CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Change Order #1 to Contract 15-036, Residential Curbside Recycling Services, to Groot Industries, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $146,400 and a total award of $1,396,392
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DEPARTMENT: Department of Public Works
SUBMITTED BY: Richard Dublinski, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
On July 16, 2013, City Council approved the recommendation to implement a mandatory recycling cart program and extend the recycling services contract with Republic Services (now Groot Industries) for five years. This contract expires on April 30, 2019.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) manages the City’s annual bulk curbside leaf collection program. The bulk curbside collection program is structured so that residents are provided three curbside leaf collection opportunities during the six-week program to dispose of their leaves. The program begins mid-October and continues through the end of November. DPW annually collects between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic yards of leaves through the curbside program.
DISCUSSION:
The 2018 curbside leaf collection program began on October 15. Since the beginning of the program, temperatures have been unseasonably cold, and there have been five winter events with accumulating snow. Due to the cold temperatures, leaves fell early and approximately 43,000 cubic yards had been collected prior to Thanksgiving. Leaf volumes for the third and final round of leaf collection were very high. However due to winter weather, the collection was not finished with approximately half of the city left to complete. In anticipation of the snowstorm on Sunday, November 25, much of the equipment used during leaf collection was converted to be used for winter operations. Throughout the winter, the safety of the City’s roadways is DPW’s highest priority. As such, the decision was made to end the curbside program prior to its completion.
Many residents were frustrated and unhappy with the decision to end bulk curbside leaf collection prior to its completion. Since the City’s fleet of trucks have been converted to accommodate plowing and salting, staff began looking at alternative methods to complete the curbside leaf collection program without having to convert the trucks back for leaf collection. Staff began discussions with Groot, the City’s current recycling program vendor, to discuss opportunities for them to assist with the collection of bulk leaves.
Based on these discussions, DPW and Groot will partner to complete the final round of leaf collection. In-house crews will use end loaders to scoop up large piles of leaves and place them into Groot refuse trucks. Groot will then compact the leaves and dispose of them. This change order will allow Groot to provide between two and six trucks per day beginning on December 3. This will allow DPW to run two to three crews to continue the third and final round of leaf pickup without having to convert the snow plow trucks back to leaf collection, weather permitting. Staff anticipates collecting up to an additional 10,000 cubic yards of leaves completing the final cycle.
During the completion of the third round of leaf collection, the weather, and more specifically snowfall, will impact when leaf pickup can occur. Future snowfalls will halt collection until the next period of moderate weather. Service will resume for those areas of the City that have not received the third collection cycle beginning the week of December 3 and will continue throughout the month of December. DPW will provide updates on the timing of the third round of leaf collection on the website, through Naper Notify, and on the City’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
FISCAL IMPACT:
CIP #: N/A
Leaf Collection services are expensed to the operational service account listed below. A total of $74,250 has been budgeted for contracted leaf collection in 2018. Based upon above average winter operation expenses and these incremental costs of leaf collection, staff is analyzing the need for a budget amendment that would be brought to City Council at the December 18th meeting.
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Account Number |
Fund Description |
Total Budget Amount |
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31251100-531308 |
General Fund |
$1,388,045 |
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