INFO-2024-3 : Information Item Updating City Council on Solid Waste & Recycling and Disposal Contract Negotiations

Transcript (~42 min @ 50:05)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 49:52 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, and good evening again. I'm here tonight with DPW Director Elena Elena Pro Ellis and Assistant DPW, director of Administration and Finance, Jim Troop. I'm gonna let them talk as the experts, but I first just wanted to frame this a little bit because this informational order was actually filed when I was in a different seat, and many of you were in different seats as well, back in December of 2023. So, um, this is an info order filed by then Mayor Broder, regarding the contract negotiations. Um, that process is closed. The contract was executed by Mayor Broder, as was his purview, um, after a lengthy and comprehensive process run by the DPW team, um, for the new contract that will begin July 1st of this year. So the period that we are in now is of both information gathering from the public and putting out as much information as we can to help people prepare for what is coming. And as was mentioned in public common, to really understand how our individual actions have a very real financial cost for the city as it relates to trash and recycling. Um, one opportunity that was afforded to me when I came in was the ability to, um, make a decision about recycling services. There was a, you know, debate between weekly versus every other week. We will be sticking with weekly recycling under this new contract. Um, that information has been shared both in the Melrose Weekly news as well as through city email. And just today, um, Mr. Troop and I, um, filmed a really lovely segment about trash and recycling that will be going out over MMTV. So we are really trying to take advantage of as many venues as we can to bring information to the public, this being one of them. But in terms of the conversation tonight, there are no decisions for the council to make as it relates to trash and recycling. The contract is executed, the fee structure is in the purview of the administration. Um, I am hopeful that'll be before you, before the end of the fiscal year to talk about an enterprise fund, but none of that is really on the table tonight. So I think these folks are happy to answer questions and let you know where we're at. But in terms of, um, what's before you, it's really just a chance to gain some information and for us to, of course hear what are the questions you're all hearing, so we can try to put that back out into the community. So I will turn it over to them. Thank you.

▶ 52:03 Speaker 11: Thank you. Um, so you should have a presentation very brief, uh, in your packet. And I'm just gonna run through those slides. Um, if you want to put them on your own screens or I don't want to, um, take Councillor Firo off the screen up there. So we'll just, I'll just run through them, assuming everybody has them and has had them for a number of days. Um, so when we came before you, before, one of the main requests was to get public input on that question of weekly versus biweekly recycling, because it's really not, it's not really an administrative decision, it's a, it's a community decision. Um, so we had a survey that was open from January 6th through February 1st that really focused mainly on that question and the question of cart sizes. Um, it was available online. We also said that if people called the city yard, we could enter the, um, the answers directly for folks who might not be able to do it online. We had hard copies in a number of accessible locations. We received 2,191 responses. And interestingly, the results, the result of the weekly versus biweekly question remained the same. Whether we had 200 responses, 500 responses, a thousand responses, it was always between 75 and 80% preferring weekly recycling. So throughout the survey period, that did not change. Um, so the final results were 1,660 of the participants, uh, preferred weekly recycling 526 preferred biweekly. And so 75% preferred weekly. And for anyone who took the survey, you'll note that you couldn't just check off. I'd prefer weekly recycling. It was, I would prefer weekly recycling at an additional cost of $60 per year on my trash fee. So there was no saying, I want weekly, but I don't want to pay for it. We deliberately structured the survey, so that wasn't an option, because that isn't an option. Um, 90% of those who wanted weekly recycling cited, one of their reasons is having too much recycling to, to keep it for, um, the two weeks. Um, in terms of cart sizes, it was pretty consistent that if we have weekly recycling, people wanted the 64 gallon carts. If we had biweekly, most people wanted the 96 gallon carts. So where we're gonna stick with weekly, we're gonna stick with 2 64 gallon carts going to every household as a starting point. And then we're working on, um, what you do if you think you'll have more recycling, you know, can you buy an extra cart and whatnot? And similarly with more trash, can you buy an extra cart? Can you, um, buy overflow bags? How that's gonna work? We're still working out all of that. We received 775 comments out of the 2100 or so surveys, um, on the open-ended question. The vast majority of them were people saying why they wanted to keep weekly recycling. Just sort of reinforcing, like, I think it's a step backwards to not have weekly recycling or I'm worried people are just gonna throw things in the trash if the recycling doesn't come every week. Um, another common one was if I miss, if I'm on vacation and I miss a week of recycling, then I go four weeks with no recycling service. So, um, those were a lot of the, the comments. And then we created a frequently asked questions document, um, that is up on the city's website now. You can find it in several different locations, uh, definitely through the department's, public works, all these and recycling. Um, and that just answers a bunch of the other questions that we got, uh, more frequently on the survey. So based on the results, as Mayor Greg said, she intends to activate the weekly recycling provision in the newly signed contract. Um, it was written into the contract that way as an option. And so it's, it's being executed. Um, with that option, uh, checked off, um, we're gonna proceed with the purchase of all 64 gallon carts for both trash and recycling. And we will be in touch with more details about the distribu, uh, distribution and just about the new program in general. Um, and then I just, one last slide. Just to remind folks that the cost of hauling are fixed, we have no choice. You can put out nothing. You can put out a full barrel and the hauling contractor Sela will be charging us the same one way or another to come pick it up. But the cost of disposal is dependent on the weight or the tonnage of what goes into your trash, specifically on the solid waste side. So the more materials are reduced, reused, recycled, composted, the less the city pays for disposal. So part of our outreach to folks in the coming months is gonna be just more education on maximizing our recycling, making sure our recycling is compliant and clean so that it can go to a, a viable, uh, end location. And minimizing waste in general, minimizing the tonnage that you're putting in the trash. If there are ways to, um, you know, reduce food waste through composting or just reduce the amount of material that you're bringing into your home, um, so that you don't have as much trash to put out. Um, that is our goal, is to help the community save money and just to help the environment by lowering our waste stream in general. So with that, Jim, do you have anything you want to

▶ 57:21 Speaker 12: Add? I think the, the one other thing that I'd like to add is I think that it's extremely important to thank the administration to thank the 2200 respondents, to thank the residents that are here tonight, and to thank the council for all of their support, uh, and input through all this. I don't think that we could have got to this point without them. And, uh, we're gonna look to continue this relationship as we roll out the education. And the education is not gonna stop on July one. We are gonna have to continue to educate through the length of this contract and to minimize the financial impact to the city. So thank you to everybody. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you very much for hearing us. We appreciate it.

▶ 58:01 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. And, uh, thank you both also for coming in, um, providing this, uh, presentation. And just for the sake of the, uh, public, I just wanna, uh, make sure to read the info, uh, order info 2024 dash three. Information item, updating city council Unsolved Waste and Recycling and Disposal contract negotiations. And I have on uh, q uh, counselor, uh, Stewart.

▶ 58:27 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Mr. Troop and Ms. Gonzalez for being here this evening. Um, that's a good presentation. That's very helpful. Uh, just a few questions. Uh, what are the barrels gonna cost the city?

▶ 58:40 Speaker 12: So we're gonna finalize that right now. This is the, uh, tipping point I guess for us to get to the, uh, vendors. Uh, we used a placeholder, uh, with the CFO of about $1.4 million. We're happy to say that it's gonna come below that. Uh, at this point we have contractors, uh, vendors that are on a, a national procurement as well as state procurement that can provide us a price. Uh, so what we're gonna do, since we're gonna go to the 64 gallon carts, that's gonna afford us a little bit more of a discount. They'll have one mold versus two. Uh, and then we'll ask them to fine tune their prices. Mm-Hmm. We'll apply the 142,000 grant that the council previously accepted, and then we'll come up with a final number. Great,

▶ 59:21 Robb Stewart: Thank you. And do you have, um, how many barrels are people gonna get?

▶ 59:27 Speaker 12: So they're gonna be allocated one each, but we're gonna have an additional inventory. We still have to figure out what the cost of an additional trash barrel. The intent right now is that additional recycling will be free, considering that we're gonna share as long as the correct material is in that bin, we're gonna share in the commodity price that the recyclable material, uh, presents to the vendor.

▶ 59:51 Robb Stewart: And will, will, uh, any size of family be a factor of that? You know,

▶ 59:55 Speaker 12: It, it will not, because we're gonna have uniform sizes. We're gonna have a 64 gallon trash and a 64 gallon recycling. So at this point, uh, they will all get the same size cart. And there's a cost benefit to the city

▶ 1:00:08 Robb Stewart: For just thinking in terms of the number of barrels, you know, something that has eight people in a house versus someone that has two ki a house.

▶ 1:00:14 Speaker 12: Yeah. So, uh, as the survey pretty much, uh, indicates that the right size for the, uh, trash, uh, for the recycling is gonna be 64 gallons for a weekly, uh, recycling. And for the trash based on tonnage, uh, that we have the historic tonnage, the 64 gallon trash cart will be enough, uh, for an individual, uh, uh, a resident customer Okay. For a weekly pickup.

▶ 1:00:38 Speaker 11: Okay. And multi-families do get multiple correct, um, barrels 'cause they pay multiple trash fees.

▶ 1:00:46 Robb Stewart: Great. And to address Ms. McNeil's question, can you talk a little bit about the future of recycling and any, any thoughts, plans for composting or anything else?

▶ 1:00:55 Speaker 12: Yeah, that's gonna be, that's gonna be a huge initiative, uh, not only for the DPW, but for the hauler itself. Uh, it's ever changing. They talked about, uh, you know, the capacity at landfills, you gotta talk about the regulation at the waste to energy facilities. But the way that recycling and the recycling industry has changed over time, it's very hard to forecast exactly what that's what that's gonna look like. And that's why I think that it's a priority once we enter into this new contract that we have to continue to monitor that industry. We have to continue to partner with people like Zero Waste, Melrose, uh, you know, our hauler uh, the disposal sites to get that material out there and we can continue to evolve what gets in the recycling stream.

▶ 1:01:40 Robb Stewart: Right. Right. One thought that I had on that is, um, if there's any state level programs that, that provide the composting, and the reason why I say this, I can remember many, many years ago, like back in the 19 early two, early two thousands, there were programs where you could get for free, uh, your own composting bin. They delivered to you and then you just set it up and you had it. Um, so that, that might be something that we could potentially offer as well. Uh, it's a little bit more self-management until you get to the next step, but I think communication would be just, if you're looking to reduce tonnage, uh, that, that's one thought. I

▶ 1:02:22 Speaker 12: Agree a hundred percent. I think composting would be the number one, uh, avenue to reduce tonnage in the waste stream.

▶ 1:02:28 Robb Stewart: Great. Are, are you, and this might be directed to, uh, Madam Mayor, is, are you planning on setting up a stabilization fund or trash?

▶ 1:02:39 Jen Grigoraitis: Hi, sorry. Um, not a, I don't think we'll be doing a stabilization fund, but we're gonna look to do an enterprise fund so that the fees that people pay for trash and recycling are going directly into that fund and then are solely used to cover the cost related to that contract so that it's clear where the money is going, you know, what's coming in, what's coming out. So similar to some of the other enterprise funds we have, but not different than a stabilization account.

▶ 1:03:02 Robb Stewart: Okay. And so then if there's fluctuation in the, the tonnage where you're potentially producing, that will help balance it out? Or is there gonna be a fluctuation in residence bills?

▶ 1:03:14 Jen Grigoraitis: There would not be a fluctuation in residence bills, but the funds that are, um, collected from those bills would only be able to be accessed for trash and recycling related costs. Not going into the general fund as it currently does, where we then pay the bills out of that.

▶ 1:03:30 Robb Stewart: Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, and then do you have any sense of the impact to reduce tonnage? So for example, if we reduce 5% of our waste, how much does that translate into a dollar value? Do you have a feel for that?

▶ 1:03:48 Speaker 12: I wish I did. I wish I did. Uh, what I do know is that in the recycling contract, we, it, it's a commodity based price that we are charged in terms of the processing. So as the hauler makes more money off of the recycling in their, in the resell of the recyclable materials, we're gonna share in that the basis of what we're paying is about $125 or so. So if we put, uh, more recyclable materials, good recyclable materials in the stream, we're gonna share in the profits with the hauler. So it's very, it's very difficult to measure exactly how that is.

▶ 1:04:24 Speaker 11: In terms of the, the trash though we're at, for disposal only, we're at a hundred dollars a ton ish. Like if you wanted a round figurative Yeah,

▶ 1:04:33 Speaker 12: Yeah. 90, $95 a ton is going to be, uh, the baseline for, for waste management at our transfer station. It's really an ace in the hole for the city. Uh, and then, uh, we're protected on the high side of that. Um, so, uh, compared to other cities and towns, we're probably about at a $20 discount right now.

▶ 1:04:59 Robb Stewart: Okay. Alright. I'm just trying to get a sense of, you know, if we reduce, is the line like this or is it a line like this? Right. You know, uh, uh, just, just to motivate people to do more. Right. Yeah.

▶ 1:05:10 Speaker 12: I, I, I think that the, the way to figure that out is gonna be, we, we average about 8,500 tons a year at $95 a ton is what we'll pay. So I think you could probably figure

▶ 1:05:20 Speaker 6: out, you know, for every,

▶ 1:05:22 Speaker 8: Yeah. So if you

▶ 1:05:24 Robb Stewart: reduce by 500 tons, then you're, you're chopping off like $42,500, right?

▶ 1:05:31 Speaker 8: Correct. Yeah. So I did that pretty quick.

▶ 1:05:36 Robb Stewart: Um, okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair. You're

▶ 1:05:38 Maya Jamaleddine: Welcome. Uh, next I have, uh, councilor Van Defer.

▶ 1:05:41 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, hi. Thank you for the updates tonight. I really appreciate them. And, um, the commentary, um, with public comment as well, um, I, I, I really love the idea of, you know, direction of community communicating as much as we can and sharing data and, and getting people on board with reducing their trash, especially. And, and I think the point that stands out, you know, the most to me is that, you know, trash costs, it's costs us more to put something in the trash than it costs to put the same item in the recycling. And, and, you know, I, there's a lot of discussion and I, I think that's the point that if there's one thing we can get out through all the communication that, that everybody at Melrose should eventually hear, that would be the piece that would maybe make a difference. And in my mind, um, and I, I just love to see us push it as far as we can, you know, even to the point of when we have these two barrels that show up at people's houses and one's for trash and one's recycling, you know, one of them has a figure on it that says $60 a ton, or, you know, $10 a pound or whatever it is, like, for each of them so people can see, oh, this is the expensive one. Right. Um, and just I, I'd love to see us push it really far. Um, uh, and I I also really appreciate, um, the comment you, you just made recently about, um, additional recycling barrels potentially being free. I think, you know, anything we can do to kind of move people in that direction seems really valuable. Well, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Um,

▶ 1:07:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Councilor gpe.

▶ 1:07:06 Speaker 3: Thank you. Uh, Madam Chair, thank you all for being here.

▶ 1:07:09 Mark Garipay: And uh, thank you Mr. Troop for your time today, uh, to go over my questions. Um, but I'm gonna ask a few, 'cause we did get quite a few, uh, emails from, uh, the residents, so I think it's, um, it's good to, uh, if they're home watching, they'll, uh, they'll get the answers. But, um, you've a, you answered quite a few. So the actual tonnage we estimated for the contract was 8,500 annually. Correct. And what is that over the last,

▶ 1:07:37 Speaker 12: That's a seven year average. Uh, we've wanted to kind of mitigate any covid effect on there and actually went down, uh, in the covid. But since we've come out of there, it's starting to trend back up. So the, uh, seven year average is exactly 8461.65 tons. I feel good with the 8,500 mm-Hmm. Uh, number that we put out there as part of our budget estimate.

▶ 1:08:02 Mark Garipay: Okay. And how many, um, when I looked at the city assessor's presentation back in November, uh, for the classification, we had about, I don't know, 80, around 9,000, 8,500 houses, um, that would fall into the category where the city picks up the trash. What is the number we based all this on for the actual come up with a fee

▶ 1:08:24 Speaker 12: For, for the, for bidding purposes, we gave each of the haulers nine, 9,000 households.

▶ 1:08:29 Speaker 3: Okay. So you feel comfortable,

▶ 1:08:30 Speaker 11: But for the calculation of the fee, we did subtract out the ones who get the 50% discount and the a hundred percent discount. Okay. So the numbers were a little lower.

▶ 1:08:38 Mark Garipay: And I know this is in the, um, this is in the ordinance and I don't know it off the top of my head. What classifies a house that we pick up? Is it a four family? Three family? Six up

▶ 1:08:51 Speaker 12: To six. Six Family. Six.

▶ 1:08:52 Mark Garipay: Okay. Um, and you had mentioned, uh, Elena, you had mentioned, uh, overflow bags. Is that something, um, we're not there yet, or, so

▶ 1:09:07 Speaker 11: I, I think the two choices and, and we haven't really dug into this too deeply yet, um, but in my mind, the two choices are either we charge a fee for a second barrel, but that fee has to be basically equivalent of the cost of not only the barrel, but the, the cost of picking up that trash for a year. Um, I think that has to be factored in somehow because I don't think we're gonna charge people an extra fee on their trash fee for a second barrel. It would be more, you pay extra for the barrel for the right to use it. Um, well, I guess it wouldn't be annual in that case. 'cause then you can use it forever more. So we have to figure out how that would work to pay for a second barrel where you're really paying for all the associated service you would get. And then the simpler way to do it, which is what a lot of communities do, is just the overflow bags and you sell them at, you know, local stores or you sell them at the DPW or, you know, combination. And they cost maybe a couple dollars, $5 a bag, whatever it is, and you buy a package of bags and then every time you have more trash than what fits in your bin, you just use the bags. So it's like a pay as you throw for the, for the real high users.

▶ 1:10:20 Jen Grigoraitis: And just to piggyback on that, I think that's, we have to also recognize that it's complicated, right? Everything impacts each other. So I think we're also concerned about increases in people illegally dumping municipal trash in, in household trash, in municipal bins. We know that already occurs in some of our, you know, more frequented parks where the, um, cans are overflowing and you can see, you know, large bags of trash there. Um, also putting bags of food waste or whatever waste is in there directly on the street can lead to a rodent problem. So we certainly wanna make sure that whatever we're putting in, we're thinking about cost, public health, sanitation, you know, additional impact on city services. So, um, it's gonna be a problem we have to really think through.

▶ 1:11:01 Mark Garipay: So if, if we went with overflow bags, are we going with an automated system because, you know, everyone's getting out of, you know, the railroad. Um, so if we go with an automated bag, I mean an overflow bag, is there an additional cost because the driver now has to get out of the truck, right? Is there anything in the contract that accounts for

▶ 1:11:20 Speaker 12: The, the cost of the bag is gonna cover that, that cost? So if the person buys that overflow bag, that's pretty much gonna recover the cost for that driver to get out of the truck and

▶ 1:11:30 Mark Garipay: Pick it up. There's nothing additional in the con There's no additional exposure for us in, in the contract, no. Okay. No. Um, the city, you had mentioned the city's gonna pay for the barrels, um, and I'm assuming there's gonna be a bond for that.

▶ 1:11:45 Speaker 11: Yeah, correct. That's been in the bond model for a few years now, because we knew this was coming. So the, um, the auditor's office had a placeholder of, I believe, 1.4 million, but we will be back for sure, um, to request that bond bond when it comes up

▶ 1:12:00 Mark Garipay: And will the additional, the

▶ 1:12:08 Mark Garipay: trash fee, um, which I'm fine with the cost of it. So, uh, um, will that cover the cost of the bond?

▶ 1:12:15 Speaker 11: So the way we've calculated it right now, it wouldn't, um, the numbers, the figures that we've presented to the public for the survey and everything, um, which were approximate, that doesn't include the repayments on the bond. Um, but if we went to an enterprise fund model, we probably would roll that because it is a direct cost of the program, roll that into the enterprise fund, in which case, you know, theoretically that the trash fee should also cover that. But the numbers that we've put out so far do not cover that.

▶ 1:12:46 Mark Garipay: And if everyone's gonna get two barrels, um, how are we gonna monitor who gets what? I know some municipalities will use barcodes when they distribute 'em out. Um, if someone calls and says they didn't, they didn't get it. I guess there's a way to find from other communities. You find a lot, you can find some illegal departments, legal to families. I guess my, my question is, what would happen from there? Would, I mean, we wanna make sure that if they're illegal, the then they're safe, right? So is it gonna be communication between, um, other departments within the city? Correct.

▶ 1:13:23 Speaker 12: So one of the components of the recycling partnership grant is RFID. So the recycling barrels will have some sort of a chip on them Mm-Hmm. That will allow the, uh, trucks to identify it where and when. Uh, the other thing is on the carts, they'll be an identifying number, uh, that will be associated to wherever it gets delivered. So the barrels that get delivered to council a Garrett's home will have an identifying number, so that we would have to be out there and have boots on the ground to identify if it's not in front of his house.

▶ 1:13:56 Mark Garipay: Okay. Um, and one other question. I know we've had this conversation regarding the contract. In the language, there's two parts of this bid. There's the disposal, um, this is, uh, transportation and, and, and the, and the tipping fees, right? So I mean the tipping fees and then the pickup, if for some reason we're getting a, a good deal on the tipping or dumping fees at $95 a ton, and that could fluctuate. I mean, it makes sense to use that. My question is, if for some reason their permit runs out up there, they can't get a new permit for whatever reason the place closes and we have to renegotiate somewhere at an incinerator up at resco Wiler, um, are we covered, are we gonna incur that cost or will waste management incur that cost?

▶ 1:14:48 Speaker 12: So, uh, quite frankly, you know, we had that discussion and that that contract language has been added. The other thing is, is that, you know, if $95 is the price that Waste Management is charging us, well what happens if the price goes where 10% below that as stipulated in their lease agreement is below 95, we're going to, uh, have that price charged to us too. So we also added that language to cover against maybe a downside move to the cost of the tonnage.

▶ 1:15:20 Mark Garipay: Yeah. Um, I'm, I'm in favor of an enterprise. Fine. I think this is a perfect, um, perfect one. Um, and just one other thing, uh, with Waste Management and the transfer station, have we ever, um, asked them if they ever have a community day where you can dump bulk items? I know it's a very active transfer station, but, um, is there, is there any ever been any talk or just a suggestion maybe, maybe we can open it up to the city once every two months or something.

▶ 1:15:47 Speaker 12: Yeah, my history would data drop. My, my history was wi with waste management is they are very receptive to being a community partner. So I'm sure we could discuss that with them and see what kind of options are available considering it is our facility. Alright.

▶ 1:15:59 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 1:16:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, counselor gpe next I have, uh, cremsky.

▶ 1:16:08 Speaker 6: Yeah. Thank you. Uh, thanks for being here tonight. Um, the, uh, current program at the DPW, uh, is that people can drop their recycling there. Right. Will that continue under this? It Will continue, yes.

▶ 1:16:20 Speaker 11: Yeah. And that's sorted recycling. So that is a little different, um, than what people put out at the curbside.

▶ 1:16:27 Speaker 6: Alright. All right, great. Thank you. That's all. Thank you.

▶ 1:16:31 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Next I have, uh, councilor Firo.

▶ 1:16:37 Speaker 11: Yes. Hi. Thank you so much for being with us again tonight. Um, my question is in regards to our elderly residents, um, is there a way for them to get smaller carts or is it just one size across the board? I'm just concerned about potentially their, um, you know, 64 gallon trash bag as barrel is large. And I know there are people in the city that don't, they use much smaller barrels. And, um, just wondering if that's an option.

▶ 1:17:05 Speaker 12: Yeah. Right now that is not gonna be part of the rollout. I think what you'll see when we, uh, present the, uh, education materials is that there will be, uh, some great visuals that will show exactly how easy these carts will be to manipulate, and it will show a lot of different demographics that, uh, have the carts and are able to put them out absent having to carry them up and down stairs. Uh, they will be easy to manipulate and easy to, easy to put out. Uh, and, uh, right now we're not, uh, fearful that, uh, that will be a problem for our elderly or anybody that has any accessibility issues. Okay. Thanks.

▶ 1:17:48 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Next, um, have, uh, vice Chair Williams.

▶ 1:17:51 Speaker 6: Thank you. Excuse me.

▶ 1:17:55 Ryan Williams: Um, does the truck take measurements of residence weights, their trash weights, goes to my house, picks it up, says Ryan Williams averages x number of hundreds of pounds per day, per month, per year. Is that data that they can provide to us?

▶ 1:18:09 Speaker 12: You know, I, I know that, I know that they're able to look at it and they're able to weigh it on the dumpster side of things. Okay. In terms of the residential things, I don't know exactly how the arms are calibrated to, to collect the woods. I'll have to ask that question.

▶ 1:18:26 Ryan Williams: Yeah. 'cause I mean, you know, kind of to Councilor Rae's point, people have, and Councilor Stewart's point, people have very different trash profiles and people like, I carry a bag of trash out. I compost, I recycle, my bag of trash is like Kleenex. It weighs nothing. It's a feather. Right? But I've had, when I was a word counselor, people call and complain, well, you know, they didn't come and pick up my six band bags full of concrete dust that I put out for them. And, um, I think if we're being charged by the ton, certainly there's going to be some residents who are way over their kind of average tonnage. And the thing that comes to mind is whether or not data from these trucks, if it exists, would be usable for us to target conversations with certain residents who are producing just way too much trash about whether, you know, they need to pick up a second barrel or whether they're, you know, disposing of materials that are far too heavy or whatever.

▶ 1:19:25 Speaker 12: Uh, I agree with you and I think what we, what we experience now is just an open communication and dialogue with a root supervisor. So if that situation happens where the six bags of concrete are in somebody's barrel and they don't pick it up, I bet you we know about it from the root supervisor before we know about it from the resident. So we'll have some sort of an explanation. We would have maybe a photograph of the, of the circumstance or what have you. And I think at that point, it's just another opportunity for us to get out there and promote the education for putting the right things in the right

▶ 1:19:59 Ryan Williams: Barrel. So on the recycling side, kind of the same question because it's an automated pickup. What, um, you know, what's the best practice for us to address problematic recyclers with, with JRM? Not to say that these folks were jigging through everybody's recycling, but I mean, I take it if you put a chair in the, excuse me, a chair in the recycling bin that they would, you know, drop it out. Certainly I've had a, you know, seen neighbors with a couple of things where they've, they've left out and, you know, so with an automated system, is it harder for us to monitor this?

▶ 1:20:30 Speaker 12: How does it work? Um, it, yes and no. Um, the, the thing that we, uh, will have access to with Cosella is we could have a routine audit at their sorting facility, at their recycling sorting facility. So we can take the Melrose truck, uh, a, a, let's just say a targeted neighborhood, uh, where we would take a sample of the recycling and be able to see what the contamination percentage is. Uh, but again, really the boots on the ground, uh, system, asking the driver to maybe take a quick look, they're only gonna look at the top layer. They're clearly not gonna go through the, through the cart to see, but if they can visually see that the contamination is gonna exceed certain thresholds, quite frankly, the best punishment of that is to leave it there. Right. Rather than to, rather than to find somebody. Sure. Uh, if you continue to leave the recycling there, people will change their behavior.

▶ 1:21:24 Speaker 6: Alright. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 1:21:27 Maya Jamaleddine: Anyone else from my colleague? Um, counselor Hamilton.

▶ 1:21:31 Ward Hamilton: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for being with us this evening, and I apologize if any of these questions you've already covered, um, in previous meetings, but for the edification of, uh, the council this evening and folks watching from home. Um, so around the city, we've got thousands of plastic bins that we were using. Uh, is there a plan to collect them as, as a, a recycling measure?

▶ 1:21:54 Speaker 12: Yeah, so that'll be, that'll be, uh, a project in motion right now. Clearly those, uh, those bins may or not be, may or may not be usable with new vendor. However, they can be used for yard waste. Uh, we may explore a takeback day. Uh, you know, we're only talking maybe about a thousand of the ones that we provided, but I think that it would be, uh, something, uh, we could undertake to have some sort of a take back date. But we would encourage people to use them for their yard waste or anything else, uh, to help sort the, the materials.

▶ 1:22:31 Ward Hamilton: Okay. Thanks. Um, what happens, uh, once we've moved to this automated process, when the truck rolls up and there are loose bags, not the type you buy in the store, somebody's just put out a barrel with bags, and let's imagine that it's food waste and food garbage.

▶ 1:22:47 Speaker 12: Yeah. So that's gonna be part of the whole learning process under, under the new contract. I'm sure that Cassela has experienced this before. Uh, and it's gonna have to be something that we communicate with them. What is the expectation when they roll up there? However, at a certain point, they're gonna have to leave them, leave them there if they're not in a, uh, designated receptacle, or if we do explore the pay as you throw overflow bags. So I'm sure that that's gonna be part of that first four to six week period where people just that may not have gotten the message will suddenly get it as soon as the trash truck, uh, shows up and does something differently.

▶ 1:23:23 Ward Hamilton: And, and this maybe is not your wheelhouse, and maybe not even you Madam Mayor, but when someone puts a bag of garbage out and it gets left behind, is that ISD or the Department of Health, um, that then follows up on that?

▶ 1:23:39 Speaker 12: It would be a combination of both. If it's a a, a problematic and an egregious violation, we would work with health, uh, to work at, at a particular citation or what have you. But I mean, we have the mechanisms right now in terms of communicating with the hauler to either return and pick it up. Maybe we'd even pick it up ourselves, uh, as a matter of good faith and to help keep the city clean.

▶ 1:24:02 Ward Hamilton: Okay. Thanks. Um, mixed use buildings, and I'm thinking specifically of, uh, buildings that at one time were single family homes, and now the first floor is a medical office and there's an apartment or apartments above are is, is that a building that we would pick up trash from?

▶ 1:24:21 Speaker 12: We would pick up from the private, uh, the private customer. Okay. The business. We do not have commercial trash in the city. Okay.

▶ 1:24:30 Ward Hamilton: Um, and the last question is, um, so the barrels are numbered in the correspond with a street address, not necessarily a property owner. So Councilor Garipay, um, moves away from the, or let's no let moves to a different home in Melrose. The barrels stay

▶ 1:24:50 Speaker 13: Is the home in Ward four,

▶ 1:24:53 Ward Hamilton: He moves to a new home in Ward four, the barrels stay with the property. Correct. And if for some reason the people, not Councilor Gar Pay, but some other resident moved out of the city and took the barrels with them, they would then, uh, coordinate with DPW?

▶ 1:25:09 Speaker 12: Correct. Okay. I would assume that that would be something similar to the final water bill and that that cost would be correct.

▶ 1:25:15 Speaker 5: Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks.

▶ 1:25:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Anyone else?

▶ 1:25:22 Speaker 9: Counselor Gar?

▶ 1:25:24 Mark Garipay: Yes. Uh, thank you. Two, two quick points, and I'm sure this is gonna come up, uh, in the education, um, process, but we're getting a lot, or I've gotten quite a bit of calls. Um, if customer, if residents have barrels already, um, we'll as the process goes down the road, will, will we go out and take a look at 'em to tell them if it'll work or,

▶ 1:25:48 Speaker 12: Well, the ones that we provide, no, the, the short answer to your question is no, because we're gonna have designated barrels with city designated colors, you know, the serial numbers and such on them. Those barrels will work, as I mentioned, for something like yard waste. They're gonna be very useful for something I assume. So, uh, the short answer to your question would be no. Alright.

▶ 1:26:10 Mark Garipay: And I would be remiss, um, if I didn't, um, put a plug in to try to open the city yard six days a week.

▶ 1:26:21 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. And, um, I would like to make a motion to suspend Rule 21 C as the chair of this committee to speak and ask question on this order. So

▶ 1:26:31 Speaker 3: Move second.

▶ 1:26:32 Maya Jamaleddine: I have a motion to suspend Rule 21 C made by vice chair, um, Williams, seconded by counselor. Um, gpe. Um, so thank you all for Oh, roll call. Oh, roll call.

▶ 1:26:44 Speaker 9: Sorry.

▶ 1:26:48 Speaker 1: Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councillor gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Brosky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul. Yes. Councillor naca. Was that, sorry.

▶ 1:27:05 Speaker 1: Yes. Um, uh, president Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. That's Unanim.

▶ 1:27:11 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you Madam Mayor for, for reminding us of,

▶ 1:27:15 Speaker 9: uh, the rules.

▶ 1:27:20 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, um, I want to thank you all for, um, the extreme amount of transparency and information that you're providing to the public and to us. And, um, would, you know, like, I would like, uh, to also name how accessible, um, has been, um, to reach these, to access these information or to reach out to any of you. Um, so, um, thank you for that.

▶ 1:27:50 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, I, uh, have a question on, uh, first, um, if any of the residents would like to replace, um, their barrels, what is the process after that?

▶ 1:28:00 Speaker 12: So that is for the ones once they're delivered, correct? Is that your question?

▶ 1:28:04 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. Once you, they receive their initial ones, something happened they would like to replace? Yes.

▶ 1:28:09 Speaker 12: So, uh, the DPW will be the front line of any service to the barrels. We'll have an inventory of re common replacement parts, uh, and those will typically be lids wheels and axles. Uh, how we're going to service those things still remains to be seen, whether it'll be a dedicated, uh, employee or if we would have somebody maybe part-time in our sanitation division. Uh, but we will be the frontline maintenance for those barrels. They will be under warranty for a period of approximately 10 years. Mm-Hmm. So, uh, it's also important to know that we will hold the hauler accountable for any negligence that damage to the barrels that they will be responsible for the replacement cost to those barrels. So, uh, it'll be something that we definitely will have to monitor as these barrels get rolled out, but the DPW would be the frontline maintenance.

▶ 1:29:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Perfect. So, um, are we expecting to have some kind of forms that residents will be able to fill out to request or do they have to reach out and it's fine if you don't have that?

▶ 1:29:11 Speaker 12: Yeah, that's, that's a great question. I think it'll be a combination of calling us directly. Uh, we have the work order system that people can make the, uh, requests through the work order system. So, uh, as long as we get the message, uh, my promise will be that, that we will do our best to repair the barrels in a timely manner.

▶ 1:29:31 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Thank you. And you know, with the increase of the yearly cost, um, we, do we have any outreach or system in place or plan, uh, to reach out to those with, to residents with low socioeconomic level? Um, just to provide some information on how they can apply, uh, for the, um, execution or, um, any kind

▶ 1:29:58 Maya Jamaleddine: of support that can provide?

▶ 1:30:00 Speaker 11: Sure. Yeah. All, we're gonna have a, a large outreach program over the next few months as we roll out all the different components of the, um, of the new program. And we'll have information on the website mailers, um, probably information that comes when they get their barrels too. And that's something that we will definitely include in that information is what the thresholds are and how to apply. Um, it's very easy to apply for our discount programs. It's all through the engineering division, uh, water and sewer billing administrator. So we will definitely advertise all of that.

▶ 1:30:34 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. And, um, I, I hope, and my suggestion, if we can provide these information and put an extra, um, um,

▶ 1:30:45 Maya Jamaleddine: boost of, um, outreach for through cons on aging, um, social worker and all the different departments in the city. Um, so it would be more accessible. I also was wondering if, um, I forgot my third question.

▶ 1:31:02 Speaker 9: Um, um,

▶ 1:31:06 Maya Jamaleddine: if there will be any, um, um, different language, uh, for these, uh, flyers and educational, uh,

▶ 1:31:16 Speaker 11: That's something that I'm sure Sela could help us with. So if there are particular languages that we think are, are more prevalent that we think it would be helpful to have, we can certainly do that. It's,

▶ 1:31:26 Speaker 12: It's also a requirement of our RDP grant. We apply and make sure that they know that we provide information in multiple languages.

▶ 1:31:34 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. So we will have, um, multi-language and different language, um, for these documents.

▶ 1:31:42 Speaker 9: Correct. Okay. Well, thank you.

▶ 1:31:44 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, I appreciate, uh, again, your time and uh, support, uh, for this, um, for the feedback of, uh, the residents. What is the will of the committee?

▶ 1:31:57 Speaker 8: Madam Chair? I'll make a motion to place On file. Second.

▶ 1:32:00 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion to place on file made by counselor, um, uh, Stewart, seconded by Councillor Cheney.

▶ 1:32:11 Speaker 1: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councilor B Brisky? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Uh, Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councilor for Nicaro? Yes.