The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City hammers out new agreement with Republic
Deal saves money
Avon City Council approved a memorandum of understanding with Republic Services for trash and recycling collection services that will mean a savings for residents, the city and schools. The five-year agreement approved at a special meeting of Avon City Council on Feb. 18 will provide certainty and eliminate costs for trash and recycling pickup at city and public school facilities. “We asked ourselves a simple but very important question: Are the residents getting the best deal possible,” said Mayor Bryan Jensen. A City Council Finance Committee explored a number of options, including joining the Lorain County Solid Waste Recycling Consortium, a multi-community competitive bidding process for trash and recycling hauling. In approving the memorandum of understanding with Republic, the city abandoned the joint competitive bidding with the consortium and voted to reject all bids.
City officials emphasized that entering the consortium in no way imposed any requirements or obligations to accept a bid, and that the city was free to negotiate an agreement on its own. Republic, which has provided services to city residents for more than 40 years, offered to continue providing the city trash hauling services at a price that beat all consortium bidders. “We did our due diligence, and in the end, the answer was clear that we should stay with Republic,” said Council President Craig Witherspoon. Highlights of the new memorandum of understanding include: • Beginning in May, 2019, through April, 2021, rates for households that use a 96-gallon trash container and a 64-gallon recycling container will decrease by about $10 per year • Rates for users of 64-gallon trash and recycling containers will remain unchanged at their current levels through April, 2021 • All rates will increase 3.5 percent on May 1, 2021, but rates will be locked in through 2024 • Collection services for all municipal buildings and Avon schools will be at no cost for the duration of the memorandum of understanding • Republic will eliminate a $111,480 annual supplemental recycling fee currently paid by the city – meaning savings to the city of $557,400 over the life of the memorandum of understanding • Collection day will move from Friday to Monday – a change that city officials believe will be better for residents • Republic has also assured the city it is proactively addressing customer service issues Councilman Bob Butkowski outlined a total of $1.1 million in savings between the city, schools and residents. “Right now the overall rates will be less than what current residents are paying in the city of Avon today and will be held through this five-year MOU,” Butkowski said. “The schools will benefit to the tune of about $120,000 in fees they will not be charged for picking up their waste. The residents themselves will save about $165,000 in solid waste fees. And the city will save about $927,000 for a total of about $1.1 million in savings over this period of time. “I just want everyone to understand what we were taking into consideration when it came time to award these bids. And I think $1.1 million in savings over a five year period of time is quite significant.” The lowest bid through the consortium would have cost many city residents as much as $80 more per year, city officials said. “We thank the Lorain County Consortium for giving us the opportunity to explore other avenues of service, Jensen added. “I’m sure they can appreciate what we need to do for our residents – we need to get them the lowest price possible for the same service and that’s exactly what we accomplished. Republic will be required to provide sixty days written notice to the mayor and city council of any proposed governmental fee increases prior to implementation. In September, 2018 Council passed an ordinance authorizing the city to pay a $5,000 entry fee to initiate the competitive bidding process to join the consortium. Three bidders including Republic, winning bidder Kimble and Rumpke submitted proposals. Avon had been considering making changes since unexpected rate increases in August from Republic Services prompted frustration from Jensen and council over the lack of communication about rate increases.