Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2002 0918 CC REG ITEM 10BITEM 1a• 4• CITY OF s,1,onRPAR>K, CALIFORNIA Cif-V colancil "Mr.etinR ACTTON:Glpnr - i �1ii aSu�1G�r Ci�� ice. Moorpark City Counci r • AGENDA REPORT BY: TO: The Honorable City Council FROM: John Brand, Senior Management Analyst DATE: September 12, 2002 (CC meeting of September 18, 2002) SUBJECT: Consider Solid Waste Franchise Agreements, and Resolution No. 2002- , Rescinding Resolution No. 2001 -1924, Updating Solid Waste Collection Fees for 2003. SUMMARY This item was continued from the September 4, 2002 regular meeting. At the December 6, 2000, meeting, the City Council appointed an Ad Hoc Committee consisting of Mayor Pro Tem Mikos and Councilmember Harper to explore issues surrounding the City's solid waste franchises. At this and other meetings, the Council expressed interest in establishing an automated collection system for solid waste, recyclables, and yard trimmings. The Ad Hoc Committee, staff, and the City's two franchise haulers met several times since then to secure a new Agreement based on the direction from Council. The result is a proposed Franchise Agreement with an eight -year term and a possible two -year extension. Key features of the proposed Agreement include the introduction of fully automated solid waste collection service in 2002 -2003, more bulky item pick- ups for residents, greater environmental liability protection for the City, and a new landfill fee adjustment methodology that reduces the impact of landfill tipping fee increases on Moorpark residents. The current Franchise Agreement expires September 30, 2002. DISCUSSION The Ad Hoc Committee set several objectives for a new solid waste franchise, including: • Responsive Customer service and problem resolution • Automated collection service at an economical cost • Litter reduction from collection activities (spills Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 2 from cans and trucks) • More bulky item pick -ups • Increase Franchise Transfer Fees The hauler negotiations produced an Agreement that meets these objectives. Automated Collection If approved, automated collection would be implemented at the additional cost of $1.99 per residence, the lowest implementation cost in the region for this service. The implementation plan is to convert the City to automated collection in phases. The entire City would be converted to automated collection by the end of June 2003. There would be no cost increase associated with automation until the month after the new service begins. In other words, there would be no pro rating of the increase for residents that are converted to automated service and the haulers have agreed not to charge an increase until January 2003 for all residents that are converted during 2002. Automated collection is a technologically advanced system that employs a specially fitted refuse truck. Automated refuse collection trucks are equipped with specially designed hydraulic arms that grasp, lift, and empty the special containers issued to residents. After dumping the material into the truck, the robotic arm returns the container to the curb. As proposed, residents will receive a 64- gallon discards cart, a 64- gallon commingled recycling cart, and a 96- gallon Yard Trimmings cart from their hauler. The 64- gallon carts hold the same volume of material as two conventional 32- gallon trash cans that most residents typically now use. The total capacity of the new automated carts is 224 gallons. Currently residents are allowed 180 gallons of solid waste and yard trimmings plus a 32- gallon recycling container for a total of 212 gallons. Residents may put out unlimited additional recycling containers at no cost. Very few customers currently take advantage of this. Other cities have found that providing a single, larger - sized cart increases the volume of residential recycling. The proposed carts are specially designed for automated collection. Automated trash collection is cleaner, safer, and more efficient than traditional manual collection. It is cleaner because the carts have attached lids and reduce litter and spilled material. It is safer for the driver because the lifting arm prevents injury, and the stability of the carts makes them less prone to topple and create a hazard to the public. On average, the dwell time at each Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 3 stop is reduced 25 %, producing greater efficiency that leads to a shorter duration of time that the trucks and their attendant noise and emissions are present on City streets. The new automated containers are equipped with wheels and are easy to maneuver. The benefits of automated solid waste collection include: • Improved neighborhood appearance on collection day • Faster and more efficient service • Wheels on the carts allows easy maneuverability • Attached lid protects against flies, rodents, and other vectors • More volume per container, fewer containers to pick up, less storage floor space needed during the week • Litter, spills, and wind -blown trash less likely due to greater stability in wind and attached lid • Increase in worker safety since containers are mechanically emptied • Carts provide space for disseminating information on proper disposal • Carts have a long -life expectancy • Residents never have to buy trash cans The disadvantages of the proposed automated collection system are: • Discard volume is specifically defined by the cart size. Currently the haulers have accommodated occasional excess loads. Residents may have to hold some items over to the next week if they have a spike volume of material. • Oversize items will have to be cut down to fit in cart, or removed using a Bulky Item pick up. An odd -sized item like an ironing board cannot simply be placed next to the cart; it has to be inside the cart. • If household discard volume increases, a larger cart will have to be ordered at an additional cost. Trash cart exchange from 64- gallon to 96- gallon costs $3.00 more per month, a second 64- gallon trash cart costs $5.00 per month, a second 96- gallon trash cart costs $8.00 more per month. A second 96- gallon yard trimmings cart costs $3.00 per month. Recycling cart exchange from 64- gallon to 96- gallon costs $1.00 more per month, a second 64- gallon recycling cart costs $2.50 per month, a second 96- gallon recycling cart costs $3.00 more per month. Currently there has been lax enforcement of volume limits. Extra charges are rarely applied. to 3 J Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 4 • The larger carts may take up more storage space. • More collection day parking enforcement may necessary if parked vehicles interfere with automated collection. • Residents may try to avoid changing cart sizes by improperly placing discards in the yard trimmings or recycling carts. Residents may request additional carts and carts of different sizes. The service cost is adjusted up or down when the cart size is changed. The haulers have agreed to allow residents to make as many cart size changes as the need for the for the first six months of service, plus one additional cart exchange during the remainder of 2003. The $5.00 cart exchange charge would not be implemented until 2004. After January 1, 2004, the $5.00 cart trade -in charge would apply. Residents can request a different level of service depending on need. For example, upgrading from a 64- gallon to a 96- gallon refuse cart would cost $3.00 additional each month. The cost of a 96- gallon recycling cart would be $1.00 more per month. Downsizing to the Super Recycler Rate would reduce the monthly cost $5.29 per month (plus the 2003 annual adjustment). The complete residential automated collection service rates are shown on "Exhibit A." Educational material based on successful automated program conversions across the nation will be distributed to all residents. It will include instructions explaining how to use the new carts. It will also explain that the haulers will pick up a resident's old containers free, and it will also include innovative alternative uses for the old containers. The old containers can be converted for many uses around the house, including: turning them into compost bins; earthquake /emergency supply storage; and even a back yard cistern to collect rainwater for irrigating your garden. The haulers will collect unwanted old containers at no cost during the first month of service. The City's haulers are experienced at automated collection conversions. They are committed to quickly resolving the concerns of residents. If approved, the proposed conversion to automated collection service would take place in ten phases, one phase for each service day(Monday - Friday) that each of the City's two haulers provide residential service. By implementing automated service in these ten phases over six months, the haulers will be able to focus their resources and respond rapidly to the problems as they may arise. The most common problems are allowing enough space between the carts when placing the carts out at the top of N.: !..` .A.. i.d iko Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 5 the curb, and parked cars blocking the carts. Typically, neighbors adapt on the weekly collection days. The City of Thousand Oaks reports that education and public information were key aspects for successful implementation and that there was little or no need for extra code enforcement or parking citations to mitigate problems with automated collection. A professional journal on managing Municipal Solid Waste, MSW Management, recently published a study on the public reaction to automated solid waste collection. A summary of some of the key residents' responses are shown in Exhibit "B." The alternative to the proposed automation collection would be to retain the existing, manual collection system. The other major changes to the proposed Franchise Agreements are discussed in the next section. Agreement Provisions The proposed new Agreement doubles the number of bulky item pick- ups from two items once a year, to four items up to twice a year. The Agreement raises the franchise transfer fee to a minimum of $50,000 with annual adjustments at the same percentage rate as the collection fees that are adjusted each year. The transfer fee is paid to the City if either franchise hauler is sold or otherwise acquired by new ownership. The new Agreement also has a number of technical updates. Most noticeable is the fact that each hauler now has two Agreements: one for residential service and a second for non - residential service. The reason for this and many of the other technical changes is to reduce the City's potential for exposure to Superfund liability. If the federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) declares that a disposal site is a Superfund site for environmental cleanup, all past users of the site face enormous clean up costs on a "joint and several" basis. This means that the cleanup costs may be imposed based on an entity's ability to pay, not based on the volume or toxicity of the materials disposed of in the landfill. Municipal governments have been severely impacted by Superfund liability. The City Attorney has carefully reworked a number of passages to reduce the City's potential exposure to liability for Superfund clean up of a facility where solid waste from the City has been disposed. Additional technical changes are made to the Agreement to reflect changes in solid waste law and current court decisions. A technical change was established in January 2002 at the time of - 1; ��o Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 6 the last annual rate adjustment. It is the way that the landfill tipping rates are calculated. The old rate adjustment formula was not based on tonnage, and it imposed disproportionately higher cost increases on residential customers and smaller commercial customers. The new landfill adjustment methodology uses real tonnage to allocate the landfill cost increase in proportion to disposal. The most notable change is in the residential landfill rate. The January 2002 increase in the landfill- tipping fee of 92G per ton would equate to a 33� per month increase for each residential account under the old formula. Using the new formula, the rate increase is only 10� a month, a savings of 23G per household per month for Moorpark residents. The new landfill formula will continue to work for Moorpark residents because the Simi Valley Landfill already has $3.00 in tipping fee increases pending approval with the County of Ventura. It is anticipated that these increases will be implemented in the next few years. As Moorpark residents expand their source reduction and recycling, disposal tonnages are lowered and the amount of a landfill disposal increases allowed also goes down in the new formula. The new rate adjustment formula is included in the proposed Agreement. If approved, the residential rate adjustment for automated collection would occur only after January 1, 2003 even for those areas where automated collection is implemented before the end of the current year. For the other areas, the automated collection rates will not be charged until automated collection is implemented in that particular area. When automated collection is implemented, the residential automated rate will be $21.41 which includes the 2003 annual adjustment, and the senior citizen and super recycle rate would be $16.07 per month including the annual adjustment. A summary comparison of the current and proposed residential collection rates is shown on Exhibit "A." The annual rate adjustment is discussed later in this report, and the full new rate structure is shown in Exhibit "G" of the Franchise Agreements distributed to Council separately. Among other changes in the new Agreement, the haulers agreed to maintain a billing system that allows for notices and message inserts. The haulers requested a minimum term of eight years, citing that it is necessary so that they can recover the capital outlay and justify the expense of new trucks and containers. The Agreement obligates the haulers to implement new programs that the City may adopt in the future. Specifically, the haulers agreed to re- configuring the commercial rates to create greater incentives to recycle at businesses and multi - family residential complexes, if C,121 41], F 31 Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 7 the City Council adopts such a program. In conclusion, staff feels that the new Solid Waste Franchise Agreements are beneficial to the community and represent the successful accomplishment of the goals and objectives that the City Council set for the City's solid waste franchises. However, as stated previously, the City Council can elect to retain the existing manual collection system in place of the proposed automated system. The other provisions discussed in the Agenda report can go forward. A complete copy of the Residential Agreement in legislative format and a clean copy of the Commercial Agreement were provided to the Council separately for review. Annual Rate Adjustment Also submitted for consideration is the annual adjustment to solid waste collection fees as specified in the Franchise Agreements between the City and the haulers. Rate adjustments are proposed for both manual and automated residential collection. This year the increase in the July -July Consumer Price Index (CPI) Less Housing was 0.75 %. The landfill rate for franchise haulers also increased 12� per ton to $39.27 per ton. The rate formula factors the increases into the rate structure in accordance with the Agreements. As proposed, the manual residential solid waste rate would increase 18� per month, to $19.24. The senior citizen and super recycler rate would increase 15G per month to $15.52. If approved, the residential rate for automated service would be an additional $2.17 for a total of $21.41, and the senior citizen rate would increase 55� for a total of $16.07 per month. Commercial rates would increase proportionately but only for the annual adjustment. The new rates would become effective January 1, 2003. STAFF RECOMMENDATION (Roll Call Vote) 1. Approve the City's Franchise Agreements with Moorpark Rubbish Disposal and GI Industries, subject to final language approval by the City Manager and City Attorney. 2. Adopt attached Resolution No. 2002- , updating the Solid Waste Collection Fees effective January 1, 2003. 1 3 -IL 3 5 2002 Manual 2003 Manual 2003 Automation Regular Residential 19.06 19.24 21.41 Senior /Super Recycler 15.37 15.52 16.07 STAFF RECOMMENDATION (Roll Call Vote) 1. Approve the City's Franchise Agreements with Moorpark Rubbish Disposal and GI Industries, subject to final language approval by the City Manager and City Attorney. 2. Adopt attached Resolution No. 2002- , updating the Solid Waste Collection Fees effective January 1, 2003. 1 3 -IL 3 5 Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 8 A. Regular Monthly Rate: Trash - 64- gallon cart Recyclables - 64- gallon cart Yard Trimmings - 96- gallon cart B. Senior Monthly Rate: Trash - 32- gallon cart Recyclables - 64- gallon cart Yard Trimmings — 64- gallon cart C. Super Recycler Rate Trash - 32- gallon cart Recyclables - 64- gallon cart Yard Trimmings — 64- gallon cart EXHIBIT A Automated Collection Service Automated 2003 Manual 2002 Manual $21.41 $19.24 $19.06 D. Service options Trash cart exchange from 64 to 96 Additional 64 gallon trash cart Additional 96 gallon trash cart Additional 96 gallon yard trimmings cart Recycle cart exchange from 64 to 96 Additional 64 gallon recycle cart Additional 96 gallon recycle cart E. Limited Service w/o Yard Trimmings Trash - 32- gallon cart Recyclables - 64- gallon cart No Yard Trimmings service $16.07 $15.52 $15.37 $16.07 $15.52 $15.37 3.00 /mo 5.00 /mo 8.00 /mo 3.00 /mo 1.00 /mo 2.50 /mo 3.00 /mo 15.40/mo F. Service Changes Customer may change service levels as needed during the first six months and one additional time during the first year of new service at no charge. Subsequent service changes 5.00 per request. Honorable City Council Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Page 9 EXHIBIT B Residents' Responses to the SWANCC Pilot Program (Steven Schilling, P.E., MSW Management, July /August 2002 p.54 -57) In general, the residents' reactions to the program were overwhelmingly positive. When asked how convenient the recycling cart was to use, 91.4% of the respondents said it was very convenient. The study area was a section of suburban Cook County Illinois served by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC). This area has some demographic similarities to Moorpark and Ventura County. The study area implemented automated collection of recyclables using the same size carts proposed for Moorpark. Here is the survey: If your recycling bins you do with your extra Throw in garbage Place next to bin Drop off Save for next week What is your opinion recycling cart? Too Large Too small Convenient size No opinion were full before collection day, what did recyclables? 28.3% 12.1% 1.9% 57.7% on the size and dimensions of the new Describe the frequency of new recycling cart. None Periodic Twice a month Weekly 7.2% 4.0% 87.8% 1.0% your household's participation with the 2.7% 1.8% 12.8% 82.7% Overall, how convenient is the new cart to use? Not convenient 2.5% Moderately 6.1% Very 91.4% How would you rate the program using the new carts? Failure 0.4% Program needs help 1.1% Moderate success 13.4% Huge Success 85.1% Exhibit "C" RESOLUTION NO. 2002- A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA, UPDATING SOLID WASTE COLLECTION FEES AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION 2001 -1924. WHEREAS, it is appropriate for the City to establish fees relative to collection and management of solid waste collection; and WHEREAS, the City provides residential and commercial solid waste and recycling collection services; and WHEREAS, on December 20, 1995, the City Council granted exclusive franchise agreements with G.I. Industries and Moorpark Rubbish Disposal for the collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal of solid waste in residential, commercial, and industrial areas within City limits; and WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreements provide for adjustments to the service fee schedule pursuant to a specified formula; and WHEREAS, the City Council declares its intention of maintaining reasonable rates for collection, management, and disposal of solid waste and recyclables within the City limits; and WHEREAS, on December 19, 2001 the City Council adopted Resolution 2001 -1924 establishing solid waste collection fees effective January 1, 2002. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MOORPARK DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Effective January 1, 2003, the monthly residential solid waste, recycling, and green waste collection rate shall be as shown in Exhibit "G" of the City Franchise Agreement. SECTION 2. Effective January 1, 2003, the commercial, industrial, and multi - family solid waste, recycling, and composting bin collection rates shall be as shown in Exhibit "G" of the City Franchise Agreement. SECTION 3. Effective, January 1, 2003, the temporary bins and roll- off /drop box rates for solid waste, recycling, and composting bin services shall be as shown in the Exhibit "G" of the City Franchise Agreement. Resolution No. 2002 -0000 Exhibit "C" SECTION 4. Effective January 1, 2003, the annual Solid Waste Management Fee for exemption to the required solid waste collection service mandate shall be $24.40. SECTION 5. This resolution shall be effective January 1, 2003. SECTION 6. This Resolution hereby rescinds Resolution 2001 -1924 in its entirety upon the effective date of this resolution. SECTION 7. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of the resolution and shall cause a certified resolution to be filed in the book of original Resolutions. PASSED AND ADOPTED this 18th day of September 2002. Patrick Hunter, Mayor ATTEST: Deborah S. Traffenstedt, City Clerk