CCAgenda_04Oct26 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -13- October 13, 2004 Solid Waste Commission Report on Organized Collection (continued) Mr. Barany said that a lot of these issues have come more from misunderstandings or misrepresentations for which we cannot place blame, but for which we should try to clarify and resolve. He said he wanted to begin with Mr. Lageson's comments. Mr. Lageson first expressed concern about what is the plan and City Council member Lamb provided an excellent answer that provides half of the story. The other half that was also discussed by the SWC pointed to the fact that through the bid process, which is a competitive bid process, we need to keep the option open for creative proposals from the haulers. We do not want to lock ourselves into an option where we might not be able to receive a bid that could potentially provide useful services and options for the City. Mr. Lageson expressed concerns about prices and the point of contact. The report addressed this specifically about where concerns are directed. Cities with organized collection have all developed systems for dealing with customer concerns that have been streamlined, based upon the specific city's needs and the flexibilities of the haulers. Mr. Lageson wondered whether there were any economists on the SWC and while he, Michael, is not one personally, he does take many classes with economics graduate students, so he can speak a little bit to some of the issues that Mr. Lageson raised, and many of them are very • important. Mr. Lageson talked specifically about entry barriers, and Gene's comments notwithstanding, long term contracts have proven successful for small haulers to provide competitive services and to bid for contracts on the scale that the City is offering. One also must consider that entry barriers exist regardless of whether you are in an organized system or an open system, and those entry barriers continue to mean that competition is not a guarantee, which brings him to Mr. Carnival's remarks. Mr. Barany said that Mr. Carnival used what he considers to be a misnomer talking about open competitive systems. As Mr. Lageson pointed out very succinctly, open is not to be taken as synonymous with competitive. Staff member Jones pointed out in her presentation that the open system that we have now is certainly not competitive and that has been seen through the gradual consolidation of the industry into a few large haulers. This is something that the City Council needs to consider, not only what will happen in an organized system, but what we have going now and what will happen in the future now. There are issues of choice but we must remember that choice cannot be considered in a vacuum. He said he can assure everyone in the audience and at home that choice was considered and weighed, and so far the SWC does not see a compelling reason to weigh choice over the many benefits they see from organized collection. He said the issues about peripheral charges that were raised by Gene will be addressed in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and all such charges will be made forthright and clear to all before any recommendations are made about an RFP. The public commentary portion of the meeting was closed. • 3