City Council

Minutes were approved by the Public Works Committee on May 24, 2024. CITY OF LACONIA - CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE City Hall Conference Room 200B 4:30 PM 5/8/2024 - Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Haynes called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM. 2. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chairman Haynes led the salute to the flag. 3. RECORDING SECRETARY Hilary Young, Administrative Assistant to the City Clerk 4. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken with the following committee members in attendance: Chairman Mark Haynes, Councilor Robert Soucy, and Councilor Eric Hoffman. 5. STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Kirk Beattie, City Manager, Wes Anderson, Public Works Director, Nate Guerette, Assistant Public Works Director and Glenn Smith, Finance Director. 6. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS 6.A. Approval of draft Public Works Subcommittee minutes of January 31, 2024 and February 28, 2024 The minutes were distributed to the members of the committee. With no changes or corrections sent to the clerk, the minutes were accepted as distributed. 7. PUBLIC WORKS (Haynes, Soucy and Hoffman) 7.A. Request to establish a Transfer Station fee for commercial "bulk" recycling At the March 11, 2024, City Council meeting Mayor Hosmer asked if the Transfer Station’s revenue covered the expenses associated with operating the Transfer Station. The analysis of the solid waste program’s revenues and expenses for FY 2023 (attachment 1 on the agenda) demonstrates that Transfer Station revenues exceeded expenses by $201,631. City staff, when developing a budget for a fiscal year, use the additional revenue generated by the Transfer Station to fund other elements of the solid waste program. At the March 11, 2024, City Council meeting Mayor Hosmer asked if the Transfer Station’s revenue covered the expenses associated with operating the Transfer Station. The analysis of the solid waste program’s revenues and expenses for FY 2023 (attachment 1 on the agenda) demonstrates that Transfer Station revenues exceeded expenses by $201,631. City staff, when developing a budget for a fiscal year, use the additional revenue generated by the Transfer Station to fund other elements of the solid waste program. Residents and businesses in Laconia can presently bring recycling to the Transfer Station for free. The agreement with Waste Management does not address “bulk” recycling brought in by businesses. Waste Management’s fee to the City for hauling and processing recycling brought to the Transfer Station is $77.15/ton. This is significantly less than their cost to haul and process the City’s recycling for sale on the commodity market. The amount of recycling brought to the Transfer Station has significantly increased since the conversion to automated curbside solid waste collection, and Waste Management has asked the City to modify the agreement to establish a higher fee for commercial (bulk recycling) or stop accepting commercial recycling per the terms of the agreement. On February 28, 2024, the Public Works Committee reviewed a request from Public Works to establish a fee for commercial customers who are bringing large quantities of recycling to the Transfer Station. The following facts were considered by the Committee. · Prior to the conversion to automated collection, commercial properties were allowed to bring an unlimited number of recycling containers out to the curb for collection. After the conversion, commercial properties were limited to four 95-gallon recycling containers. If the property owner had a trash dumpster on the lot, the property was not authorized to have any recycling containers. · The draft agreement with Waste Management defines commercial recycling as any recycling that is brought to the Transfer Station that is equal to or exceeds the capacity of a five-foot bed of a pickup truck. · Waste Management’s fee for residential recycling brought to the Transfer Station remains unchanged at $77.15/ton. This fee is adjusted annually to account for inflation and fuel costs. · Waste Management has proposed a model like Casella’s for establishing the fee they would charge the City for bulk commercial recycling. This fee would be adjusted every 6 months instead of every month under the Casella contract. The fee for the next six months would be based on the value of the commodities for the previous six months. Based on the commodity value between June 2023 and November 2023, Waste Management’s fee for single stream recycling would be $157.48 and for corrugated cardboard only it would be $75.97. · The cost of recycling varies based on the value of the commodities associated with the material returned to the market by recycling. Casella’s fee for the month of February 2024 for hauling and processing curbside recycling was $115.21/ton after the value of the recycling product was deducted. The Public Works Committee’s recommendation was not unanimous. Two Councilors supported a commercial bulk recycling fee, but at a rate lower than the fee for household trash. The other Councilor supported a fee equal to the fee Waste Management has proposed for processing the recycling brought by commercial customers. · Waste Management as of Jan 1st would charge $106.76/ton for hauling and disposing of the household waste brought to the Transfer Station. Public Works recommends that the: · City accept commercial bulk recycling and that the fee for commercial bulk recycling from Laconia sources be 10% lower than the cost of disposing of household waste rounded up to the nearest dollar. · Fee for commercial bulk recycling from sources outside the City of Laconia sources would be Waste Management ‘s fee plus $5 more (rounded up to the nearest dollar) for administrative costs. The fees for commercial bulk recycling through June of 2024 based on the above recommendation  sources be 10% lower than the cost of disposing of household waste rounded up to the nearest dollar. · Fee for commercial bulk recycling from sources outside the City of Laconia sources would be Waste Management ‘s fee plus $5 more (rounded up to the nearest dollar) for administrative costs. The fees for commercial bulk recycling through June of 2024 based on the above recommendation would be: · Commercial recycling from sources in Laconia $97/ton · Commercial recycling from outside the City $163/ton Fiscal Impact: Transfer Station costs will increase. Revenue for out-of-the-City bulk recycling customers will cover the City’s costs. Revenue from Laconia commercial bulk recycling will be insufficient to cover costs, and revenue from other Transfer Station fees would be used to cover the difference. This will reduce the additional revenue from the Transfer Station that can be used to cover other solid waste program costs. Recommendation: Public Works recommends that the City Council approve a concept for the fee so that Public Works can develop changes to the solid waste ordinances for consideration by the City Council at its May 13 meeting. Discussion: Director Anderson stated Waste Management could say that they will not take commercial bulk recycling because it is currently not on the contract, it is strictly residential recycling. The city needs to make the decision on whether to take commercial bulk recycling or to turn away customers. Councilor Hoffman stated that he does not believe the city should turn away commercial bulk recycling customers and does not believe the city should absorb all the fees, Councilor Soucy agreed. Councilor Hoffman stated that he liked the recommended fees that were presented. Councilor Soucy agreed with Councilor Hoffman but would like the fees to be more. Councilor Hoffman recommended the commercial recycling from sources in Laconia be 10% less than the cost of household trash and commercial recycling fee from outside the city be the same cost as disposing of household trash plus $10 fee. Councilor Soucy and Chairman Haynes agreed. 7.B. Presentation of a draft ten-year plan (2024-2034) for the City's Roads Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Public Works has utilized “Beta’s Pavement Management System” for several years now. This is a process where all the roads are periodically scanned with advanced camera technologies. The software then uses the scan data to accurately predict roadway deterioration and assign scores to each road. All roads are rated on the Pavement Condition Rating (PCR) scale from 1-100 (100=best). We are then able to synthesize a plan for the annual road program and the ten-year road program. Road pavement management is most economical when road condition goals are set to be 80PCR or better. Laconia is currently sitting at a rating of 70.46PCR. It is estimated that the City has a cumulative backlog of approximately $34 million. The ten-year planned projects consist of both 100% City funded projects and NHDOT funded projects that require a City cost share. Discussion: Assistant Director of Public Works Nate Guerette handed out and discussed a packet and map created by Beta. The map showed roads in red and orange which meant that they needed repair. He stated that there is a small percentage of roads that have very poor ratings, but they are very expensive to repair. To maintain the current PCR level, the operational budget of $1.8 million would find us declining because there are not enough funds to maintain the roads, which is causing more roads to go into the “red”. He is recommending that the road program budget be $2.2-3 million to be the most economical on maintaining the roads. There was discussion regarding bonds. Director Anderson said that they need feedback from the committee and council regarding adjusting DPW’s plans based on funding and how council is adjusting funding based off DPW’s plans. Director  stated that there is a small percentage of roads that have very poor ratings, but they are very expensive to repair. To maintain the current PCR level, the operational budget of $1.8 million would find us declining because there are not enough funds to maintain the roads, which is causing more roads to go into the “red”. He is recommending that the road program budget be $2.2-3 million to be the most economical on maintaining the roads. There was discussion regarding bonds. Director Anderson said that they need feedback from the committee and council regarding adjusting DPW’s plans based on funding and how council is adjusting funding based off DPW’s plans. Director Anderson stated that they need to know what the council are willing to give the road program regarding bonding so they can adjust the 10-year plan accordingly. Assistant Director Guerette stated that if they do not follow the plan that is presented, they will have more red listed roads and the price would increase a lot higher and the roads will continue to get worse. There is concern about costs in the current market and what they will be in the future and if this is the right time to take on these projects. 7.C. Discussion on providing extra solid waste containers to properties in the City of Laconia One or more City Councilors have requested that the City provide additional solid waste containers to properties. The purpose of this discussion is to determine the Committee’s recommendation on: · Providing properties in the City with additional solid waste containers. · If the recommendation is to provide additional containers, what eligibility criteria should be established for additional containers. Eligibility criteria is essential to controlling costs and to manage the program. The City provides curbside solid waste collection to properties on public roads. Residents on private roads can request cans if they agree to bring the containers to the public right of way for collection. The container authorizations under manual collection were: · Trash: Single family – Two 30-gallon containers Commercial/Multifamily – no more than seven 30-gallon containers · Recycling: As many containers as needed as long as the containers were 30 gallons or less. The container authorizations under automated collection: · A set of containers consist of one 65-gallon trash and one 95-gallon recycling container. · Single family homes are authorized to have 1 set of containers. · Multifamily buildings/lots are authorized to have 1 set of containers per unit up to four sets of containers. For example, a 6-family unit only receives 4 sets of containers. · Businesses on a lot are authorized up to 4 sets of containers. · Properties with dumpsters are not eligible to receive City solid waste containers. The City has made an exceptions for those condominium associations that are mostly summer residents with a small number of permanent residents. These associations turn off dumpster service over the winter. · The City has made some exceptions for the following: l Planning approved home-based business l Sober houses l Lakes Region Community Service’s group homes The cost to the City for providing additional containers has three elements: · Container cost  l Sober houses l Lakes Region Community Service’s group homes The cost to the City for providing additional containers has three elements: · Container cost · Collection cost · Processing and disposal Container purchase price in January 2023 as part of the conversion · 95 gallon $61.56 · 65 gallon $55.99 · 35 gallon $47.51 Collection costs: · The contract with Casella is based on 5,400 stops. Single family homes are one stop. · Per the contract Casella’s fee for additional containers is adjusted annually based on inflation. · As of October 1, 2023 the estimated rate is $294 per set Anticipated processing and disposal costs · Trash $106 · Recycling (Commodity based adjusted monthly) $107 The critical item in determining the total cost is based on the eligibility criteria established by the City Council. Public Works to develop a cost estimate for a simple scenario used the following eligibility criteria: · One additional set of containers per single family home · One additional set of containers per unit in a duplex or triplex · Multifamily buildings 4 units or more are not authorized additional containers. · Businesses are not authorized additional containers. Assumptions used in calculating the cost: · Container prices are unchanged · 15% of single-family homes want 1 additional set · 15% of duplexes want 1 additional set per unit · 10% of triplexes want 1 additional set · 5% of triplexes want 2 additional sets · 1% of triplexes want 3 additional sets · Fifty lbs per container per collection period  · 5% of triplexes want 2 additional sets · 1% of triplexes want 3 additional sets · Fifty lbs per container per collection period · Assumed any remaining stops would be used for new construction. The estimated cost to the City based on the above criteria follows: · One time cost for purchasing containers: $62,680 · Annual costs as of May 1st for collection and disposal is $267,400 There are two options to fund additional solid waste services: · City taxes · Residents pay for the additional containers and pay annually for the cost of the additional services. Public Works, based on the impact of inflation on the City and the impact of the cost increase associated with the change in level of service, recommends that if the City Council approves providing additional services the residents pay for the cost of the service. If the Committee recommends providing additional containers, Public Works recommends that additional containers be limited to the following: • One additional set of containers per single family home, except for those that have unapproved second units. • One additional set of containers per unit in a duplex or triplex Fiscal impact depends upon the criteria established by the Council. Discussion: Councilor Soucy asked what is considered a set, Director Anderson stated that it would be one trash and one recycling container. Councilor Soucy stated that he has residents asking for another trash container vs another recycling container. Director Anderson stated that he is receiving equal amounts of requests between the two containers. Councilor Hoffman recommended coming up with a fee per container instead of per set. Director Anderson stated that the residents would purchase a container and every year purchase a sticker to place on the container. Councilor Soucy thinks the $400 fee is reasonable, Chairman Haynes is concerned with residents complaining that they already pay for it in their taxes. Councilor Hoffman stated that trash pick up is part of your taxes but not at an unlimited amount. Director Anderson asked the committee if they agree with the criteria and the concept of the residents paying for the additional containers that he presented. Councilor Hoffman and Councilor Soucy agree with what Director Anderson presented. Finance Director Smith asked Director Anderson if he thought of indexing the processing disposal cost to what we are charged. Director Anderson stated that he based it off 50 pounds per container. Councilor Hoffman stated that the city could adjust the price of the sticker every year if needed. Chairman Haynes asked Director Andreson if he would like this to go to the City Council. Director Anderson stated that with the number of requests he is receiving he would like it to go on the agenda. The City Manager stated that it will have to go on May 28 th or the first agenda for June. 8. Any other business that may come before the Committee  Chairman Haynes asked Director Andreson if he would like this to go to the City Council. Director Anderson stated that with the number of requests he is receiving he would like it to go on the agenda. The City Manager stated that it will have to go on May 28 th or the first agenda for June. 8. Any other business that may come before the Committee Chairman Haynes said that an issue was brought to the Councils attention regarding the intersection of Fair St and Court St. City Manager stated that this is an agenda item at the next council meeting for it to be referred to the Committee. 9. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Haynes adjourned the meeting at 5:41 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Hilary Young, Administrative Assistant to the City Clerk