Agenda - Council Work Session - 10/27/2020

Home

CC Work Session 2.2. Meeting Date: 10/27/2020 Information Title: Discuss Resolution #20-225 for New Curbside Recycling Contract with ACE Solid Waste, Inc. Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to continue the conversation from the October 13, 2020 City Council meeting related to the curbside recycling contract with Ace Solid Waste, Inc. During the City Council meeting on October 13, 2020, City Council was concerned about the automatic step increases built into the contract starting on the first of each year. Since the previous City Council meeting, Staff has reached out to neighboring and comparable communities to see if their contracts include an automatic annual increase. Staff also reached out to Anoka, who recently finished an RFP process, to see if all proposals include an automatic annual increase. Staff has also reached out to Ace Solid Waste, Inc. for additional information. Attached is a document outlining a comparison of rates for comparable and/or adjacent communities. Staff would like to note that Ramsey is a unique City that does not see some of the efficiencies of other Cities of our size as we are a large City with a significant number of single family homes. Many comparable communities see cost savings related to the number of apartment buildings that allow for centralized pickup (one large dumpster for 300 units, compared to 300 individual homes in Ramsey). Ramsey's unique rural character, sheer acreage of City size, and large City lots provides a unique challenge related to garbage hauling. The City of Anoka shared that their previous contract (a 5 year contract that was extended 2 years) included an escalation scale, and all proposals in their recent RFP (that ended October 16, 2020) included an escalation scale as their RFP directed. They directed proposals to not include an annual increase of more than 3%. They hope to sign a new contract in November 2020. Staff found that annual escalators are common in this type of contract. These types of escalation scales or annual increases are typically seen due to extra processing fees the haulers are being charged. Direction needed: Staff would like to present this information to City Council and receive direction on if direction negotiations should continue with Ace Solid Waste, Inc. or if Staff should start the formal Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Below is an excerpt from the original October 13 City Council Case. Please refer to the October 13 City Council Case for a more detailed background on the needs and options for recycling within Ramsey. The City is in the final year of a three (3) year contract with ACE Solid Waste for curbside collection of recyclable materials. The current contract will expire on December 31, 2020. In March of this year, the Environmental Policy Board (EPB) reviewed the options available to the City regarding recycling service (negotiate an extension or new contract with ACE, prepare a Request for Proposal [RFP], or migrate to an open hauling system) and recommended that the City attempt to negotiate an extension or new contract with ACE Solid Waste. Subsequently, the City Council reviewed this topic in May and directed Staff to proceed with negotiations with ACE Solid Waste on a new curbside recycling contract. The purpose of this case is to consider approving a new curbside recycling contract with ACE Solid Waste, Inc. The City of Ramsey and ACE Solid Waste have been working together since 1990 to provide curbside recycling service for residential properties. Over this span of time, there have been some major changes in recycling such as expansion of acceptable materials (and now, some reduction of acceptable materials), collection systems (went from dual sort to single sort), and pricing. In 1990, the monthly rate per household