HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.F.1. Update on Refuse/Recycling Request for Proposals Io.F.
CITY OF SHAKOPEE
Memorandum
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Mark McNeill, City Administrator
SUBJECT: Update on Refuse/Recycling Request for Proposal
DATE: November 29, 2012
Comment:
ACTION SOUGHT:
Council should give direction on its preferences regarding some policy questions that are to be a part of
the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the City's organized garbage and recycling contract.
BACKGROUND:
In September, the City hired Foth Engineering (who partnered with Schaefer Consulting) to provide
assistance in the preparation of an RFP for the City's garbage and recycling contract.
Foth and staff prepared for, and met with the Environmental Advisory Commission three times to get its
take on a number of policy issues relating to the RFP. We were fortunate to have representatives from
about six prospective haulers in attendance at each of the EAC meetings. They provided valuable input.
At the December 4 meeting, consultants Dan Krivit and Tracy Schaefer will summarize the work
accomplished to date, and will be seeking input from the Council regarding some key policy questions
before moving to the next step.
As shown in the attached summary memo from Foth, it is anticipated that the RFP will be in final draft
stage in January. The Council would be asked to give its final approval to the RFP at the first meeting
in February. The final version of the RFP is scheduled to be released on February 20, 2013.
RECOMMENDATION:
Council should listen and give feedback as requested.
RELATIONSHIP TO VISIONING:
This supports Goal A "Keep Shakopee a safe and healthy community, where residents can pursue active
and quality lifestyles."
ACTION REOUIRED:
Council should listen, and give direction as needed.
Mark McNeill
MM:en City Administrator
eFoth Memorandum
Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC
Eagle Point II. 8550 Hudson Blvd. North, Suite 105
Lake Elmo, MN 55042
(651) 288 -8550 • Fax: (651) 288 -8551
www.foth.com
November 29, 2012
TO: Mark McNeill, City Administrator (Shakopee)
CC: Jamie Polley (Shakopee); Bruce Loney (Shakopee); Mike Hullander (Shakopee); Warren
Shuros (Foth)
FR: Dan Krivit (Foth)
Tracy Schaefer (Schaefer Consulting)
RE: Development of the City of Shakopee's Request for Proposals for Refuse and Recycling
Services — Results to Date
Introduction
The City of Shakopee retained Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC ( "Foth ")
together with Schaefer Consulting as a subcontractor to provide technical and strategic
planning consulting services to the City of Shakopee to assist with the development of a
request for proposals (RFP) for residential refuse, recycling, and yard waste collection
services. This RFP process was initiated by the City to modernize the terms, enhance recycling
technologies, and to help assure competitive pricing. This memo is a summary of results to
date and recommends a schedule for completion of the RFP.
Process
City staff formed a staff team to guide the consultants' work. The City staff team
consists of: Mark McNeill, Bruce Loney, Mike Hullander and Jamie Polley. The
extended project team (staff + consultants) held a project kick -off meeting on October 11
to refine the consultants' scope of work and develop a project schedule.
Three meetings of the City's Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) were held on
October 24, November 14, and November 28. Background information and key policy
questions about the City's residential solid waste and recycling system were discussed by
the EAC. The consultant team requested feedback from the EAC at each meeting on a
series of topics to help formulate advisory recommendations to be forwarded to City
Council.
The information contained in this memorandum is considered privileged and confidential
and is intended only for the use of recipients and Foth.
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Regular staff team meetings were held after each EAC meeting to debrief about results,
discuss additional administrative details about the RFP, and prepare for the next meeting.
Additional technical and administrative issues have been identified by the extended
project team. These and other issues will be included in the draft RFP for City Council
consideration. The staff team will continue to oversee the consultants' development of
the RFP.
Existing City Contract System
The City has a contract for refuse, recycling and yard waste collection services with
Dick's Sanitation that expires on May 31, 2014. The existing contract was originally
signed in 2001 and has been extended twice. The existing contract and scope of the
proposed new RFP is for residential service only and therefore does not directly impact
commercial refuse and recycling or City neighborhoods without municipal sewer service.
Refuse is collected in rolling trash carts supplied by Dick's on a weekly schedule with
specified routes. The City currently has a "dual- stream" recycling system with Dick's
whereby recyclables are separated by residents into paper materials (e.g., newspaper,
magazines, mixed mail / home office paper, cardboard) and containers (e.g., cans, some
plastics bottles, and glass bottles / jars). Recyclables are collected weekly on the same
day as refuse. Dick's also offers several yard waste collection options on a subscription
basis. Appliances and/or other bulky items are picked up on Wednesdays. Dick's owns
the refuse and yard waste carts. The City owns the recycling bins. Dick's does the
billing on a quarterly basis direct to residents as per the terms and conditions of the City
contract.
Further Details of the current collection system are available on the City's web page at:
http: / /www.ci.shakopee .mn.us /refuse_recycle.cfm. The City also posts the current
contracted rate schedule at:
http: / /www.ci.shakopee.mn.us/ pages /General/DicksSanitationPriceList 11.pdf.
Results of EAC Feedback To Date
The consultants asked the EAC for feedback on certain policy and operations planning
issues that will impact the City's proposed RFP including collection services to be
specified. The EAC provided the following feedback to -date:
• Keep it simple — Do not make the RFP overly complex.
• Encourage competition — Do not intentionally exclude any eligible company
through specific requirements.
• Price is very important but not the only consideration. Other proposal evaluation
criteria should include:
■ Demonstrated experience and capacity to provide high - quality service,
both in collection operations and overall customer service (e.g., reporting
to the City, responsiveness to residents' requests via phone calls and
media, etc.);
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• References from other similar, existing municipal customers;
• Thoroughness and responsiveness to the RFP requirements and
instructions; and
• Overall environmental benefits including innovations to continuously
improve recycling and reduce emission impacts..
• Single - stream recycling should be the preferred "base" scenario in the RFP. (But
dual- stream recycling can be allowed if proposed by a hauler as an alternate.)
♦ The RFP should contain two options for ownership of the refuse and recycling
carts:
• Contractor ownership (as is the case today under the existing contract); or
• City ownership.
A final decision and means to such a purchase will depend on the prices proposed
in response to the RFP, preferred fmancing mechanism if the City owns the carts,
and further policy direction from City Council. Under either cart ownership
option, it would still be the responsibility of the hauler to manage the inventory,
deliver and maintain the carts.
• The RFP should specify that yard waste service should continue as it exists today
as a subscription service with only minor modifications. The contractor should
own the yard waste carts.
• Organic waste (e.g., food waste) collection should be an option in the RFP.
Respondents should be allowed to specify their own, preferred method of organic
waste collection (e.g., commingled with yard waste; kept as a separate
commodity; co- collected with refuse; etc.). Organic waste should be a
"subscription" option for residents and not a city -wide, universally available
service (i.e., only subscribers should be required to pay for the additional service).
The RFP should specify the contractor will own the organic waste carts if they are
needed (depending on the method of collection proposed). Respondents should
propose organics program details, but know that the City may phase the
subscription organics program into the new contract. For example, the refuse,
recycling and yard waste services would begin on June 1, 2014, but organics
services may not begin until spring of 2015.
• The RFP should encourage differential rate schedules for 30, 60 and 90 gallon
refuse collection service. But the RFP should not specify "Pay As You Throw"
(PAYT) rate increments between these rates.
♦ The RFP should specify minimum public education tools that the contractor shall
provide such as:
• Annual calendar;
• Quarterly newsletter (written and/or electronic); and
• Instructions on cart stickers and hang -tags on new single - stream carts.
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• The RFP should encourage, but not require, other hauler - provided public
education tools such as:
• Web page specific to Shakopee;
• Other electronic / social media (e.g., email, eNewsletter, etc.); and/or
• Resident rewards for participating in recycling.
• The RFP should specify additional materials to be added to the list of required
recyclable items such as:
• All types of rigid #1 through #7 plastics (instead of just #1 PET and #2
HDPE bottles);
• Aseptic cartons / juice boxes; and
• Boxboard (e.g., cereal boxes, pasta boxes, cracker boxes, etc.);
• The RFP would accept, but not require, other materials to be proposed for
collection by the respondents such as:
• Textiles, shoes, clothing; or
• Scrap metal.
In addition to EAC policy recommendations, the City staff team and consultants have
identified a number of other issues that will be addressed in the new RFP that include, but
are not limited to:
• Snow bird policy for residents that leave for extended periods.
• Alley refuse collection.
♦ Recycling in the parks.
♦ Spring road restrictions /truck limitations.
♦ Brush pick -up.
• Valet (aka "walk -in ") services.
• Opt -in for non -city sewer residents.
• Recycling revenue sharing formula,
• Fuel escalator costs.
♦ Electronic billing.
• Liquated damages.
• Handling of past due accounts (e.g., bad debt turned over to the city for residential
assessment for unpaid bills).
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Proposed RFP Schedule and Process �
The Project Team is recommending that a City Council workshop be scheduled for some
time in mid to late January 2013 to review a complete draft of the RFP. Then, after
receiving direction from City Council,the Team would revise and finalize the RFP for
release on February 20,2013. Proposals would be due on March 20.
A proposal review staff committee should be tasked with carefully reviewing and
evaluating each eligible proposal. In May,the committee should then report to the
Council with its recommendations for the top proposer(s). City Council should authorize
negotiations with the top ranked proposer(s). If negotiations are not successful,the
committee should move to negotiations with the second ranked proposer and so on.
The current schedule suggests that the City Council will authorize a new contract in June~� �
2013. The new contract would begin on June 1, 2014. The extensive lead time is to
provide adequate notice for the contractor to purchase any new trucks as needed and for
the City to plan and implement any other system changes(e.g., single-sfream recycling;
City purchase and ownership of carts if needed; etc.). .
It is the Ciiy's policy and intent to make the entire process as fair and transparent as
possible to all parties. During the proposal development and review stage, it will be
important that all communications about this RFP go through the City Administrator to
provide a coordinated channel for questions and answers. All state laws and City
purchasing policies pertaining to procurement of services via RFP will be followed. The
contents of a11 proposals will be held by the City staff team as confidential throughout the
review and negotiation period until such time as a new final contract is fully executed.�
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