GRANT-2024-6 : Acceptance of The Recycling Partnership Residential Curbside Cart Grant in the amount of One Hundred Forty Two Thousand and Four Hundred Dollars ($142,400)

Transcript (~13 min @ 59:26)

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▶ 59:23 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, and just for the record, this was offered by the former administration, um, mayor, former Mayor Paul Broder. Um, and we still have, um, director Ellis and, um, Mr. Troop to speak on this order. Um,

▶ 59:40 Speaker 9: Thank you. Um, so as you all know from our presentation, uh, well, those of you who were on the council in December, we made a presentation, uh, about the new trash and recycling contract. And we will be back, I believe it's two weeks from tonight to give some more details on that program. Um, but an essential part of that program is the purchase of, uh, toters or carts for automatic pickup from our new, uh, hauler who will be starting on July 1st, 2024. Um, just a little bit of background on that. The, um, our, our current hauler, as you all know, comes to your house and lifts up the barrels by hand. Um, the, the three vendors, all three vendors who were willing to give us pricing for our new contract told us that they are not, they're no longer doing, um, manual pickup, so they wouldn't give us pricing at all for manual pickup. So any scenario that we were looking at for our new trash and recycling contract involves the purchase of carts, um, for both trash and recycling. So we have about 8,000 plus customers, so that's about 16,000 carts that we have to purchase. And, um, the good news is that on the recycling end, because it, um, encourages less trash into the waste stream and more recycling into the recycling stream, um, there are grants to be had for the cart purchases. And so Alison ler, who unfortunately has moved on from the city and gone to a different municipality, um, she was able to secure this grant for 142,000 toward our purchase of specifically the recycling carts. And so our request tonight is just to accept the grant.

▶ 1:01:26 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Any question from the council? Councilor? William? Uh, vice chair William.

▶ 1:01:34 Ryan Williams: Thank you. Um, you're talking about 64

▶ 1:01:38 Speaker 4: gallon recycling bins.

▶ 1:01:39 Speaker 9: That is, yeah. We don't, don't wanna put the cart before the horse, no pun intended. Um, but yes, that's what we're looking at now.

▶ 1:01:47 Speaker 4: Okay. Um,

▶ 1:01:50 Ryan Williams: and have you thought at all about what type of recycling bin you might be interested in?

▶ 1:01:58 Speaker 9: So we've, we've reached out to a number of vendors and we have, uh, not completely locked in, but essentially locked in a vendor. So, um, you know, it's a two wheeled litted, excuse me, litted cart, um, sort of a standard 64 gallon recycling toter.

▶ 1:02:14 Speaker 4: Do, do you have a price per cart for them from them

▶ 1:02:17 Speaker 8: yet? Yeah, we've received, Uh, quotes from the four major, four of the major cart, uh, providers so that we would have something to compare. Okay. Uh, so yes, we have prices that are ready to go. They're both based on whether we're getting 64 or 96 gallon carts. And then they've indicated that if we are going with one size, that they'd be willing to fine tune their pricing.

▶ 1:02:39 Ryan Williams: Can you give us a rough idea of,

▶ 1:02:42 Speaker 8: Yeah. I, to give you a budget estimate, when we were going through this process and trying to figure out how the funding was gonna work, I gave an estimate of about $1.4 million for our total purchase. Yeah. I can indicate now that it has come in less than that. Okay. So that's good. Uh, and we are also gonna take advantage of this grant to help offset some of the costs. So I think that's the fair answer to give you right now. Okay. Yeah.

▶ 1:03:11 Ryan Williams: I just, um, thinking through in my head that, I mean, the bins to, to customers, retail bins like a hundred bucks, 120 bucks times 16,000, it adds up faster than you might think, and it gets to, you know, you know, one and a half, 2 million. So it's good to hear that it's below one and a half million. I don't think we should be too optimistic about it being much less than a million. Fair to say. No,

▶ 1:03:31 Speaker 9: Fair to say. Unlikely to be less.

▶ 1:03:33 Ryan Williams: Yeah. Um, so that is, you know, that's a, it's a cost in a year with a lot of costs. Um, and it's one that we have to tackle 'cause the haulers are gonna need these bins, you know, we just have to do it. Um, so I just wanted to kind of put that flag out there as we're thinking through this. And I am, I'm thrilled to hear about the, the, if it means what I think it means the 64 gallon bins. Um, so, uh, yeah, I, I support any effort to get more cash in the door, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about the new contract.

▶ 1:04:07 Speaker 9: Yeah. And I think the good news in terms of the overall program and the need to purchase all these carts is that this was a known cost for quite some time. Mm. And I believe the finance department had had it built into their bond model Yeah. For quite some time. So that's very good to hear. Um, you know, it, it shouldn't be anything unexpected or that doesn't fit into our, uh, bond percentage.

▶ 1:04:27 Ryan Williams: Yeah. That's great to hear. Wonderful. Thank you very much.

▶ 1:04:30 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. And just for the public, I just, uh, would like to clarify that, um, today we're just discussing the grant so we can purchase, um, um, the, um, the containers or the tar for our residents. However, in the future meetings we will be discussing the new contract for trash and recycling. Um, next I have Councilor gpe. No, you're all,

▶ 1:04:59 Speaker 2: Sorry. I'm all set. Uh, councilor Williams did ask my question.

▶ 1:05:02 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Thank you. Um, thank you. And next I have, uh, counselor.

▶ 1:05:07 Kimberly Vandiver: Hi. Um, I, I really appreciate actually the terms and the conditions in the grant. Uh, they have a lot of things in there that are, um, aimed at helping communities who accept these grants to be successful with their recycling programs. Um, so they include elements of public education that need to be part of the rollout and that they can help with to some extent, um, in even things such as providing specific household by household communication about what you're doing is working or not working as far as recycling. Um, which I think would help a lot of people who get confused. Um, there are also some requirements in there for us to pri provide some data about how things are going and things like that. Um, so I, I think those are all really good things, um, in terms of keeping a focus on the rollout. Um, but I, I just wanted to make sure that, you know, we are aware of any overhead that, that would go along with that, and that we're prepared to kind of do the entire, um, package that's in here.

▶ 1:06:04 Speaker 8: Yeah. There's no, there's no doubt about that. And, and to follow up with what you just mentioned about the, um, the, the, the nuts and bolts of this contract, we've already met with the cycling recycling partnership, and they have already shown us their, uh, marketing materials, their, everything that goes into that $125,000 in, in-kind services that comes with this, that goes towards the, the grant purchase. And it is unbelievably impressive. And as somebody that is really focusing on the rollout and the education piece, I'm really happy that this company has identified themselves and has presented this grant to us. It was a competitive grant, so we had to earn it. So they're putting their faith in us, and I'm really glad for it because they are gonna make a commitment to the city and, uh, help with the rollout. So I'm really happy

▶ 1:06:56 Speaker 9: And, and the position that Alison bu LER used to hold that we hope to fill very soon, we're already in second round interviews, that position will be largely dedicated to this rollout over the next few months.

▶ 1:07:08 Kimberly Vandiver: That's great. Appreciate that. And really, uh, yeah, good sign for the rollout of this program. Yeah.

▶ 1:07:16 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Councilor Kati. Um,

▶ 1:07:18 Speaker 1: I would just like to make a motion for passage.

▶ 1:07:20 Speaker 2: Say again? Yes.

▶ 1:07:23 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, we have motion for passage made by Councillor Kati, seconded by Counselor gpe. On discussion, I just would like to ask question, but I would like to suspend the rules, um, as, um, the chair, I will need to suspend the rule. And, um, now that the rules are suspended, I just have couple of questions for you. Um, when, um, do we have, do we know when we will receive, uh, those cards?

▶ 1:07:52 Speaker 8: So, uh, that's gonna be the end part of this process. So as we're gonna sign this contract with the recycling partnership to accept this grant, that will trigger the next step to enter into a purchase order with, uh, the cart supplier. We will still, I believe, have to come in front of council for, uh, the, the bonding to make that purchase. Mm-Hmm. Um, and then just to kind of stay in a schedule that has been proposed all along, we wanna roll these carts out probably sometime. Uh, it would be, uh, my preference to do this sometime in maybe early May, early to mid May. Mm-Hmm. Let the residents have about a month to a month and a half to get acclimated to the carts, putting them out on the curb and actually seeing them in use so that they're there. We've worked out any kind of bugs or, or anything that, uh, would help with customer service to get them in the residents possession. So that come July one, we'll be ready to deliver the service with the new, with the new hauler. So, mm-Hmm. To shortly answer your question, I would love to get these carts to the residents by mid-May at the latest.

▶ 1:09:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And, um, I know, um, these, um, are standardized cards. So, uh, for those with, um, physical, um, ability and challenges, um, how are we taking into consideration? Is it something that they are, um, able to adjust or adapt to it?

▶ 1:09:25 Speaker 8: Yeah, 100%. That's a great, that's a great point to make, and something that we really need to focus on when we provide the education, the recycling partnership as part of their materials and their marketing. When they do educate the resident, they have some fantastic pictures that demonstrate that these carts can be handled, manipulated, uh, used to, uh, everybody's ability. And it'll actually probably, I, I would love to say, make the whole process easier. So they are very considerate of those that might have a hard time handling a 64 gallon cart to put their trash and recycling out. So it is, it's a major consideration.

▶ 1:10:06 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Thank you. Um, and, uh, we will have, uh, one for every, uh, uh, not resident, but every, uh, household,

▶ 1:10:17 Speaker 9: Correct? Yeah. Every unit. So if you're in a multi-family, that is a question we've been getting. If you're in a multi-family building, each trash fee or trash paying household gets a recycling and a trash bin. So if you're in a three family house, you're paying three trash fees right now, you'll get six bins delivered.

▶ 1:10:37 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Thank you. And, um, um, thank you for answering my questions. And I have next, um, counselor, uh, che

▶ 1:10:48 Speaker 6: Close up.

▶ 1:10:49 Speaker 5: I'm sorry it's been a long day.

▶ 1:10:57 Cal Finocchiaro: It's fine. Um, sorry, I, I know we have a long time to, you know, review the contract and get into all this, but just because we're talking about the carts right now, and I just have a suggestion in, you know, take it or leave it, but, um, I don't know if you would ever contact Sela from now and maybe put the bin out front of City Hall so people can look at it maybe at like the Milano Center or certain places around the city so they can see it. I just feel like that would kinda make their Yeah. Make people feel at ease. That's a great idea to like, touch it and look at it and, um, get familiar with it before it gets delivered to their doorstep. Yeah.

▶ 1:11:32 Speaker 9: Great. That's a great suggestion. Yeah.

▶ 1:11:36 Maya Jamaleddine: Anyways, thank you. And, um, now, um, uh, we still have the, uh, motion.

▶ 1:11:45 Speaker 5: Uh, please call

▶ 1:11:47 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councillor Chetty. Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for Naro? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair All? Yes. I senior as, yes.

▶ 1:12:07 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And that motion carries. Uh, thank you both. Thank you for being with us.