanitary District is governed by a five-member Board of Directors, each elected at-large to a four-year term. The current members of the Board are:

Board Member Term began Term ends
Sergio Contreras 2022 2026
Mark Nguyen 2022 2026
Andrew Nguyen 2022 2026
Chi Charlie Nguyen 2024 2028
Tyler Diep 2024 2028

References

  1. ^ a b "ABOUT US". Midway City Sanitary District. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  2. ^ a b "Midway City Sanitary District". ISDOC. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  3. ^ a b "Municipal Service Review Report for Central Orange County" (PDF). Orange County LAFCO. 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  4. ^ Jarlson, Gary (1985-10-02). "Midway City : Sanitation Workers Strike Over Wages". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  5. ^ a b Rose, Andy; Reyes, David (1985-10-27). "Central County : Sanitary District Subject of Midway City Election". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  6. ^ "Turnout of Only 12% Predicted for Tuesday's Voting". Los Angeles Times. 1985-11-04. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  7. ^ "Orange County Election '85 : Final Results". Los Angeles Times. 1985-11-07. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  8. ^ Klein, Dianne (1988-11-05). "Race Gets Dirty in Sanitary District : Accusations Foul the Air in Midway City". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  9. ^ Archives, L. A. Times (1988-11-10). "Midway City Foes Reelected". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  10. ^ Barker, Robert (1993-12-16). "GARDEN GROVE : City Asks to Control 2 Sanitary Districts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  11. ^ Sullivan, Deborah (1995-09-08). "GARDEN GROVE : Bid to Take Over Sewer System Delayed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  12. ^ Werblin, Cathy (1997-04-09). "Sanitary Services Merger on Agenda". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  13. ^ Ghori, Imran; Haire, Chris (2014-06-03). "Colleagues censure member of Midway City Sanitary District board". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  14. ^ Reicher, Mike (2014-03-16). "Special-district officials get cash for concerts, funerals, parties". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  15. ^ "Sanitary District running on natural gas". Orange County Register. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  16. ^ Haire, Chris (2015-09-03). "Sanitary district opens CNG station". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2025-12-23.

33°45′09″N 117°59′42″W / 33.7525°N 117.9950°W / 33.7525; -117.9950