Agenda - Council - 10/28/2025 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Senior Planner Anderson shared that through his research he believes the last RFP was done before the initial contract for service was signed which was in the early 1990s. He noted that direction since he has been on Staff has always been to negotiate with ACE since everything had always worked well with them. He stated they normally will survey other cities around to see what prices they pay for recycling; however, it is a hard comparison to make as each city handles recycling and trash services differently. Councilmember Stewart asked about the risk associated with doing an RFP. Senior Planner Anderson noted that ACE would be allowed to submit a bid and he assumes that they would. Councilmember Buscher added that there are only a few services in the area that offer recycling services so the bid process would likely not take a very long time. Senior Planner Anderson shared that there are currently eight to ten licensed recycling haulers in the City; however, some only do commercial properties or apartment buildings. He added that services that are not currently licensed in the City can still submit a bid. Councilmember Specht asked if they moved to an open hauling system if they would still require each hauler to report the tonnage of recycling that they collect so it can be reported to the County. Senior Planner Anderson noted that the reporting would take more administrative time in an open hauler system to track this information down. He added that they would also have to update City Code to make it very clear that reporting is mandatory and failure to report could result in the revocation of their license to operate in the City. He explained that if they were with an open hauler system then the education on what can and cannot be recycled becomes more generalized as each hauler will have different standards for what they will and will not pick up. City Administrator Hagen asked how organics recycling would come into play with this. He asked if this has to be available to residents through a County requirement. Senior Planner Anderson said this is not yet a requirement; however, beginning in 2030, the seven - county metro will have to have an option for curbside organics recycling per a State mandate. He shared that they currently have an organics drop-off space at Public Works. Mayor Heineman asked if the last time they extended this contract it was for another five years. Senior Planner Anderson said yes. Mayor Heineman said that he has experience with RFPs for work and he does not like them as they end up paying more in the end because the companies have to build into this contract what they estimate their costs will be in five years. He noted that the longer the term of the contract, the more waste there is built in to accommodate for inflation and other unknowns. He asked if they have ever done a year -by -year contract.