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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-11-13 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1992 CA7ikM Q8�: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Friday, November 13, 1992, at 9:10 a.m. in Council Chambers of Tamarac City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANrE: Mayor Bender called for the Pledge of Allegiance. PRESENT: Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Irving Katz ALSO PRESENT; John P. Kelly, City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary 1. P7BUC PARTXQUAT-XON - 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. Charles Veniere, resident of Mainlands, Section 6, requested that Council consider the bag pickup system for garbage. Melanie Reynolds, resident, expressed her concern regarding the cost of garbage collection to the residents. C/M Abramowitz said there is a proposal before Council which indicates to all of the companies who responded to the Request for Proposal that they were going to do the billing instead of the City. He said one of the problems the City has had in the past is having the garbage fees posted and sent to the residents on their water and sewer bills. He said most of the residents look at the final figure on their bill, which includes water, sewer, debt service, garbage collection and recycling. C/M Katz said this Request for Proposal will include a 15% franchise fee which will be paid to the City by the vendor. Jo Wright, President of Tamarac Lakes North, said she finds that many of the residents in her area are interested in the use of bags for garbage based on the savings. She requested that Council consider this possibility. She said the President's Council was not aware of the surveys that the City received from three cities. C/M Abramowitz said there have been many meetings held regarding this issue. C/M Schreiber asked if there were surveys received from three cities and where did she receive them. Ms. Wright said she received them from the City Clerk's office. C/M Schreiber asked why Council does not have a copy of these surveys from the City Manager. City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 2 Mr. Kelly said it was agreed that the surveys were not conclusive. C/M Schreiber said it is the City Manager's responsibility to provide every bit of information to Council pertaining to this proposal. Marvin Seidel, resident of Kings Point, asked how the personnel at the dump will be able to determine the amount of trash generated by Kings Point. C/M Abramowitz said the problem was that until this point, every resident in the multi -family paid $7.50 per month, regardless of what size dumpster was on the premises. He said due to everyone paying the same amount for the service, everyone requested a larger size dumpster. C/M Abramowitz said the new proposal is based on the size of the container on the premises, not on the amount of garbage. He said the only one that did not have a tremendous amount of savings was Kings Point because Kings Point is one of the few condos that has two trash containers per building. He said if a facility needs a smaller size container, they are going to pay for a smaller size container, not for the amount of garbage that is in it. C/M Katz said whether it is a single or multi -family service, the recipient should be able to determine what type of garbage service is in the best interest of the community in which you live. He said he feels that a menu is in the best interest of the City, where associations can determine what type of garbage removal is in the best interest of their residents. Bernie Hart, resident of Section 16, said his trash has been reduced drastically due to the recycling of the various items. Be requested that the Council consider going to the bag system. Anthony Grimaldi, resident of Sunflower Heathgate, expressed his approval for the bag system. 2. MOTION TO ]�DQRT fop_ AOgp_ #6,380 declaring the results of the voting on 11/3/92 for amendments to Sections 6.03, 6.04, 8.02 and 8.03 of the City Charter. SYNQPAXA QF ACTION_ RESOLUTION R-r92-177-PASSED APPROVED C/M Abramowitz MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Reso. #6380, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber. Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reso. #6380 in its entirety. The following are the amendment results: Amendment #1: YES: 11,352 NO; 7,812 Amendment #2: YES: 10,566 NO: 8,138 Amendment #3 YES: 9,658 NO: 8,901 VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 1 1 City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 3 3. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION regarding the garbage contracts. A.TNOPS I P Or ACT IPIR = APPROVED pursuing the bag system for single-family waste collection and then, TABLED for more information on the bag system.. APPROVED directing the City Manager to enter into negotiations with Southern Sanitation for multi -family waste collection. Mr. Kelly said on the single-family garbage proposal, the City has one vendor who has offered a bag program that has the potential to be less expensive than the proposal by County Waste for two cans, two times per week. Mr. Kelly said the County Waste proposal for two cans, two times per week is $11.25 per month which equates to approximately a 24.5% decrease over the existing rate. He said the two proposals received for the bag system that appear to be less than that were from Sea Coast Sanitation and All Service Refuse. Mr. Kelly said a month equates to 4.3 weeks multiplied by the cost of the bag. He said the proposal by Sea Coast is one bag per week. He said if the household has pickup on Wednesday and Saturday and the household only puts out one bag on Wednesday, no bag on Saturday, the cost would be $4.77 per month for one bag pickup, but if they put out two bags per week, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday, then the cost is $9.54 per month. Mr. Kelly said if they put out two bags on Wednesday and one bag on Saturday, the cost would be $14.30 and if two bags were put out on both days, the cost is $19.06. Mr. Kelly said the next lowest vendor is All Service Refuse with one bag per week at a cost of $7.24 per month. He said if there are two bags per week, the cost is $14.47 per month, three bags is $21.70 per month and four bags is $28.94. He said there is a $.95 factor which the unit owners are going to have to pay on the recycling service because the contract with Waste Management has a penalty clause if the City changes haulers prior to the end of the contract, which has a duration of approximately two years left. Mr. Kelly said Waste Management has a proposal for bags which is $13.30 for unlimited service. He said there is a minimal amount of garbage generated throughout the community and it appears that there is a potential for a great cost savings to the senior residents with the bag system. Mr. Kelly said even though the bag system has the potential to be a cost savings to some of the residents, it has the potential to be extremely expensive to residents with large families and has the potential for confusion and abuse. He said this could create more litter and code enforcement problems. He said these concerns need to be addressed and considered. Mr. Kelly said the cost for these bags at approximately $20.00 per box can be intimidating compared to the cost of a box of Hefty bags. Mr. Kelly said the Fixed Program has an advantage because it will present minimal monitoring or auditing. He said if the City goes with the fixed $11.25 per month, the City can easily determine what the franchise fee will be. He said the bag system does not provide the City with this opportunity and it does provide some auditing challenges. Mr. Kelly said he opted to go with the traditional program because of the established conveniences, which is the two cans, two times per week service, and will provide a known quantity of the 24.5% rate reduction. He recommended that the single-family bid be awarded to County Waste at $11.25 per month for two cans, two City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 4 times per week. He requested that Council approve meeting with County Waste for preparing the contract, which would be brought back to Council for final approval. C/M Katz said he had requested that the City Manager and City Attorney meet with the representative of Waste Management and come to Council with a conclusive decision as to where the $.95 is going to be, but as of present, he has not received anything on this. C/M Katz expressed his dissatisfaction in receiving the surveys. He said he is capable of deciding what is in the best interest of the City and was elected to do so. He said he was unhappy with the memo dated October 13, 1992 regarding these surveys and the, abilities of Council to make these types of decisions. C/M Katz said if each association were to make their own determination, they could determine what cost they could allow for their residents. Mr. Kelly said he and the City Attorney have met with the representative from Waste Management, but there is no conclusion at present regarding the $.95. Mr. Kelly said the information on the surveys was hedged by the respondees and for that reason it was not an accurate survey and his office did not feel that it was appropriate to pass it on. C/M Katz said the Council should have been able to discuss the survey at a workshop meeting. C/M Abramowitz said in the past he felt that this was the most equitable system for trash removal where you pay for what you use. He said during the investigation process, he found that the City of Plantation subsidizes their garbage program at a cost of $400,000.00 which comes from ad valorem taxes. V/M Schumann said he received a letter from the City of Plantation stating that no City funds are used for their garbage program. C/M Abramowitz said Mayor Veltri had requested that the trash transfer stations not be closed because they were concerned with a tremendous amount of trash being thrown around the City. He said as a result, the City of Plantation pays extra for the trash transfer stations. C/M Abramowitz said he has spoken with many officials and he has changed his opinion about the bag system because it generates the possibility of trash being discarded all over the City. TAPE 2 C/M Abramowitz said the City has the right to reject a company if it is felt that the company cannot provide the service. He said the least expensive is not always the best way to go. He said there are problems concerning the bag system, including a health factor and the expenses incurred from the purchase of the bags. He said he had asked the City Manager if he was going to recommend Sea Coast as the vendor and Mr. Kelly had responded in the negative. Mayor Bender referred to the statement which V/M Schumann read regarding the survey. He said it is important to also recite the question directed to the City of Plantation for their response, which was, "Please explain if your City financially subsidizes your residential garbage program." and the answer to it was, "No funds are used by the City for any garbage program within our City at this date." Mayor Bender said he does not know which program is better, but the Council is required to make a decision and works on the recommendation of the City Manager, who reviews the various systems and makes his recommendations to them. He said there is City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 5 documentation which Council did not receive and he feels strongly that it is very difficult to make a decision as to which program to approve without having the opportunity to review the information that was gathered by the survey. Mayor Bender said whether the survey was not proper or not factual is a decision that the Council should make. C/M Schreiber said Council has an obligation to the residents of the City to provide them with a service at the lowest cost from a reliable contractor. He said in reviewing the various system, the best way to service the residents is with the bag system because 80% of the residents generate a very small amount of garbage. He said the City of Plantation states that they have no problems with the bag system. He said the bag system will be less expensive because if it is not used, the resident does not pay. C/M Schreiber said five years may be too long for this contract. He said there are many faults with this proposal. He referred to Articles 5-7, Page 7, 5-15, Page 10, and other articles. He said there are many inconsistencies with this proposal regarding the fees which should be investigated. C/M Schreiber said oversized containers can be reduced for cost savings to the multi -family residences. He said this is a matter of providing for the lowest, responsible bidder, who is providing a bid for two cubic yards to do the job. V/M Schumann asked on what basis the City Manager's recommendation was formulated. C/M Abramowitz said there are two bag proposals; one of which is two bags per week at $9.54 and the other is two bags per week at $14.47. Mr. Kelly said Council will not receive any other figures on this. V/M Schumann asked how the City Manager bases his findings on the fact that Sea Coast is not a responsible contractor and Mr. Kelly said he did not say that. Mr. Kelly said he is not recommending Sea Coast, but was recommending County Waste. V/M Schumann asked why he would recommend County Waste over Sea Coast Sanitation. Mr. Kelly said he felt that the $11.25 fixed fee was a better deal overall for the City. V/M Schumann asked if Sea Coast is an unqualified bidder and Mr. Kelly said they did meet the qualifications. Mr. Kelly said he has always wanted the bag system, but he felt it was best for the City to go with the two cans, two times per week. He said if the residents are satisfied that they will be adequately served by the bag proposal, he will be happy to recommend it. V/M Schumann asked why he was told continuously that the City of Plantation was plagued with problems and that garbage was thrown around the City, but the survey reflects the opposite. He asked why this survey was withheld from Council. Mr. Kelly said he did not authorize the survey, it was initiated independently and the results were not conclusive. He said he had been told privately that Plantation was subsidized, but on the public record, they would not admit to that. V/M Schumann said the trash transfer stations are closing because Broward County has no funding. City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 6 C/M Abramowitz said the City of Plantation has indicated that they would have a very serious problem if the trash transfer stations were closed. C/M Schreiber asked why it would be necessary for the City of Plantation to subsidize if they are using a system where the people purchase the bags and the contractor charges a rate for pickup and the City is not involved with the removal of waste. C/M Abramowitz said not everything that is thrown out fits in a bag. He said the subsidies being referred to are for the provisions for other places to remove trash that does not fit in the bags. Discussion was held regarding the contents of the Request for Proposal. C/M Katz said the Request for Proposal as distributed required for bulk pickups on whatever types of garbage service is in the best interest of the residents. He said the vendor will be required to provide service a number of times per year for bulk trash pickup. C/M Schreiber said there are two types of service being discussed, single-family and multi -family trash removal. He suggested that they be discussed separately. C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE the City Manager negotiate with. the lowest, responsible bidder for bag removal service for single- family residential. C/M Abramowitz said if Council indicates to the City Manager to begin negotiations with a particular company, he suggested that Council indicate what is wanted and whether they want bags cr cans. He said there is a problem. He said the City Manager has indicated that the lowest possible price for bags was not his recommendation. C/M Katz said he does not feel that it is in the best interest to certain communities in the City to subsidize if their community is going to have to pay more for garbage disposal. He suggested that the City go with a menu system to allow the various developments to decide what type of garbage removal they would like to have. C/M Abramowitz recited an example as follows: If Area A wants two pickups per week and Area B wants one pickup per week and Area C wants three pickups per week. He asked if the City is to go to different vendors for the various areas or is each vendor tc have a particular area for this menu system. C/M Katz said he is suggesting that an association can decide whether cans are in their best interest or the bags and it should be left to them to make this decision. He said the only one that may be hit harder by this type of service would be Staff, but Staff is capable of handling this. C/M Schreiber said the City does not belong in the garbage business. He said every contractor should negotiate with every association to supply them with what they want. He said the bag system for single-family residential is the best means of the majority of the residents in the City under that category. V/M Schumann read the 1990 Census Report. He said he is upset that Council was not given all of the facts prior to attending this meeting. V/M Schumann MOVED to APPROVE rejecting all of the bids and a new Request for Proposal be sent out indicating what the City seeks. 1 C/M Abramowitz said there was information that was vital to Council making the decision. City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 7 C/M Abramowitz MOVED to TABLE this item to review the missing information regarding single-family homes. Mayor Bender requested that V/M Schumann repeat his Motion. V/M Schumann said his Motion was that the Council reject all current bids, reissue a new RFP and let the RFP be specific to the carriers as to what the City is looking for. Discussion was held regarding the bids. V/M Schumann WITHDREW his Motion. C/M Schreiber explained his Motion as being that Council vote on having the bag system used for the removal of trash from single- family homes without allowing for menus. C/M Abramowitz said the City has the two lowest bidders. He suggested that the Council assume that the low bidder does not fall under the criteria of a responsible bidder. He said this would mean that the next bidder is $3.22 higher than the can system. He said Council should give every vendor the opportunity to bid on the bag system. C/M Katz SECONDED the Motion to go with the bag system. C/M Abramowitz asked if this applies to the prices submitted and Mayor Bender said the price is not what is being decided. C/M Katz suggested that different size bags be added to the Motion and Mayor Bender said that would be another item. Mayor Bender asked if the Council is within their right to decide whether or not to go with bags at this time and Mr. Kraft said Council is expressing a theoretical interest in bags, but there are issues that would need to be worked out. C/M Abramowitz asked if this presents any legal difficulties for Council based on the RFP. Mr. Kraft said the RFP has bag and can provisions, but in the future it will need to be narrowed down. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE Mayor Bender said the second portion of this is whether the Council utilizes the bids which are currently in front of them or goes out for a new RFP. C/M Katz MOVED to TABLE this item pending further information, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE C/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE directing the City Manager to negotiate with the lowest, responsible bidder for multi -family garbage disposal. TAPE 3 Mr. Kelly said on the multi -family proposal there were eight bidders, but Industrial Waste Services and County Waste were rejected by Council action and were considered incomplete bids. Mr. Kelly said the primary pickup is two times per week, although some communities require more frequent pickup which needs to be considered. He said the low bidder was Kimmins, but Staff had reservations on that company's ability to perform. Mr. Kelly said representatives of Kimmins declined to meet with Staff to clarify their bids and requested to have their bid withdrawn. He said Sea Coast and Browning -Ferris Industries were clearly at the high end of the bid totals. He said the competition City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 8 is reduced to Southern Sanitation and All Service Refuse, both of which are established firms with solid credentials. Mr. Kelly said the pricing submitted by Southern Sanitation provides the City and its residents with the lowest price, the best cost savings and overall track record of excellent service. He recommended that the multi -family garbage bid be awarded to Southern Sanitation and to permit Staff to meet with representatives of Southern Sanitation to prepare the final contract for Council approval as provided in Sections 1.1, 1.2 (c) and 2.3 of the City of Tamarac Solid Waste Franchise Request for Proposals. C/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE allowing the City Manager to meet with Southern Sanitation to prepare the final contract for multi -family garbage disposal, SECONDED by V/M Schumann. C/M Schreiber said the City Manager has excluded County Waste from the bidding process. He said County Waste has provided the City with a bid which is much lower than the two bids mentioned. He said County Waste's bid for $105.00 per two cubic yards, two times per week is lower than Southern Sanitation's bid of $118.12 and All Service's bid of $111.89. C/M Schreiber said Mr. Kelly indicated that the bid by County Waste was incomplete, but when looking through the proposals, nDne were complete. He said it is Council's decision to accept or reject County Waste's proposal. C/M Schreiber said by going into recycling, the City is reducing the size of containers needed at present. Discussion was held regarding the size of the containers. C/M Schreiber said if Council is going to provide a benefit to 7.he multi -family residents of the City, Council must go with the low bidder for two cubic yards, which is County Waste. C/M Katz said there are a number of multi -family units who will use three cubic yard units and if a vendor does not choose to furnish a three cubic yard container, that is his decision. He said he agrees with Mr. Kelly and there are multi -family units that need three cubic yard containers who cannot use two cubic yard containers. Further discussion was held regarding the size of the containers. C/M Abramowitz said if a company does not put a bid in for three cubic yard containers and an association has a two cubic yard container installed and then finds out that it is not big enough, it is not possible to then request a three cubic yard container, C/M Abramowitz suggested that Council allow the vendor who did not bid on three cubic yards to now do so. Mr. Kraft said that was not included in the bid; therefore, County Waste is precluded from the three cubic yard container and terms cannot be altered. It C/M Schreiber asked if he would be permitted in the future to change his proposal and Mr. Kraft said he does not see how that can be done. C/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE authorizing the City Manager to negotiate with the low bidder on the multi -family garbage service. C/M Schreiber said this is discriminating against Kings Point based on the fact that Kings Point can manage with two cubic yard containers. He said in going with All Service or Waste Management, Kings Point will not be saving any money and may be spending more. C/M Katz said it is Council's responsibility to represent all of the residents in Tamarac, not just Kings Point. I C Pi City Council Special Meeting 11/13/92/KJ Page 9 Mr. Kraft asked if C/M Katz' mention of low bidder meant Southern Sanitation and C/M Katz said he meant the lowest, responsible bidder and did not mention a name. C/M Abramowitz asked what was specified in the Request for Proposal and Mr. Kelly said all containers were specified. C/M Abramowitz asked why certain vendors did not bid on three cubic yards and Mr. Kraft said there was nothing in the bid package indicating why they did not bid on this size container. Mr. Kelly said they just did not bid on that size container. He said the reason would not make any difference to the bid results. He said the concern has been raised that in the Kings Point area they are not receiving the benefits that are going to be in the other areas. He said it is incumbent upon Staff and Council, during the negotiations with the prospective bidder, that they work with Kings Point, as well as the other developments, because due to recycling everyone has reduced the quantity going into the containers and will be able to reduce the number and/or size of the containers. C/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE authorizing the City Manager to negotiate with the lowest, responsible bidder for the multi -family garbage service, SECONDED by V/M Schumann. C/M Abramowitz said he has a concern about the $.95 fee. Mayor Bender said the $.95 is not applicable in the multi -family service, only in the single-family. VOTE: V/M Schumann - AYE C/M Katz - AYE C/M Abramowitz -- NAY C/M Schreiber - NAY Mayor Bender - AYE Mr. Kelly said his intention is to negotiate with Southern Sanitation who is the apparent low bidder. With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 10:50 a.m. a~ aera -a- CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK UTY OF TIC APPRM At UMNG OF BENDER MAYOR y