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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-03-16 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesNo Text CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1992 Tape 1 CALL TO ORDER : Mayor Abramowitz called the City Council Workshop meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1, City Hall. PRESENT : Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice -Mayor Dr. H. Larry Sender Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Irving Katz ABSENT Councilwoman Diane Glasser ALSO PRESENT : Join P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Councilman Elect Joseph Schreiber Phyllis Polikoff, Secretary Mayor Abramowitz said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss garbage services. City Manager Kelly's Secretary distributed: 1) Copy of the City's present Residential Garbage Service Contract with Waste Management, Inc. 2) Copy of a letter and accompanying documents dated February 27, 1992 to Ms. Karen Sampson, Esq., U.S. Department of Justice. 3) Draft of a letter to Dennis Urbanski, Southern Sanitation, dated March 16, 1992. Mr. Kelly said the present five-year contract for residential garbage services would expire on September 30, 1992 and his suggestion was to notify Waste Management in writing of the City's intention not to renew the contract and to go out to bid. He asked City Council to authorize him to go out to bid for garbage services and said a Request for Proposal (RFP) was being prepared for this purpose. Mr. Kelly suggested the bid specifications should include several options and he mentioned the same type of service which was presently furnished, twice -a -week pick-up with garbage cans, twice -a -week pick-up with garbage bags, garbage cans and garbage bags, and any other system which was available. Mr. Kelly said he and Ms. McDermott prepared a short slide presentation pertaining to residential garbage collection. Mayor Abramowitz said this matter had been discussed during the past few years and Waste Management communicated the request that the City not go out to bid. He said Mr. Kelly discussed the bag concept with Waste Management who placed many obstacles in the City's way. Mayor Abramowitz said he would vote for the vendor who made the best arrangement with the City. He said Council would receive pressure from many areas about what type of garbage service was the best and he suggested that each Council member do their own research rather than having presentations made to the City. C/M Katz said the Sun Sentinel Newspaper showed proposed tipping fees would be increased from $62.50 to $68.50 and a similar situation would be put -or -pay. He said he would save money by not paying for the amount of garbage he ordinarily would have picked up but he would have to pay the L' City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 2 increase in tipping fees. Mayor Abramowitz said the City paid Broward County taxes and all residents would be affected by put -or -pay. He said the bag system was a user system and if the person used the system, they paid and if they did not use the system, they did not pay. Mr. Kelly said questions that Council would ask would probably be answered by the slide presentation. C/M Katz said 46,000 residents in Tamarac would be affected. Mr. Kelly commenced the slide presentation and he said based on more people producing more garbage, inflation, operating costs combined with the increased cost at the landfills, the City had to examine its future garbage costs. He said future disposal capacity at the landfill would be limited, costly and would disposal costs would increase at an alarming rate. Mr. Kelly said he started discussing the bag concept several years ago and with costs continuing to escalate, garbage costs would exceed water fees in upcoming years. Ms. McDermott said landfill sections in the Tri-County area were very limited. She said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Government had additional regulations regarding environmental impacts on landfills. She mentioned the use of special liners and continual water testing and these procedures were getting more costly. Ms. McDermott said the present cost was $62.50 per ton to dispose of garbage at the landfill and by the year 2020, it would cost a great deal more. Mr. Kelly said by 1994, the City would be mandated to reduce the amount of waste by 30% and this would force the City to monitor the City's solid waste and to encourage recycling. He said presently the cost to recycle was expensive but based on the economy and as more individuals recycled, costs would stabilize and possibly lessen. Mr. Kelly said in April, 1992, the City would continue its recycling goals for the single-family recycling program to include newspapers, clear glass and aluminum. He said the multi -family recycling program would be implemented to include newspaper and aluminum. Mr. Kelly said some of the benefits of recycling included revenue dollars, extending the landfills, saving energy, complying with State regulations and providing services to the residents. C/M Katz asked about the slides and Mr. Kelly said some of them came from Hazen and Sawyer and Ms. McDermott assisted in the preparation of the text. Mr. Kelly said major costs involved marketing and Ms. McDermott said also shipments to market which were presently being expanded. She said there were paper mills in Florida and Georgia and additional facilities would be added in the future to recycle more products. Mr. Kelly recommended several options which he believed should be offered. He said the first option was the Variable Rate System which also was being used in the City of Lauderhill.. He said the vendor would pick --up twice per week and the resident would put out two cans at $10 per can, per month and the resident would be billed $60 quarterly. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the resident had to put out two cans and Mr. Kelly said, no. Mayor Abramowitz said if the resident only put out one can, he would be billed $30 and Mr. Kelly said he agreed and the resident could change the number of cans quarterly and lifeline rates and fixed charges could be established to maintain program stability. V/M Bender asked about the legality of permitting two houses to share cans and both Mr. Kelly and Mayor Abramowitz responded they were opposed to this idea. Ms. McDermott said she would look into this question. City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 3 Mr. Kelly said another option of the Simple Variable Rate System was bags whereby plastic bags would be sold by the vendor for garbage pick-up, free bins would be provided or plastic bags would be sold for recyclables. He said the City of Plantation was presently using this System and bags for garbage could be purchased at neighborhood supermarkets. He said newspapers and plastics would be picked -up at curbside for recycling and any other recyclables had to be placed in recyclable plastic bags. Mr. Kelly said City of Plantation residents were subsidized by the commercial vendors. Ms. McDermott said the residents would not have to pay for recycling if plastics and newspapers were picked -up at curbside. She said a resident would have to pay a small charge if they used a plastic bag to pick-up aluminum cans. Mayor Abramowitz said after many years, the City entered a recycling program and everyone would get a bin for a small monthly charge. He asked if there was a problem with the resident who purchased plastic bags for garbage and used the free bin for recyclables. Ms. McDermott said the City was in a contractual agreement for two years for recycling and there would be a small charge for this service. She said garbage could be bagged and residents could use the bins and containers which the City received from a Grant. She said bags and cans could be combined. Mayor Abramowitz asked if there would be any problem if recyclables were put in the bins and have the bins picked up for a small monthly charge and Ms. McDermott said, no. Ms. McDermott said the garbage would go in the bag and the recyclables would go in the bin. Mayor Abramowitz said according to the contractual agreement, the charge for recycling would be $1.16 per month, per household. C/M Katz said these options would come into play after the two-year contract expired for recycling. Mayor Abramowitz said the City was presently paying for recycling and he saw no reason why people should go out to purchase separate plastic bags for this purpose. Mr. Schreiber asked why people would want to buy plastic bags when they could use the bins and Mr. Kelly said whatever system was decided on would have to be phased in and it would have to be built in after the two-year expiration date. C/M Schumann asked who paid the $400,000 back to the City of Plantation and Ms. McDermott said the franchisee. V/M Bender asked what happened if the homeowner went over the top of the filled bin and Mayor Abramowitz said this was the reason why plastic was not recommended. C/M Katz said dumpsters would be placed throughout the City to accommodate the items which were not picked -up at curbside or recyclable and plastic would never be recycled under the present agreement. Mayor Abramowitz said he agreed. C/M Katz said Harold Carter of All Service Refuse had indicated if there were areas where bins were overflowing, an additional pick-up for recyclables would be made. Mr. Kelly said the impact on public behavior was if the plastic bags cost more, the resident was encouraged to recycle more. Mr. Kelly said some of the benefits of the Variable Rate System were more revenue would be generated, it would minimize solid waste delivered to the landfills and maximize recycling. He said there were objections which would have to be addressed and resolved. Mr. Kelly said in certain areas, the senior citizens generated little garbage and recyclables and in other areas, families with one or more children generated more garbage and recyclables. City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 4 Mr. Kelly said some issues he believed would be encountered were if the garbage or recyclables were based on volume or weight, what method would be used to collect payment, should the City continue to bill on the Utility bill or could the bags be purchased at a neighboring supermarket. Mr. Kelly said over the years, the vender was asked to bill the resident direct. He said the vendor usually indicated the City's cost would be increased due to mailing expenses and the vendor would lose the leverage the City had with regard to the Utility bills. Mr. Kelly said smaller vendors would be more apt to participate because they had to pay first for what they were dumping when they went to the incinerators. He said with the Variable Rate System, the small vendor could go with the bag proposal because he would be paid up front. C/M Katz said if the Variable Rate System was based on volume per bag, how would the cost be distributed equally to the residents with regard to the tipping fees. Mayor Abramowitz said the cost of the bag would be increased and it put the responsibility on the hauler. Mayor Abramowitz said Council had questioned how much trash was collected in the City by Waste Management and Waste Management never answered the question. C/M Schumann said it was hard to determine because Waste Management went from one city to the next and Mayor Abramowitz said everyone had to pay tipping fees. Mayor Abramowitz said the escalation of tipping fees should be included in every contract and everyone would have to pay more. Ms. McDermott said in accordance with the present contract, the City had to pay every time the cost of the landfill increased as well as when the Consumer Price Index escalated. She said this could be adjusted in the future contract. Ms. McDermott said the prices for the plastic bags could be controlled easier. She said the resident only paid for what was used and if the were away for a period of time, they did not have to pay and Mayo Abramowitz said he agreed with the user system. 11 C/M Katz asked how the cost of the tipping fees would be equitably distributed and Mayor Abramowitz said condos and homeowners would pay more in accordance with the increase. C/M Katz asked if this would be based on a per -bag pick-up or a formula and Ms. McDermott said these were options and there were other options. She said for future contracts, the City was presently not locked into anything specific. Ms. McDermott suggested the entire list of options be noted and every company bid on those options. She said another option was to pay for what was used. Mayor Abramowitz said Mr. Kelly had indicated earlier that the goal was to recycle more and in the very near future, the condos would commence recycling. He said they would use less garbage if they recycled more. Mayor Abramowitz said condos would pay less than homeowners because they required less services. Mr. Kelly said as far as the proposal, the vendor was given the responsibility of marketing. Mr. Kelly said the advantage in using the bag system was an immediat saving and the disadvantage was a limited rate design. Mayor Abramowit asked for clarification of a limited rate design and Ms. McDermott saill there would be one rate and when the cost for the landfill was increased, the cost for bags would go up and this was very limited. Mr. Kelly said the advantage of the can system was a flexible rate design and the disadvantage was waste compaction. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the homeowner was wrong in stuffing a can and Mr. Kelly said, no. Mr. Kelly said a 30 pound bag would be cheaper than a 30 pound can. He said Waste Management had stated the City would be polluting the City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 5 environment with plastic bags because they were not biodegradable. Mr. Schreiber asked how long would it take for a senior citizen to fill a 30 pound bag due to the fact they did not produce very much garbage. He said a hardship would be created because it would take a long time to fill up this size bag and Mayor Abramowitz said there were various sizes of the plastic bags. Mr. Schreiber asked if the Council ever determined how much garbage was produced in a week's time by a senior citizen and Mr. Kelly said it was very little. He said supermarkets provided small plastic bags which held about two pounds of garbage and it would take several days to produce ten pounds of garbage. Mayor Abramowitz said garbage was picked -up twice a week for single-family units and condos and it would still amount to the same number of pick-ups. He said the senior citizen could buy the small bags at a lower cost. He said there was no utopian situation and Council had to do what was best for all the residents in the City. Mr. Kelly said senior citizens were primarily concerned about the health factor and an obvious solution was to consider smaller bags at a cheaper cost. He said Waste Management advised this violated the health laws and the Health Department was contacted to ascertain if a one -day -a -week pick up would be acceptable in certain areas. He said the Health Department stated they thought it was a good idea and they would be willing to try this on a trial basis. He said one -day -a -week pick-up was allowable. Mr. Schreiber reiterated his request concerning the amount of garbage just collected in the City of Tamarac and Mayor Abramowitz indicated the present City Council as well as several prior Councils tried to get this information with no success. Mayor Abramowitz said the individual who put the garbage in the truck was the only person to provide this information and this individual refused to comply with the City's request. C/M Katz said there was a Table which could offer some information. Mr. Schreiber asked if the garbage was weighed in at the incinerator and Mayor Abramowitz said, yes, and half of the truck also contained garbage from the City of Lauderhill. Mr. Kelly said the mix was extremely difficult to do but this could be discussed after he showed the next slide. Mr. Kelly said there were two pick-ups per week totalling eight municipal solid waste collections each month. He said this was equal to 18 bags per month and the average bag would cost $1.50. Mr. Kelly suggested implementing a waste audit of the residents' solid waste output and obtain demand and elasticity surveys from other cities. He said the second step would be to obtain input from the community -based surveys and to identify economic/social factors. Mr. Kelly said during the first few weeks of the new hauler's contract, the new hauler should be requested to isolate the City's garbage. He said Waste Management was asked to do that and Mayor Abramowitz said Waste Management stated they would comply by putting in separate trucks at an additional charge of $4 per month more per household. Mr. Schreiber said the City should determine what the hauler was picking up because in his opinion, residents were being billed in excess of what they should have been billed if the collection was only in Tamarac. He suggested Council should research municipal garbage collections and Mayor Abramowitz suggested Mr. Schreiber contact Mayor Robb of the City of Deerfield Beach and the City of Fort Lauderdale who presently have this program. Tape 2 Mayor Abramowitz said the Simple variable Rate System enabled the person who used less bags to pay less than the person who used more bags. He said he would not be surprised if Waste Management came in with the best deal. Ms. McDermott said when she looked at the recycling program, a waste audit was done to see what the dumpsters contained and most of the items were City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 6 newspapers, aluminum, plastics and clear glass. She said the focus was on condos to see what recyclables the senior citizens were using. She said another waste audit would be scheduled for each neighborhood to see what was put at curbside. Mayor Abramowitz said there was a formula which indicated how much garbage would be collected from each household. Mayor Abramowitz left the Workshop at 9:43 a.m. Ms. McDermott said objections such as illegal dumping and burning and possible duplication of payments were brought up. She also said revenues did not always cover the cost and she mentioned the City had received $148,000 in franchise fee revenues from the commercial hauler and this money went back into the General Fund Budget. C/M Katz said this would keep the Ad Valorem Taxes lower. He said if the City wanted to subsidize a recycling program, they would just have to increase the Ad Valorem Taxes for the amount of money used to subsidize the program. Ms. McDermott said she did not know what the rates would be and she could not make any assumptions. Ms. McDermott said another objection which was brought up was bulk item fees and she indicated that bulk items were picked up quarterly. She said this option would be included in a future contract. She said the last objection raised was waste compaction and how areas with waste compaction would be handled. Ms. McDermott said the City could build support for the Variable Rate and Volume Based Systems by keeping the media informed, gradually providing information to the residents, involving community groups, emphasizing the benefits and passing out free bags with the start-up program. Mayor Abramowitz returned to the workshop at 9:53 a.m. V/M Bender said Council was being asked to authorize the City Manager tol go out to bid and Mr. Kelly said, yes. V/M Bender said the nearest waste disposal facility was controlled by Waste Management. He asked if Waste Management raised the tipping fees, who would be affected and Mr. Kelly said the tipping fees would be raised to every individual. Ms. McDermott said the City signed a contract last year with Broward County and garbage went to the Broward County incinerator. V/M Bender asked who controlled the dumping rates and Ms. McDermott said Broward County. Ms. McDermott suggested starting a pilot program in a designated area where their garbage contract would shortly be expiring. She said several different types of demographic profiles would be implemented and monitored. Ms. McDermott indicated the next slide showed positives and negatives for the different types of programs. She said the homeowner would be made more aware of what was discarded and what could be recycled. She said presently the City paid $14.91 for single-family residential services each month and $7.50 was paid for condos. Mr. Kelly recommended that the City proceed with the alternative garbage program because payments to the vendor would be lowered and many complaints would be eliminated. He said there was limited capacity at the landfill, more room was not being created, costs would be increased and Waste Management's rates were also going up. Mr. Kelly said he was ready to send notification to Waste Management, in writing, within 120 days of the expiration of the existing contract that the City would not automatically renew the contract. He said the City would proceed with the RFD's from the other vendors. V/M Bender asked if Mr. Kelly wanted a Resolution to proceed with his recommendation to notify Waste Management about the contract and Mayor Abramowitz said Council would render an Expression of Interest. V. City Council Workshop Meeting 3/16/92/PP Page 7 Mayor Abramowitz asked for an Expression of Interest from the Council and he said it would be agendized for the next Council meeting. The Council agreed to have Mr. Kelly proceed with the letter to Waste Management. V/M Bender said City Attorney Kraft would prepare a Resolution indicating a letter would be written to Waste Management indicating the current contract expires on October 1, 1992 and the City's intention to go out to bid. He said the Resolution would be agendized for the next Council meeting. C/M Katz said the current commercial contract indicated the vendor would collect monies up front quarterly and would distribute it to the City up front monthly. He asked why the vendor was allowed to hold the money in this manner and Ms. McDermott said that the commercial contract was five - years old. C/M Katz stated the vendor collected monies up -front quarterly then the City should be paid up -front quarterly and he asked for this to be addressed in the new contract and Mayor Abramowitz said he agreed. Mayor Abramowitz asked that Council suggest some vacation dates. He said this was in the Charter and Mr. Kelly suggested June 15 through July 10. Mr. Kelly said the schedule for providing the budget, according to the State Statute, was July 6 but Council would be on vacation. He also suggested July 6 or July 10 and Budget Workshops could start when Council came back. He said the budget would not be prepared earlier than July 6. Mayor Abramowitz said July 4 was a highlight in the City and it was very important to him and although the Charter mandated when the budget had to be delivered, it could be done when it was convenient to Mr. Kelly. He said he would be in the City on July 4. Mr. Kelly said the time -frame for presenting the budget to the Council was July 6. He said he wanted the Council to be present on July 6 when the budget was released. With no further discussion, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED the Workshop at 10:10 a.m. CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK 1-1