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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-02-18 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Coi.ncil Special Meeting 2/18/9VKJ Page 1. CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1993 Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Thursday, February 18, 1993 at 10:07 a.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. PLLDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!, Mayor Bender called for the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Irving Katz Councilman Joseph Schreiber John P. Kelly, City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary 1. gt3MylC PARTICIPATION - Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is on this meeting notice. Speakers will be limited to three minutes during this item. There will be a -thirty (30) minute aggregate time limit 'for this item, and speakers are encouraged to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation. Mayor Bender OPENED and CLOSED the Public Participation with NO RESPONSE. 2. regarding the single- family residential sanitation services contract. APPROVED rejection of all bids for single-family residential sanitation services and APPROVED preparation of a new Request for Proposal for this service. Mr. Kelly said during the meeting of February 10, 1993, Council directed him to continue negotiations with Seacoast Sanitation and bring it back to Council for consideration. He said the conversion factor on the tipping fee was a major stumbling block. He had recommended that the increase on the tipping not increase more than two cents on the dollar and Seacoast's counteroffer was seven cents on the dollar. Mr. Kelly said there was some concern by Council regarding whether or not tree limbs and branches had to be attached by one of the bags. He said the price per bag is $1.10 and Seacoast is requesting seven cents on every dollar that the tipping fee increased, plus a consumer price index increase. Mr. Kelly said the final proposal for the Council to consider at present, that Seacoast be given a fixed increase of a minimum eight cents in each year of the contract for every bag and after that, two cents on every dollar. He said next year, at a minimum, the price would go from $1.10 to $1.18, plus the CPT, which will probably be 2%, making it $1.20, plus two cents for every dollar that the tipping fee might be raised. He said Council needs to make a determination as to whether or not this is acceptable. Mr. Kelly said the Finance Department has supplied Council with an City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 2 analysis, which does not include what the tipping fee would escalate to, due to not knowing this. Mr. Kelly said he has been asked by most of the haulers not to make a recommendation or at least not to recommend them; therefore, he is not going to. C/M Abramowitz asked if there was any other proposal from any of the vendors which indicated a yearly escalation contractually and Mr. Kelly said All Service Refuse proposed specific prices in each of the five years as follows: First year - $1.68 Second year - $1.74 Third year - $1.80 Fourth year - $1.86 Fifth year - $1.93 Harold Carter, representative for All Service Refuse, said the proposal also stated that they would delete the CPI clause so there was not an increase per bag or anything else, but was instead of the CPI, which is approximately 5% per year, and if the CPI is 10%, they would still be at 5%. C/M Abramowitz said the newspaper reflected the County's opinion regarding the tipping fees. He said the County is talking about a $5.00 tipping fee increase, which could be a potential problem. He said he can understand an increase in the COLA, but is not in favor of an automatic increase every year and then not being in the position to know what the tipping fee is going to be. He said he is in favor .of -putting in .a cap on ,a tipping fee increase. lie said he is not in favor of an automatic increase in the bags and asked if the costs for the bags will be decreased if the costs go down. V/M Schumann said the reason Council created a resolution for the bag system was based on the $1.10 proposal. He suggested that Council rescind the resolution for the bag system and consider unlimited garbage pickup. C/M Schreiber said at present the bag system appears to be the lowest cost trash pickup system. He said if the City were to go back to the cans, it will not save the residents anything. He said the advantage of the bag system is if you don't use it, you don't pay for it. He said if it works in other cities, it could work in Tamarac, but it must be given a chance. He said the problem he sees is a five year contract and any time a new system is being tried, a shorter time period is utilized. He said it may be worthwhile to rescind the agreement with Seacoast Sanitation and consider discussing it with the next bidder. C/M Katz MOVED to REJECT the bid of Seacoast Sanitation. C/M Abramowitz requested that a timeframe be stipulated in any upcoming negotiations. C/M Katz suggested that Council hold another Special meeting on Monday, February 22, 1993 and a report be given to Council as to the results of any other negotiations, as to not delay this any longer. C/M Schreiber SECONDED the Motion. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE Sal Coniglio, representative for County Waste, asked if Council is requesting that the City Manager is to negotiate with All Service Refuse for $1.68 per bag. He stated his calculation differences between cans and bags. C/M Abramowitz said there are certain legalities tied to a City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 3 negotiation after receipt of an Request for Proposal. He said the trend in the world today is a user fee. Mr. Coniglio said that County Waste can begin service within a week and the trucks are ready to go. Mr. Kelly asked if County Waste would accept the two cent conversion factor on the tipping fee and Mr. Coniglio said that is the way it works out in calculations. Discussion was held regarding the price breakdown by County Waste. Dick Marant, representative of Seacoast Sanitation, said he understood at the previous meeting that Council gave direction to the City Manager to negotiate with Seacoast Sanitation and if the negotiations were not satisfactory, then the City Manager was to parallel the negotiations with a new bid spec package. He asked if he misunderstood something. Mayor Bender said the intent was to save time in case a new bid spec was created. Mr. Marant referred to the All Service bid and asked if, during the negotiation process, it is possible to lower the original bid and Mr. Kelly said that is incorrect. Mr. Kelly said the City has the right to reject all of the bids and anything that was on the table would be off the table and the City has the right to negotiate for whatever terms it wants. Mr. Marant asked if the City would be able to negotiate with anyone if the bids are rejected and Mr. Kelly said, yes. Mr. Marant said the City would have to reject all bids in order to negotiate a lower price with any vendor and Mr. Kelly agreed. C/M Katz MOVED to REJECT all bids received for single family garbage service, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz. Mr. Marant asked if Seacoast would be eligible to reenter into negotiations with the City if this Motion passes and Mr. Kelly said, yes. Marie Horenburger, representative of Browning Ferris Industries, expressed her dissatisfaction in the actions of Council. She said she understood that if the negotiations were not successful, that the bids would all be denied and that the probably would be to begin a new bid process. She said it would be in the best interest of the City that accepting new bid specs would be the most reasonable thing to do by preparing a tight bid, addressing all of the issues that the City has a concern with. Harold Carter, representative for All Service Refuse, asked if the City Manager would have the right to negotiate a smaller bag at a lesser fee in order to provide a request by the residents for that service and still remain within the confines of the Request for Proposal. Mr. Kraft said the basis of the Request for Proposal cannot be changed, but once the bids have been rejected, anything can be negotiated upon. C/M Abramowitz said Council needs to express to the City Manager what is wanted for single family garbage service. He said if the Council rejects all bids, then the City Manager can negotiate with any company. He said he wants the City to get the best deal available and it is time for this situation to be resolved. Mr. Carter urged Council to consider staying within the Request for Proposal process and to give direction to the City Manager to negotiate a bag system with All Service Refuse, giving a very short timeframe to provide the proposal. City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 4 C/M Schreiber said the City has made a commitment to the bag system for single family homes. V/M Schumann said user fee is good as long as it is not overpaid. He said the initial $1.10 proposal has been nonexistent since the beginning and the closest bid to that was $1.68. He said the bag system may not be the way to go. C/M Schreiber suggested that the City continue in the negotiation process prior to making any further changes. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE C/M Abramowitz requested that Council give direction to the City Manager to make this a number one priority to negotiate for the single family garbage service. TAPE 2 V/M Schumann said Council gave direction to the City Manager at the previous Council meeting to prepare a new Request for Proposal and the Council is giving the City Manager input as to what to put in the Request for Proposal. Mayor Bender said he had requested that all Council members submit their recommendations to the City Manager in writing and as of a couple days ago, he was the only one to have submitted anything in writing. Mr. Coniglio said Council needs to specify exactly what is wanted for the bads. C/M Katz asked the timeframe for advertising and if the process must begin again. Mr. Kelly said the minimum is ten days from the advertising date to the bid opening. Mr. Marant requested that Council give the City Manager the parameters of terms to negotiate with in order to help with the complexity of this type of document. Mayor Bender said the City Manager will be given the parameters to work with. C/M Katz asked if the City can collect proposals from all of the vendors without going out to bid again and Mr. Kelly said he would be uncomfortable negotiating in the manner. C/M Katz asked if it is possible to utilize the text that Council requests and the current bids without going out to bid again. Mr. Kraft said C/M Katz is referring to an informal form of Request for Proposal procedure. He suggested that the best way is to either authorize the bid procedure as formally as it is normally done or to negotiate with one particular vendor. C/M Abramowitz said Mr. Kelly has discussed the procedures with each of the Council members. He said Council should make a decision regarding the following: 1) whether or not the City wants to go with bags, 2) number of times garbage is to be picked up per week, 3) the utilization of one or two sizes of bags, 4) yard trash and how it is to be handled, and 5) bulk pickup throughout the year. C/M Katz asked if this can be completed within a week or ten days, including the negotiations. He said if the City needs to advertise, and it takes more than ten days or two weeks, Council will be on vacation prior to it being resolved. 11 1 C/M Abramowitz asked if it is possible to have Staff negotiate with two vendors per day and Mr. Kelly said it is a possibility, City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 5 but it is not a good idea. Mr. Kelly said Council is aware that there is a timeframe involved with this and Council is to submit in writing each of their recommendations for this. He requested that these recommendations be received in his office by Friday in order for Council to meet again on Monday for discussion to authorize a specific bid to be put out. If it is advertised for ten days and all of the other timeframed procedures take place, the Council is looking at approximately a 1-1/2 months minimum to this being resolved. Mr. Kelly said other than this, he would recommend that if Council directs him to negotiate with a vendor, then they should pick one with whom he can negotiate. He said he is uncomfortable negotiating with two vendors at the same time. C/M Katz asked the timeframe and Mr. Kelly said if Council authorizes him to meet with any one vendor, they can meet this afternoon and he would make Friday available for meetings and a basis for a meeting would be ready for Monday. He said if that criteria is not acceptable, then he would meet with the next vendor and so on. C/M Katz asked if the City would need a timeframe within the two hearings and Mr. Kelly said there needs to be ten days with a three day lead time. C/M Schreiber asked if it is possible to request two sizes of bags, a 20 gallon and a 30 gallon bag and whether it is within the parameters of the Request for Proposal. Mr. Kraft said the previous action taken by Council rejected all of the Requests for Proposal. Mayor Bender said he had suggested the two sizes for the sole purpose that he had received numerous calls stating that the 30 gallon bag is difficult for the elderly to carry when it is full. C/M Schreiber MOVED that the City Manager negotiate with All Service Refuse. C/M Abramowitz said he would SECOND the Motion, if the timeframe element is inserted in the Motion. Mayor Bender RECESSED the meeting at 11:12 a.m. and RECONVENED at 11:20 a.m. with ALL PRESENT. C/M Schreiber repeated the Motion as being to direct the City Manager to negotiate with All Service Refuse based on additions regarding a timeframe by C/M Abramowitz, C/M Abramowitz WITHDREW his SECOND to the Motion. C/M Katz SECONDED the Motion by C/M Schreiber. Mayor Bender handed the gavel to V/M Schumann and requested that the Motion be modified to direct the City Manager to negotiate with All Service Refuse and be completed no later than Monday, February 22, 1993 and on Tuesday, February 23, 1993 to proceed with Southern Sanitation. C/M Katz disagreed with this modification. He said his Second would not restrict it to two bidders. C/M Abramowitz said at present, if this Motion passes, the only direction that the Council has given the City Manager is for Mr. Kelly to negotiate with All Service Refuse. He said Mr. Kelly would negotiate with All Service and on Monday, February 22, 1993, he would come back to Council with the outcome of the negotiations. He suggested that Council direct the City Manager to make this a process, naming the order in which to negotiate with City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 6 the various companies and if the proposals are rejected by Council, then move on to the next one. Mayor Bender asked if there would be less time involved if Council proceeded with C/M Abramowitz's suggestion rather than going for a new Request for Proposal. Mr. Kelly said it is really up to Council as to the length of time it would take. Mayor Bender said he feels that the City should go for a new Request for Proposal. Mr. Marant asked how the Council would be able to decipher what would be considered the lowest and best bid. Mary Blasi, Finance Director, said she would be uncomfortable going directly to each vendor and attempting to negotiate with them. She said under the current garbage contract with Southern Sanitation, there is a renegotiating clause and they would be the only company with which the City could renegotiate at present. Ms. Horenburger said Browning Ferris Industries had a previous franchise agreement with the City and asked if that agreement had stated that there had to be a notification of a time certain in order to negotiate. Mr. Kraft said the City currently has a contractual relationship with Southern Sanitation and one of the legal bases is that there is this relationship and the City can negotiate with them as to the terms of the agreement. Ms. Horenburger said that is a month -to -month contract and it is not the original agreement. Mr. Kraft said the City can negotiate on the month -to -month contract and it is part of the original. Discussion was held regarding the original contract. Ms. Horenburger said she is in agreement that this should be rebid and all of the issues that were raised by Council are addressed in the bid package. Mr. Carter expressed his appreciation to Council for considering the negotiations with All Service, but requested that Council not negotiate at all. He suggested that a bid document be done with specifications. He said All Service received a legal opinion as to the Request for Proposal process and the rejection of bids. He said it is their legal opinion that in the Request for Proposal process, if all bids are rejected, all bids for single and multi- family would have to be rejected. He said there was one Request for Proposal document and all bids would have to be rejected. Mayor Bender said there are several different opinions regarding this document. Bill Laystrom, attorney for Southern Sanitation, objected to Mr. Carter's interpretation of the bid documents. He said Southern Sanitation will negotiate with Mr. Kelly if requested. He said it is Waste Management's belief that they are the only one with which the City is able to negotiate. Mayor Bender handed the gavel to V/M Schumann and MOVED to APPROVE going out with a new Request for Proposal and have all of the issues presented by Council to be included in the document for single-family service, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz. 11 C/M Abramowitz asked if this will expedite the timeframe. TAPE 3 C/M Abramowitz asked if it would be more appropriate to go out with a Request for Proposal and Mr. Kelly suggested that Council City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 7 reject all bids, authorize him to negotiate with Southern Sanitation and bring it before Council on Monday, February 22, 1993 for consideration. C/M Abramowitz asked if a bid process can be done legally rather than a formal Request for Proposal and Mr. Kraft said the City has a procedure which is followed referred to as Standard Operating Procedure, and this would be a Request for Proposal in this case. Mr. Kelly said he needs to receive the Council's input prior to preparing a new bid document. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE C/M Schreiber asked what is holding up the multi -family service and Mr. Kelly said the $.95 penalty. Mr. Kelly said it is on the February 24, 1993 agenda for discussion. 3. DISCUSSION AND _POSSIBLE ACTION regarding the job description of the Risk Manager. SYNOPSIS OF ACT;QN* APPROVED amending the job description that the Risk Manager report to the City Manager and not the Personnel Director. Mayor Bender MOVED to AGENDIZE Item 3, SECONDED by C/M Katz. VOTE: C/M Abramowitz - ABSENT C/M Schreiber - AYE V/M Schumann - AYE C/M Katz - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE Mayor Bender said this is to discuss the clarification of the job description of the Risk Manager. He said in a letter dated December 30, 1992, he had made some recommendations that the Risk Manager be a full-time position and be responsible to report directly to the City Manager. He said in the current Code, this is a position of a Director. He said the proposed job description indicates that the Director would be under the general supervision of the Personnel Director and ultimately responsible to the City Manager. Mayor Bender said he is uncomfortable with this statement because he does not believe that there should be one Director responsible to another Director. He said Directors should be responsible to the City Manager. He requested opinions from Council regarding this in order to give the City Manager direction for the hiring of a new Risk Manager. C/M Schreiber said the City has had two Risk Managers in the last couple of years and there seems to be a problem or a lack of communication between the City Manager and the Risk Manager. He suggested that Council consider hiring a Risk Manager who would report to the Mayor and Council as opposed to anyone else. C/M Schreiber said Council should be aware and in control of what the Risk Manager is going to do. Mayor Bender said Article 8 of the Code describes the duties of the Risk Manager, but the City hires a City Manager who is in charge of administration for the City and the Directors should be directly accountable to the City Manager. He said he does not feel that the Personnel Director should be involved at all with the Risk Manager. C/M Katz said there is not a need for more middle people. He said the Code states that the Risk Manager is a Director and as a Director, this person is as much a Department Head as any other City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 8 Director and should be directly responsible to the City Manager. He said it also states in the Code that the Director shall by March 1 of each year submit to the City Council a formal report covering the prior fiscal year. C/M Schreiber asked if the other Councilmembers have received these reports. C/M Katz said he does not agree with the way this has been handled in the past. C/M Schreiber said Council should make some recommendations to change the Charter if problems exist as it currently is. Mayor Bender suggested that if a Council member disagrees with the Charter or amendments, then Motions should be made to change it. He said at present, the City has violated the Code where the Risk Manager was accountable to the Personnel Director instead of the City Manager. He said this position should be physically located in an office next to the City Attorney and should work closely with the City Attorney. He said this person should be well qualified to handle Risk Management, claims review and adjustments. C/M Katz asked if the City has advertised for a Risk Manager at present and Mayor Bender said that is why this is being discussed in order to derive an appropriate job description. Discussion was held regarding the details of the job description. Mr. Kelly said a Director means a Department Head and Council has not created a department called Risk Management in the City and there is not one. He said when the risk management position was first created, it was filled with a consultant, in order not to go full-time, in which Susan Tillman reported to the Personnel Department as a consultant. Mr. Kelly said in the Code, at present, the Risk Manager is a Department Director, which creates another layer of bureaucracy which he was attempting to avoid. He said in his position as administrator, he is supposed to make recommendations to Council based on the personnel he has in the structure that exists. He said Mr. Dupre, the new Personnel Director, has extensive background, has been involved in risk management and has some wonderful ideas on that, and is an appropriate person to oversee it. He said if it does not work out, it can be changed later, but to interject that he be automatically excluded from this, does not take advantage of the resources the City has available. He said he is trying to maximize the available resources. Mr. Kelly said he does not see how shifting the direct responsibility to him would be efficient with Mr. DuPre's expertise. V/M Schumann said he sees it as being another layer by going through the Personnel Director. He asked how many other Department Heads do this and Mr. Kelly said the Risk Manager is not a Department Head. Mr. Kelly said Council would be creating a Risk Management Department with a secretary. V/M Schumann said he has not seen the background Mr. Kelly claims Mr. Dupre has. He said he has not seen a risk management background in Mr. DuPre's personnel file. Mayor Bender said there does not have to be a department to have a Director. He said a Department Head or a Director does not have to have a secretary or typist or anything else. He said at present, there is clerical help, secretarial help and all other help that a Risk Manager would need in the City Manager's office. He said in LJ City Council Special Meeting 2/18/93/KJ Page 9 reviewing other cities, the Risk Manager is a very important position which could save a lot of money and he does not want to have it be the Risk Manager's responsibility to have his work contaminated as a result of having to work through the Personnel Department. Mayor Bender said this was attempted previously with Peter Mack, previous Personnel Director, and Susan Tillman, previous Risk Manager, in which this was not successful. He said he wants to make sure that the Risk Manager is hired and does the job to protect the City. C/M Katz referred to the Code, Section 2-344 regarding the duties of the Director. Mayor Bender recommended that the paragraph in the job description where it refers to the major function and the responsibilities be modified to be directly responsible to the City Manager instead of the Personnel Director. C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE that the major function of the Risk Manager's work is to be performed under the supervision of the City Manager, SECONDED by C/M Katz. VOTE: C/M Katz - AYE V/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE C/M Abramowitz - ASSENT Mayor Bender - AYE With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 12:00 p.m. CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK WY OF TAMARAC APMVED AT AtMNQ OF lBENDER MAYOR