On the agenda

1. 1Call to Order - Roll Call▶ 0:00
2. 2

   Discussion on Yard Debris Collection Program

   discussed

   Public Works presented an analysis of the city's yard debris collection program, noting it currently costs ~$220,000 annually, takes 6-8 weeks per cycle, and creates eyesores and illegal dumping problems. Staff presented three options: keep current program, contract with a single trash hauler that includes yard debris (the staff-favored option), or implement subscription-only pickup. Council gave direction to staff to pursue further analysis of the single-hauler/contracted option and bring back details.

   • direction:Council directed staff to further analyze and develop the single-hauler contracted yard debris collection option and return with specifics. (none)

   📍Bellevue Park📍Grand Boulevard along the Cody River Park📍Pine Hill Road site📍West Graham neighborhood👤Councilman Davis👤Debbie Manz👤Robert Rivera#FDEP transfer site permit#FEMA storm operations sectioning#Liquidated damages clauses#Mulch/compost program#Neighborhood cleanup days#Single hauler trash/yard debris RFP#Tree City USA certification

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   [00:00:21] We have one item on the agenda tonight, which is the discussion of the yard debris collection [00:00:26] program. [00:00:27] Ms. Manz? [00:00:29] The yard debris collection program is one that is administered by our Department of [00:00:38] Public Works, and it is currently a program that makes it all the way around the city [00:00:49] about every six to eight weeks, and whereby we pick up yard debris that is left in piles [00:00:58] throughout the city, and some of it is left at the hand of contractors through illegal [00:01:08] dumping, which becomes an eyesore, and it has become the topic of discussion from time [00:01:17] to time amongst you, and as a result of that, we thought it would be appropriate to have [00:01:25] a conversation with you and to introduce some alternates which might be employed in [00:01:33] order to cut down on the eyesore portion of the program. [00:01:40] So in that respect, Robert and I and his staff, of course, have put together some thoughts [00:01:48] for your consideration, and we're going to let Robert kick off with an analysis of the [00:01:56] program. [00:01:57] Thank you, Ms. Manz. [00:01:58] So the agenda that we have for you on the PowerPoint tonight is we want to talk to you [00:02:05] about our current level of service with the existing program, and then we have three options [00:02:11] that we've added that, at some point in time, council and staff has discussed. [00:02:19] I would like to make it known that none of these options that we have in this PowerPoint [00:02:23] or anything that we're going to discuss recommends eliminating the yard debris pickup. [00:02:31] It's basically trying to improve the efficiency of it and accomplish the concerns that residents [00:02:40] as well as council has indicated they'd like to see improved. [00:02:44] I would like to also add that the yard debris program is part of our Tree City USA certification. [00:02:56] It's part of the credit. [00:02:58] It's an item that we use for the credits to get that certification, and it is highly recommended [00:03:07] by our environmental committee to the city council, and it is a popular service that [00:03:12] the residents enjoy. [00:03:15] And so with that being said, after we conclude all the options that we have, we will go to [00:03:21] you for the next steps, in other words, listening to any public comment, any suggestions that [00:03:27] the public may have, and then taking some input from the policy decision that council [00:03:35] would like to direct staff to where we can move in that direction and hopefully come [00:03:41] back to you with an improved program. [00:03:43] If you'd allow me, I have one additional point that I'd like to raise before Mr. Rivera continues. [00:03:52] We are actually paying for the program twice, and the reason that we're doing that is because [00:03:59] we are paying for Robert and his staff to pick up the yard waste at the curb, as well [00:04:10] as paying for the yard waste to be picked up by the trash haulers, because the rate [00:04:18] that our subscribers for trash service are paying is the county rate. [00:04:26] The county rate includes pickup of yard waste. [00:04:31] Just a point I'd like to make. [00:04:35] So some details of the existing program and its operation is that we have three maintenance [00:04:41] employees, city employees. [00:04:43] The program is, like Ms. Manson said, it's operated by the street division, and so it [00:04:50] has three employees. [00:04:52] Two of them operate the dump trucks that you see running around town, and the third one [00:04:57] operates the tractor with the clamshell. [00:05:01] We have the town divided up into seven sections, and just a side note on those seven sections, [00:05:08] it's the same type of outline that we use for our FEMA operations when it comes to storm [00:05:14] events, so it gives the guys that are out in the field that chance to incorporate how [00:05:21] we operate on those types of events. [00:05:25] So it also is utilized as a teaching tool, so to speak, or practicing for that type of [00:05:31] activity. [00:05:33] This program is available to the residents only, and like Ms. Manson said, we have a [00:05:39] typically six to eight week cycle rotation. [00:05:43] Now that rotation, depending on what time of year, can go up to ten weeks. [00:05:49] If springtime or fall, a lot of people are out in their yard doing yard week, we could [00:05:55] move over into week nine or ten. [00:05:58] If we have a piece of equipment go down, that might set us back. [00:06:03] These guys are also maintenance people, so if we have some type of maintenance activity [00:06:08] that might take priority over something such as picking up, then those guys might have [00:06:14] to go do an activity such as intersection improvement or something like that for a day [00:06:20] or two. [00:06:21] And so, as we've said, the city crews pick up the piles at the residents' homes. [00:06:30] They either do that, or we have another type where residents can agree on a community location [00:06:36] where they can set their piles up and Public Works will come and pick that up instead of [00:06:41] going to each individual house. [00:06:44] Now, we contract for our yard debris grinding through a private contractor. [00:06:50] You all had approved the annual contract a few weeks ago, and this actually sets the [00:06:56] price for us and pencils in that availability for the contractor to perform this activity [00:07:02] for us. [00:07:03] It typically happens twice a year, and of course, once that is finished, we then offer [00:07:10] the compost free to the city residents as well as anybody that wants to take advantage [00:07:18] of the program. [00:07:19] We've had people out there that's talked to our guys that said they've come up from Pinellas, [00:07:23] Tarpon Springs, Hernando, where they've heard about it and they utilize it. [00:07:29] We also deliver free compost. [00:07:32] We can have the residents or someone that's within the area call in and we'll schedule. [00:07:39] When the guys have time in between the different large jobs or something like that, they'll [00:07:44] go get a truck and load it up and deliver it. [00:07:48] Our limits that we have for that availability is we try to use the north inline of New Port Richey as a limit, Holiday as a limit to the south, and then we try to make it a rule [00:08:03] of thumb of Rowan Road to the east, no further than Little Road, and obviously, this benefits [00:08:10] the city as well because with the amount of yard debris that we do take in, we've got [00:08:16] to get rid of it or we've got to take it to the county landfill, and of course, we have [00:08:21] to pay tipping fees. [00:08:24] Those tipping fees are not cheap, and so it's cheaper for us to deliver those requests [00:08:30] in a localized area than to do the alternative. [00:08:39] So I wanted to give you kind of an idea of the amount that we take in, and of course, [00:08:45] the site that we have is a transfer site through FDEP, permitted through FDEP, and so we have [00:08:52] to keep track of that and make sure that at the end of the calendar year that what went [00:08:58] in went out, and so in 2019, you can see where we had about 3,600 tons that came from the [00:09:08] residents and 218 that the city contributed to it as far as right-of-way trimmings and [00:09:16] city properties. [00:09:21] In 2020, we ended up collecting 3,600, approximately 3,600 tons from the residents. [00:09:31] We did 111 tons of city usage, again, right-of-way trimming, city properties, and code enforcement [00:09:37] properties, and then we had hired a contractor in 2020 to go through the alleys and do some [00:09:44] trimming to save some money and to promote the program. Part of that contract called [00:09:51] for the contractor to go ahead and haul his cuttings to the Pine Hill site so that we [00:09:57] could grind those up and make it part of the compost program. [00:10:04] Go back to the slide. On a side note, what I wanted to kind of bring to light to you [00:10:13] is between 20 and 2017, we averaged around 2,300 tons of debris collection, and then [00:10:24] back in, I skipped in between the two years because we had the three hurricanes that came [00:10:31] in, and I figured that would throw the curve off. We wanted to look at what we typically [00:10:38] do and kind of get an idea of how it's increased over the years. [00:10:46] Back in 2012, we were at almost 1,700 tons that we collected, so you can see over time [00:10:54] where we averaged for multiple years around that, too, where it has increased, and we've [00:11:01] been able to maintain it and properly grind it up and get it out to the residents, but [00:11:07] to be honest, it has been a challenge. [00:11:14] The annual costs that we have, we wanted to let you take a look at that to the existing [00:11:21] problem. Approximately $220,000 annually, and that includes your maintenance workers, [00:11:27] the grinding services, all the equipment that's included, and I just wanted to make [00:11:34] light for that. When you see that R&R, that renewal replacement, that basically means [00:11:39] for us what we wanted to do is to get you a cost of the total program. An example would [00:11:45] be if one of the pieces of equipment costs $100,000, and under our policy, its replacement [00:11:53] time, to keep it real simple in numbers, is 10 years, then you either have to save $10,000 [00:11:59] a year before you're ready to replace it, or if you don't do the $10,000 a year, you [00:12:06] have to do the $100,000 at the end, but this lets you know what it costs annually to where [00:12:13] you can include it in that cost. [00:12:20] Some of the items that we have that we deal with is where we have a lot of the piles that [00:12:28] are too close to the fence, become damaged a lot of times when we've got the equipment [00:12:34] trying to get it out there, fire hydrants that are blocked, pole and guide wires. We've [00:12:41] got debris that's other than yard debris, carpet, appliances, plastic bags, those types [00:12:48] of things. They get placed on utility boxes. We use the red tag over in the side to go [00:12:56] ahead and if we see any of those items, then staff fills that out, puts it in the pile, [00:13:04] and then on the next go round, we'll come by and we'll pick it up. If it hasn't been [00:13:09] taken care of by then, then that's when we notify code enforcement for them to reach [00:13:15] out to the resident. [00:13:33] Like we said, some of the issues is we have extensive illegal dumping. It's a problem. [00:13:39] Part of that, I believe, is due to the frequency of collection and the size of the piles that [00:13:45] the illegal dumping creates. Rodents are a problem, fire hazards, depending on what time [00:13:52] of year and the conditions. If we're going through a drought, depending on the location [00:13:58] of the piles, those are things that you have to worry about. Then we had discussed earlier, [00:14:04] we do have departmental workloads that will, from time to time, create a delay. [00:14:14] What we wanted to do, I took a ride with Councilman Davis and he was showing me some of the things [00:14:22] that he looked at. It did make sense. Hopefully, you can see these pictures. The idea of this [00:14:29] picture was we're on Grand Boulevard along the Cody River Park. The river is our jewel, [00:14:37] the front yard. You can see what it looks like in a section here where there are no [00:14:42] debris piles. When we go to this picture, you see there's a debris pile here and there's [00:14:52] another one right here. If the picture was taken at a different angle, you'd see the [00:14:58] piles lined up. [00:15:00] There was probably between when the river started in the city, limits down to Massachusetts, [00:15:06] a dozen. [00:15:07] Yeah. [00:15:08] A dozen piles. [00:15:09] It looked like a bomb went off. [00:15:10] Yeah. [00:15:11] Just in that, whatever, mile section. [00:15:12] Right. [00:15:13] There's 15 there today, and that section's not scheduled to be picked up until the end [00:15:18] of April. [00:15:19] Right. [00:15:20] And so what I wanted to make a note of is when you look at these piles, just keep in [00:15:25] mind that they could have very easily been put in a container. [00:15:32] And I get it. [00:15:33] There's two different parts of town. [00:15:36] There's sections of town that have huge piles because the people have those types of yard. [00:15:43] And then there's quite a few sections in town that are like this, that could this pile be [00:15:50] eliminated by a different form of collection and cause minimal inconvenience to the homeowner? [00:15:57] Absolutely. [00:15:58] It might take you another 30 minutes to rake that stuff up and throw it in a container. [00:16:04] In this case, too, it was raked up probably across the street and dumped over there because [00:16:08] that's where they usually dump it. [00:16:10] Correct. [00:16:11] So they could have just kept it on the same side and thrown it in a trash can and put [00:16:14] it where there was a trash can. [00:16:17] And so then we went into a typical neighborhood. [00:16:22] And I wish these pictures were a little bit larger, but anyway, what we wanted to kind [00:16:26] of show you here is when you take a look at the picture on the right here, you can see [00:16:37] where if you were really picky, you might want the grass edged. [00:16:43] It needs to be mowed. [00:16:46] But when you look at this stretch from the eye and your vision, this is a well-kept neighborhood [00:16:52] and it looks pleasing, it looks inviting. [00:16:57] We come over to this slide here, and again, there's a pile here, there's a pile here, [00:17:05] and they're lined up all along this road. [00:17:11] This road was one of the ones that we planted live oaks to where we could kind of get that [00:17:19] peaceful residential feeling where you had shade and everything, but now that visual [00:17:24] aspect is competing with the yard debris piles that are sitting there. [00:17:32] And then, of course, we have the illegal dumping on vacant lots, and it really is [00:17:39] hard to control. [00:17:42] You'll see that the three pictures to the left are illegal dumping on vacant lots. [00:17:47] This one over here is the Bellevue Park, and it's a community pile, and I know that you're [00:17:56] familiar with the area. [00:17:58] The homes that are along the river there are large in their landscape, they're manicured. [00:18:04] We actually took a questionnaire to the residents that live around there and asked them, hey, [00:18:11] do you want a community pile located here, or would you all rather have it individual [00:18:17] on your lawns? [00:18:20] It was almost a unanimous decision by the residents that they said, no, we would rather [00:18:25] have a community pile, because while they like the service, they don't want the piles [00:18:30] sitting in their front yard. [00:18:34] We have cameras on that site, and the contractors, somehow they know it. [00:18:42] They will cover their license plate, they do whatever it takes. [00:18:46] All you get is a picture of whatever color the pickup truck is, two guys in a baseball [00:18:50] cap jumping out, and in maybe two minutes, they've unloaded that whole thing and they're [00:18:57] gone. [00:18:58] It's widespread, it's hard for anybody to grasp on it. [00:19:04] PD is busy with calls, they have to prioritize where they're responding to. [00:19:11] You really can't have code enforcement blitzing, because it's so rampant that you can't really [00:19:18] take a single small area and put your forces in there to try to clean it up, because while [00:19:24] you're doing that, you've got it everywhere else. [00:19:31] That's our existing system and the disadvantages of it. [00:19:36] What we wanted to talk about is the different options that we have here. [00:19:41] All of these options, at some point in time, have all been discussed with council and staff, [00:19:48] like I had mentioned. [00:19:51] This one's easy. [00:19:53] This one is the option that just says, well, we have a current system, the benefits to [00:20:00] it outweigh the disadvantages, and we should operate the same. [00:20:06] We're satisfied with what it costs, our return on investment, and maybe we can tweak it, [00:20:13] but all in all, we need to work with what we have. [00:20:18] Option two is the option that, when staff was doing their due diligence, that we kept [00:20:29] coming back to and saying that this really does tie into what we're trying to accomplish [00:20:38] in a lot of different ways. [00:20:43] It's contracting with a trash hauler, and those services include yard debris. [00:20:48] I know we already have that, but what we're talking about is the single hauler system, [00:20:55] at least to try to seriously take a look at it to where we could present to you the specific [00:21:03] details of going with this type of program, just like we talked about with the yard debris. [00:21:12] One of the things that we like, pick up weekly. [00:21:16] We've got that now, but it doesn't seem to be utilized. [00:21:21] We always talk about trying to get a program that's going to be bought in by everyone. [00:21:31] This allows the hauler to be able to do that outreach, to be able to come up with the things [00:21:37] that they know is going to get the buy-in from the people. [00:21:40] They're the professionals. [00:21:42] They have the people, the manpower to be able to accommodate that feature. [00:21:47] We don't think that without that extensive outreach, you could change a program that [00:21:54] we have that's this large. [00:21:56] Your special pickups requiring a clamshell would still be available. [00:22:02] The thing that might change, and if you think about it, it does make sense, we've looked [00:22:06] at some of the RFPs that are existing communities, and they will give you, and this all can be [00:22:14] massaged. [00:22:15] It doesn't mean that they're only going to do four, but let's use four clamshell pickups [00:22:22] per year, and you can utilize them any time you want. [00:22:28] People that maybe live in one part of town that they can do all their trimming one spring [00:22:33] day and put it in two containers, they might not utilize that. [00:22:38] Somebody that lives along the river or in West Graham neighborhood or something like [00:22:45] that could still get those four pickups, and if they needed more than that, they could [00:22:52] still call in, but there would be a designated fee that would be associated with it. [00:22:59] You said single hauler. [00:23:00] I don't see any difference if it was two haulers, you could sit on the same program. [00:23:04] Right. [00:23:05] We just would have to find out if, and we have scheduled that meeting to see if- [00:23:09] Can you throw that little dig in that you guys want in on the single hauler thing? [00:23:12] No, we understand. [00:23:13] Yeah. [00:23:14] Okay. [00:23:15] Let me get back. [00:23:20] Most of the RFPs that we've seen do take in, the one thing that is different than what [00:23:26] we have now is that any of the debris that's generated by a commercial contractor has to [00:23:31] be disposed of by that contractor. [00:23:41] Advantages, and please forgive me, I know some of these things I'm repeating, but there's [00:23:46] just a lot of things that I want to make sure that I do get that point across. [00:23:52] Picked up weekly, cleaner neighborhoods, the collection frequencies reduces the rodents [00:24:00] and pets out of trash. [00:24:03] I know you're asking yourself, what do you mean pets out of trash? [00:24:06] Well, snakes like to go on these piles too, and cats and things like that like to run [00:24:11] after them. [00:24:12] There's multiple problems with those types of activities with these piles. [00:24:17] We talked about the fire hazards. [00:24:21] If you're collecting it more frequently, it reduces those. [00:24:25] We still have the tractor available to pick up. [00:24:31] The mulch program remains the same. [00:24:35] We talked about tipping fees. [00:24:38] There is none for it. [00:24:41] The participation and civic cleanup days, we have two neighborhood cleanup days a year [00:24:49] annually. [00:24:52] This type of program, the hauler is still participating in that. [00:24:56] He's still a partner, still handing out those educational materials, still getting the buy-in [00:25:04] of the program, its conversion, and then once the program is converted, still keeping that [00:25:10] buy-in and that excitement from the public, educating, having educational events, those [00:25:16] types of things. [00:25:19] The Pine Hill Road site can still be used for the residents to collect what we grind [00:25:26] up. [00:25:27] Our cost savings would be equipment decommissioning. [00:25:33] We would expect that we would keep the employees that we have. [00:25:40] An example would be those employees that would remain, instead of having a contractor [00:25:47] that you're paying doing trimming of your alleys once a year, those employees are going [00:25:52] to be doing the trimming. [00:25:54] Those employees are going to be doing maintenance activities that, when we look at it now, that [00:26:02] we could do a better job of. [00:26:06] Since 2015, we've remained two employees down from that division. [00:26:12] That's not two open positions, that's positions that people retired or people left the city [00:26:20] for another job or whatever reason. [00:26:22] We've had to take and continually try to rotate these people to where we can get them to cross-train [00:26:30] and know the routes, know everything that goes with this program. [00:26:40] You really want to keep those employees, so we're not talking about a reduction in staff. [00:26:49] When we look at the timeframes and how we can accomplish a lot of these things that [00:26:53] we're talking about, if you have these contracts, it would be incorporated both in one and the [00:27:02] same with regular trash pickup and yard debris pickup. [00:27:08] You've got eight to ten year contracts, five and then renewals after that. [00:27:15] These contractors are investing millions of dollars in this operation to be able to competitively [00:27:22] bid and to even qualify to be selected. [00:27:28] Once you get to the point where you're doing a competitive bid, then to me, I would expect [00:27:35] efficiency, they're professionals, I would expect a reduction in service cost for our [00:27:42] residents, and our customer standards would be improved. [00:27:48] You say, well, how do we get there? [00:27:50] One of the big things that you have in these contracts with these people that are professionals [00:27:57] at what they do is your liquidated damage clause. [00:28:03] Let's say if you have in your program that a resident calls up and says, okay, I need [00:28:11] a clamshell special pickup, and you have in your contract that that contractor has to [00:28:16] respond within a week, and in your clause you have the cost of everything that's going [00:28:24] to cost that contractor for non-performance, that right there is going to cause him to [00:28:30] meet those requirements. [00:28:34] Some of the RFPs we've seen have ranged from $150 fine for not picking up yard debris after [00:28:39] a call in, to up to $500 if you use one truck that you put the regular waste haul in, and [00:28:49] the yard waste in. [00:28:50] Why can't we start that next year? We renew the contracts every year. [00:28:56] Let's let Robert get through his thing, and then we'll take it around. [00:29:00] Okay. [00:29:01] Robert, if you can try to speed it up a little. [00:29:10] My point is there are clauses that you could keep the contractor to where he would have [00:29:20] to perform and meet those guidelines. [00:29:26] All your vegetation is being picked up by the residents because the more frequent you're [00:29:31] picking it up, then the more you can isolate your illegal dumping and determine what is [00:29:38] and what isn't. [00:29:41] Public outreach is increased, and the city's liability is reduced greatly. [00:29:45] I mean, you've got a front-end loader that's out there. [00:29:48] We've backed into cars before, backed into utility poles, and it's just a matter of ... It's [00:29:55] one of those things that comes with the type of operation that you do. [00:29:58] If you do it long enough ... [00:30:00] something is going to happen, and we've been very fortunate, and so when you look [00:30:04] at liability alone, you're shifting that from the city over to a private company, [00:30:12] and that's huge. And so our last option that we talked about was the [00:30:23] satellite sites that was discussed, and so I'll quickly go over them real quick. [00:30:29] The main advantage of it is to have a site that would be available, [00:30:34] sites available in different areas of town, so that if somebody were to do some [00:30:41] trimming, they would be able to take that to the site that same day. I know a [00:30:47] gentleman came in at our last meeting and said that he would have hauled his [00:30:50] stuff off if he had had a site, but if you look at the majority of the people [00:30:57] in the program that we have available now, I'm not so sure that that system [00:31:02] would really work because you still have piles in your front yard that you [00:31:08] would be able to use, so for the most part, nobody's going to take and load [00:31:12] their stuff up and take it somewhere versus having it someplace that they can [00:31:16] just go ahead and place it. And when we did do something like that back [00:31:25] in the, I think it was in the 90s or the early 2000s, we actually did open up the [00:31:31] Pine Hill site, and we had our old carpenter go over there and monitor the [00:31:37] site, and it really, it didn't, there was no change in what we saw as far [00:31:44] as collecting out in the field. Actually what it did was it increased the [00:31:49] illegal dumping over at that site because it just was, there was nowhere we [00:31:54] could monitor it, so we looked at the potential sites. They're very minimal, and [00:32:01] so what would typically happen is you would, is council would have to look at [00:32:06] the different sites and probably acquire one, purchase it. We looked at the cost [00:32:12] of fencing it, the employees monitoring it. We have one full-time employee here, [00:32:19] but more than likely it would create a part-timer as well that would have to be [00:32:25] able to pick up the weekends and some of the, some of the evening hours in the

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3. 3Adjournment▶ 32:29