City Council

Minutes were approved July 21, 2022 CITY OF LACONIA - CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE 4:00 P.M. 4/28/2022 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Haynes called the meeting to order at 4:02 pm 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairman Haynes led the salute to the flag 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Katie Gargano, City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL City Clerk Gargano called the roll of Councilor Soucy, Councilor Haynes, Councilor Felch Chairman Haynes declared all committee members are present and a quorum is established. 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Public Works Director Wes Anderson 6. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 6.A. Public Works Subcommittee Meeting Minutes of January 20, 2022 Councilor Soucy made a motion to approve the meeting minutes of January 20, 2022. Seconded by Councilor Felch, the motion passed with all in favor. 7. PUBLIC WORKS (Haynes (Chair), Felch, Soucy) 7.A. Curbside Collection Update Director Anderson began the conversation with the Committee members, and he had a power point presentation he went over to stay on topic. He stated that they went out to bid for 3 rd time since last year and again only Casella submitted a proposal. The proposal offers both options of manual trash pickup or automated. There are monthly collection fees that are paid to Casella by the City, Casella is responsible for the maintenance and replacement of all the equipment. Automation is the most cost-effective option for the City, there is a significant increase in manual pickup and it would cost even more for the City to take this on ourselves. The City has no facilities large enough to store or work on large items like a trash truck. The smell is very bad, and they could not store the trucks near any residential or business properties. The City would have to hire a whole new crew to handle the trash removal and it would be very difficult to fill these positions in an already  Automation is the most cost-effective option for the City, there is a significant increase in manual pickup and it would cost even more for the City to take this on ourselves. The City has no facilities large enough to store or work on large items like a trash truck. The smell is very bad, and they could not store the trucks near any residential or business properties. The City would have to hire a whole new crew to handle the trash removal and it would be very difficult to fill these positions in an already very tight market. The contract proposal with Casella is for 5 years and is based off 5400 stops, if the City grows or the number of stops change, they will need more money for additional stops. The Committee requested to see which areas in the City Casella determined could not be done automated. There was discussion about the number of cans that are allowed per unit, multifamily dwellings and businesses compared to what we have today. There may be recommendations for revisions to be made to the existing ordinance that will be sent from the Public Works Committee to go through the Government Operations and Ordinances Subcommittee. There was also discussion about how to handle excess trash if a resident cannot fit all their trash in the allowed bin. We currently have excess trash coupons that are sold in the City Clerk’s Office, but if there is no one getting out of the truck with automated pick up they wouldn’t be able to leave the excess bags on the curb or in a regular trash barrel. The Committee members asked Director Anderson to research what other Cities in NH are doing for their trash pickup and how they handle multifamily dwellings and business/commercial trash. Director Anderson had done research with Belmont and Franklin, but the Committee wants to see results from the Cities in NH. The Committee will hold another meeting prior to going to the Council with a recommendation. The plan is to present the recommendation from the Public Works Committee to the Council on June 6, 2022 at the Special Council Meeting scheduled for the DPW Budget presentation to begin the planning stages and discussion on how we’re going to handle trash collection. 7.B. Proposed Transfer Station fee increases Director Anderson went over the proposed increased for various items brought to the Transfer Station. The Committee revised some of the proposed fees for disposal items, dump stickers and day passes at the Transfer Station. Director Anderson will make the changes the Committee requested, and it will go to the Council in the future at a regular scheduled Council Meeting so that the increases are effective by July 1, 2022. 8. Any other business that may come before the Committee None 9. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Haynes adjourned the meeting at adjourned at 5:30 PM Respectfully Submitted, Katie Gargano, City Clerk Katie Gargano, City Clerk