Midway City Sanitary District

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Midway City Sanitary District
Special district overview
FormedJanuary 1939 (1939-01)
Headquarters14451 Cedarwood Street, Westminster, California
  • 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. "ABOUT US". Midway City Sanitary District. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  2. "Midway City Sanitary District". ISDOC. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  3. "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. 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