City Council

CITY OF LACONIA - CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Public Works Committee September 3, 2020 3:30 P.M. 9/3/2020 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Haynes called the meeting to order at the above date and time. T 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG 3. RECORDING SECRETARY F Cheryl Hebert, City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL Chairman Haynes noted all all three members of the subcommittee were in attendance and a quorum has been established. A 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Scott Myers, City Manager Glenn Smith, Finance Director R 6. PUBLIC WORKS (Haynes (Chair), Felch, Soucy) 6.A. Discussion on having the City move from a manual to an automated solid waste pickup system and review of Chapter 194, Solid Waste D Public Works Director Wes Anderson briefed the Committee on the current process for trash pick up as well as the proposed changes. A copy of the staff report as well as the proposed changes were submitted for the record. The City's present contract is for a manual curbside solid waste collection program. Contractors can reduce operating costs by reducing the size of the collection crew from a 2 or 3 person crew to a one person crew when using an automated system. Additionally the contractor's workers compensation costs will be lower when using an automated system. The City has an opportunity to lower its curbside collection costs when it issues its next request for bids for curbside collection which could be issued as early as May 2021. Public Works made many assumptions in performing this estimate. The assumptions include, but are not limited , to the number of: l Solid waste curbside collection customers l Percent of single family, duplex, and triplex homes l Percent of businesses l Percent of condominium associations Additionally, Public Works assumed that the City would provide each customer with its trash and recycling containers and that each customer would be provided a specified number of containers. Based on the contracted collection costs that become effective on October 1, 2020, the annual costs of manual curbside collection services adjusted for inflation to October 2021 is estimated to be: Additionally, Public Works assumed that the City would provide each customer with its trash and recycling containers and that each customer would be provided a specified number of containers. Based on the contracted collection costs that become effective on October 1, 2020, the annual costs of manual curbside collection services adjusted for inflation to October 2021 is estimated to be: Curbside trash $429,000 Curbside recycling $190,000 Total $619,000 T Assuming a 25% savings, the City could save $155,000 annually. If the City bought and provided the containers for its customers it would cost the City approximately $70,000 a year (not including interest) for 8 years to pay for an 8 year bond that would be necessary to purchase the containers. This results in annual savings of approximately $80,000 per year until F the bond is paid off. Due to the cost of purchasing a new truck, it is expected the minimum any bidder would want for the duration of the contract is 5 to 7 years so that they can recoup the costs of purchasing the new more expensive trucks. A The following is a proposed timeline for converting to an automated collection system: l Council approval to investigate: September 2020 l Public Works finishes data collection: March 2021 R l Requests for Bids Collection contract advertised: May 2021 l Bids close: July 2021 l Contractor selected: August 2021 l Requests for Bids container contract advertised: February 2022 l Bids Close: May 2022 D l Container contract delivers containers: August 2022 l Curbside collection contractor starts: August 2022 Councilor Soucy questioned how the elderly would be able to move the larger containers. Director Anderson explained the containers would have wheels to make them easier to move. Director Anderson explained there may still need to be a few routes that have the current trash pick up because of the smallness of the roads. Those areas would be identified prior to changing. City Manager Myers stated that Franklin transitioned to this over five years ago and purchased the vehicles themselves. City Manager Myers explained Laconia would go out to bid. Councilor Haynes asked what the cons are to this? Director Anderson explained change would be the biggest con. People don't accept change well. Also residents are going to want to know what they do with their old garbage cans. City Manager Myers explained the objective is to not be picking up more trash then what is being picked up now, but to encourage more recycling. The Casella contract has ended but they are now on a one year contract extension. City Manager Myers also reminded the Committee that Councilor Lipman would like this item go to the Finance Committee as well. Councilor Soucy, Councilor Haynes, and Councilor Felch are in agreement with bringing this to the Council for a vote to allow Public Works to move forward with this item as well as bring this to the  City Manager Myers also reminded the Committee that Councilor Lipman would like this item go to the Finance Committee as well. Councilor Soucy, Councilor Haynes, and Councilor Felch are in agreement with bringing this to the Council for a vote to allow Public Works to move forward with this item as well as bring this to the Finance Committee once the bond terms are laid out. Also submitted into the record is a document titled Working Document Changes to Solid Waste Ordinances, Version: September 1, 2020. Director Anderson explained the items highlighted in yellow are for information only and the areas highlighted in blue are the proposed changes. If the committee is in agreement with this working document then it would be sent to the Council for a first reading, public hearing, and second reading T and potential approval. City Manager Myers spoke of the highlighted areas throughout the document. Councilor Felch noted that there are areas in the working document that still has bundles not F crossed out. City Manager Myers explained that would be corrected to reflect the word bundles be stricken out throughout the entire document. A Chairman Haynes noted all three Councilors are in agreement to send this to the Council with the suggested corrections made by Councilor Felch to strike through the word bundles that were previously missed. Councilor Felch explained that he has an idea for residents that need to add one extra garbage can R because they have a larger family to sell stickers, color coded, one time use that could be purchased for a set price. This would allow the single family residences that have larger families to have three cans curbside rather than the allotted two per Ordinance. City Manager Myers explained these stickers could be in comparison to the bulky item stickers that the Clerk and Public Works offices are selling now for people to put large items out curbside to be D picked up with their weekly trash. This would be a hybrid of a pay as you go without buying special bags. The first two 30-gallon cans are included with your taxes and if you needed to add a third can you could purchase a sticker for that week. There was discussion to sell stickers in bundles of 5 or 10 for a bundle of 5 for $15.00 or a bundle of 10 for $30. The logistics would still need to be worked out. All three Councilors are in agreement to add language to the Ordinance and to send this item to the Council to reflect wording for stickers for an excess garbage container. Director Anderson stated that Public Works are averaging about 20 letters per week for complaints in regards to trash being left out longer than the allotted time-frame. 6.B. Proposed changes to Chapter 2015-15, Streets and Sidewalks, Article II. Protection of Streets and 201-16 Excavation, Driveway, paving and digging permits DPW Director Anderson explained this item. Submitted into the record are three documents, one titled Existing Ordinance on Excavation of Streets, two Procedures for repairs of trench cuts on older City roads in good condition, and third Procedures for specialty repairs of trench cuts on City roads. This is a cost savings to every tax payer in the City. All utilities are already being notified whenever a road is being redone. This would further protect the City for any cuts that need to be made within the first five years of a road being redone. The Supreme Court backs this up. In 2017, the new Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City of Manchester and City of Concord finding that these fees are permissible under state law. Since then, Manchester, Concord, Portsmouth and Lebanon, NH have instituted similar fee systems to what is being processed. Public Works' proposal is similar to the once implemented by other municipalities in the State. The  The Supreme Court backs this up. In 2017, the new Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City of Manchester and City of Concord finding that these fees are permissible under state law. Since then, Manchester, Concord, Portsmouth and Lebanon, NH have instituted similar fee systems to what is being processed. Public Works' proposal is similar to the once implemented by other municipalities in the State. The proposed street damage charge is based on the amount of area disturbed within the City's right-of- way for the excavation. The proposed fee is $5 per square foot for the paved portions of the public right of way to include sidewalks. The fee for excavating in the unpaved areas of City right of way would be $2.50 per square foot. These two fees are independent of the age of the pavement. Councilor Soucy asked if this has an impact on private roads? Director Anderson stated no. DPW clears any excavation permits for private roads for Dig Safe purposes only. T All three councilors are in agreement to send this to the Council and adopt this. 7. Any other business that may come before the Committee F Councilor Felch stated there is a gas line cover near Aroma Joe's on Union Ave that is sticking up out of the road and extremely loud when vehicles drive over it. DPW Director Anderson will look into it. Councilor Felch also questioned when Jefferson Street, Dell Ave, and Appleton Street are going to be approached. A Director Anderson stated that a letter will be sent out to Dell Ave residents sometime this fall. Appleton Street needs the drainage fixed which deals with Environmental Services. Director Anderson doesn't expect permits and monies to be secured until maybe 2023. Jefferson Street and Massachusetts Ave will be partly handled with the Elm Street Project. R 8. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to come before the committee and hearing no objection, Chairman Haynes adjourned the meeting at 4:26 pm. D Respectfully submitted Chairman Haynes