HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOW Agenda Item VI 05/13/2008
Mount Prospect Public Works Department
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: VILLAGE MANAGER MICHAEL E. JANONIS
FROM: ADMINISTRATIVE SUPERINTENDENT
DATE: MAY 7,2008
SUBJECT: COMMERCIAL SOLID WASTE PROPOSAL RECCOMENDA TION
Backaround
At a previous Committee of the Whole meeting Village staff presented the details of the
Village's proposed commercial solid waste bid specifications. At that time staff received
permission to negotiate directly with ARC Disposal (ARC), the Village's current
exclusive residential waste hauler, for a commercial solid waste contract. After several
months of negotiations the Village and ARC were unsuccessful in reaching an
agreement for commercial solid waste services. The decision was made to mail out a
request for proposal (RFP) to local waste haulers for these services. On March 25,
2008 specifications were mailed to eight local solid waste haulers with the RFP being
due by April 17, 2008.
Proposal
The Village received seven proposals from: Allied Waste, ARC Disposal, Flood
Brothers, Groot Recycling & Waste Services, Lakeshore Waste Services, Veolia and
Waste Management. Village staff with the assistance of Brooke Beal, the Executive
Director of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), reviewed all
of the proposals. After reviewing all of the numbers in great detail and the other
incentives offered by the haulers Village staff, with the endorsement of Brooke Beal,
finds the proposal of Allied Waste to be in the best interest of the Village.
Discussion
The current status of negotiations prevents the public discussion of the specific
numbers in Allied's proposal, but it is possible to discuss the basics of the proposal.
The numbers that Allied submitted are fair and are significantly lower than the best
proposals recently received by the City of Evanston and the Village of Niles for
commercial solid waste services. In addition Allied has agreed to a flat annual increase,
which will protect the Village from rising fuel costs and any potential labor cost increase
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Commercial Solid Waste Proposal Recommendation
May 7,2008
when new union contracts are negotiated. Another item that makes Allied's proposal
interesting and significantly different than the other proposals is the inclusion of free
recycling for all businesses.
Allied has agreed to include once a week collection for any size container (95 gallon
cart to a ten cubic yard dumpster) for all commercial properties at no cost. Potentially
this represents a significant cost savings for businesses that actively recycle. A
business that recycles should be able to reduce their waste collection by one dumpster
size. For example a business receiving service three times a week for a six cubic yard
dumpster would be able to reduce collection to a four cubic yard dumpster three times a
week or a six cubic yard dumpster twice a week.
Once a commercial solid waste contract is awarded all commercial properties will be
contacted and informed of the schedule for the change out of the property's
dumpster(s). The Village currently has two plans for the switching of dumpsters. The
first of the two ideas is to replace the dumpsters by geographic location. This would
require the town to be broken into geographic regions with each region being scheduled
a specific date for replacement. The second idea is to switch containers based on the
existing waste hauler. Each existing waste hauler would be assigned a specific date for
replacement. In terms of both scenarios a decision has not been made as to whether
the dumpsters would be collected by the hauler owning the dumpsters or if the Village's
exclusive hauler would collect the dumpsters. If the Village's exclusive waste hauler is
assigned the task of collecting the dumpsters the dumpsters would be delivered to a
centralized location at which point the owners of the dumpsters would then collect the
dumpsters. Once a property's dumpsters are changed the Village's exclusive hauler
would be responsible for service and billing.
The bid specifications require that the exclusive hauler be responsible for directly billing
all commercial properties for service. Properties would be billed for collection of
commercial waste for the previous quarter. The Village would set the rates charged by
the waste hauler. Rates would include the contractor's rate for refuse and recycling
services, which includes all tip fees, and any administration fee established by the
Village. Commercial properties would be phased into the billing and service schedule
as dumpsters are switched. The bid specifications require that all commercial
properties begin receiving service under the contract within one (1) year of the
commencement of the commercial solid waste agreement. This does not prevent the
exclusive hauler from changing out dumpsters on a more aggressive schedule. The
only properties that would be exempt from the commercial solid waste contract would
be properties that are part of a national contract for the collection of commercial waste.
Past experiences of SWANCC communities implementing exclusive commercial waste
collection contracts suggest that the current rates paid by national contracts will be
lower than the rates offered by the Village's exclusive contract.
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Commercial Solid Waste Proposal Recommendation
May 7, 2008
In a majority of cases the rates outlined in the exclusive commercial waste agreement
will be lower than the rate properties are currently paying. However, in a few cases the
rate properties are currently paying will be less than the rates outlined on the Village's
exclusive agreement. The grandfather clause as currently written in the bid
specifications would allow properties with lower rates to continue paying the lower rate
for a full year. Beginning in the second year of the contract grandfathered properties
would see set percentage increases that would bring the properties inline with contract
rates by the beginning of year four (4) of the contract.
Recommendation
As previously stated staff and Brooke Beal are recommending the approval of Allied
Waste's proposal for commercial solid waste services. If the Village Board agrees staff
will draft a new ordinance establishing exclusive commercial solid waste permit and
contract for Allied Waste for formal approval at the June 3,2008 Village Board meeting.
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Cc: Glen R. Andler, Director of Public Works
Sean P. Dorsey, Deputy Director of Public Works