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CCM 01/22/2018 CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF FRIDLEY JANUARY 22, 2018 The City Council meeting for the City of Fridley was called to order by Mayor Lund at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Lund Councilmember Barnette Councilmember Saefke Councilmember Varichak Councilmember Bolkcom OTHERS PRESENT: Wally Wysopal, City Manager Jay Karlovich, City Attorney Jack Kirk, Director of Parks and Recreation Brian Weierke,Director of Public Safety Officer John Kotchen, Fridley Police Department James Kosluchar, Public Works Director Rachel Workin,Environmental Planner PROCLAMATIONS : Jack Kirk Appreciation Day – January 31, 2018. Heart Safe Community. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: APPROVAL OF MINUTES: City Council Meeting of January 8, 2018 Wally Wysopal, City Manager, stated there was one correction pointed out by a resident; and staff did make that correction. APPROVED AS CORRECTED. OLD BUSINESS: 1. Second Reading of an Ordinance Amending Fridley City Code, Chapter 7. Taxation and Finances and Adopt Official Title and Summary Ordinance. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 2 WAIVED THE READING OF THE ORDINANCE AND ADOPTED ORDINANCE NO. 1352 ON SECOND READING AND ORDERED PUBLICATION. NEW BUSINESS: 2. Receive the Minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of December 20, 2017. RECEIVED. 3. Approve Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Fridley and Walter T. Wysopal. APPROVED. 4. Claims (179406 - 179596). APPROVED. ADOPTION OF PROPOSED CONSENT AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt the proposed consent agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Varichak. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. OPEN FORUM, VISITORS: No one from the audience spoke. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: MOTION by Councilmember Bolkcom to adopt the agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Saefke. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. PUBLIC HEARING: 5. Preliminary Assessment Hearing on West Moore Lake Drive Trail and Street Resurfacing Project No. ST2017-21. MOTION by Councilmember Saefke to continue the public hearing. Seconded Councilmember Bolkcom. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 3 Councilmember Saefke asked that the public hearing be continued because of the weather conditions. Mayor Lund asked if staff had any issues with continuing the public hearing. John Kosluchar, Director of Public Works, replied, no. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE HEARING WAS CONTINUED. NEW BUSINESS: 6. Resolution Ordering Final Plans, Specifications and Calling for Bids: West Moore Lake Drive Trail and Street Resurfacing Project No. ST2017-21. Mayor Lund said he assumed this would be continued also. Jay Karlovich, City Attorney, said they cannot pass a resolution ordering a project unless they have conducted the public hearing. 7. Resolution to Approve Residential Organics Curbside Collection Contract with Allied Waste Services of North America LLC. Rachel Workin, Environmental Planner, stated she is requesting that a resolution be adopted authorizing the Mayor and City Manager to sign a contract for curbside organics collection. Organic material is that part of the trash that breaks down quickly. It includes food scraps, fruits and vegetables, meats and bones, food-soiled paper such as paper towels and napkins, and certified compostable plateware and flatware. Ms. Workin stated just like bottles and cans have value when you separate them from your trash and you recycle them into new materials, this organic material can also be separated and transformed into a useful product, which is compost. Just like recycling cans and bottles has economic and ecological benefits, transforming organics into compost has many benefits as well. Ms. Workin stated when you separate this organic material from your trash, you can reduce the volume of your trash by more than 30 percent. Reducing the trash that goes to landfills is an important goal both at a policy level and also for many individual residents. Ms. Workin stated recognizing the value of diverting organic materials into useful products such as compost, the MPCA set a metro area goal of 15 percent organic diversion from landfills by 2030. Since diversion rates are currently less than 3 percent, this really necessitates a lot of new programs here in the metro. Ms. Workin stated implementing a curbside organics program is listed as a GreenStep Cities best practice. Fridley is a GreenStep city working higher and higher up the scale. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 4 Ms. Workin said currently, there are few existing programs for organics collection in Fridley. Organics are separated out for commercial composting at Springbrook Nature Center as well as at Fridley elementary schools and the Fridley Middle School. The Fridley High School will be starting organics collection in the next year. Ms. Workin stated Fridley residents also have the opportunity to do backyard composting, but there are limitations in the types of materials you can put in the backyard compost. For example, you cannot put meat in the backyard compost system, and it is also very difficult to perform backyard composting in Minnesota in the winter. Ms. Workin stated Fridley residents can also take their organics to be collected at neighboring city and county drop-off locations. Staff has received a lot of requests from Fridley citizens for a more convenient option. In 2016, the City began taking steps to develop a curbside organics collection program. Chapter 113 of City Code was updated to specify that a curbside organics collection program would be implemented but only one contract would be awarded to one hauler to collect organics from residents who wish to voluntarily participate in this program. Any resident who was interested in the program from households of 1-4 units would be able to subscribe directly with the hauler who held the contract with the City. Ms. Workin stated she spoke to Council on October 9 to request the release of a request for proposal to select a hauler to perform this service. Four submittals were received by the City before the November 6 deadline. Based on the evaluation criteria that were set forth in the RFP, Republic Services (their name in Minnesota but nationwide known as Allied Services which is the name on the contract) was chosen as the preferred proposal. Republic Services proposed to perform weekly collection from individual residents for a cost of $10 a month which includes the container. Ms. Workin stated the contract as presented would start on April 1, 2018, and continue until April 30, 2019, with the opportunity to review and renew the contract on a yearly basis. Under the contract that was developed based on its fee, the City would be responsible for initial notification to residents of how the program would function and how to subscribe. The City would also be responsible for ongoing education and promotional efforts related to organics collection. Ms. Workin stated the responsibilities of Republic Services would include the weekly collection of organics from subscribers to the program. Republic would also provide all subscribers with 30-gallon organic carts. Republic would also properly dispose of organic material for processing into compost at a commercial facility. All collection of payment of billing would be handled directly between Republic and the subscribers. This contract does not obligate the City to any payment to Republic Services. Ms. Workin stated residents would be able to participate in this new program through a very easy process. They would contact the City either electronically or over the phone to subscribe, and the City would coordinate with Republic to enter them into the program. Republic would then deliver a 30-gallon organic cart to their house. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 5 Ms. Workin stated using available SCORE funds, the City would purchase kitchen pails and compostable bags and those would be provided to subscribers for free while supplies last. Residents would be able to pick those up either at City Hall or Springbrook Nature Center. Ms. Workin stated subscribers to the program would collect organics from their home in compostable or paper bags. It is very important that compostable or paper bags are used instead of traditional plastic bags. Compostable or brown paper bags are designed to break down quickly in a commercial composting setting. Ms. Workin stated once these bags which are typically 3 gallons in size are full, residents would place them in their organics cart for collection. Items such as pizza boxes or egg cartons could be placed loose in the cart, but all other materials would be in bag form. Ms. Workin stated residents would set their carts our weekly to be collected by Republic. Every 90 days they would receive a bill from Republic Services for the collection. Councilmember Bolkcom asked why the City decided that the residents should contact the City first. Ms. Workin replied, the City and Republic decided that would be the easiest system for subscribers. This is a program that is unique to Fridley and is not offered to all Republic services. Since Republic has a pretty large customer service team, it would be easier for the City to take down information and have a designated staff person relay the information rather than training the entire Republic services team on the specifics of this program. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if she has her garbage picked up on Monday, she would not necessarily have her organics picked up on that same day, especially when it first starts. Republic would have only one truck going throughout the whole City. Ms. Workin replied correct. It is important to both the City and Republic that trucks be running at the highest level of capacity in order to minimize wear and tear on the streets. In the program’s initial phases, they are not expecting to have enough customers to run a truck four days a week so they will be starting with one day a week. As new residents sign up, that schedule might be adjusted. Any adjustments will be designed to mimic the garbage and recycling schedule as closely as possible. Routes will be determined by Republic Services, and they will be responsible for notifying residents of any changes to their collection routes. The City definitely wants to make this an easy process to understand, but also have to balance that with efficiencies and costs. Councilmember Bolkcom asked if they have proposed a start date yet. Ms. Workin replied, they have not formally decided on a day but are looking at Wednesday. The recycling schedule runs Monday through Thursday and Wednesdays offer an opportunity should there be a delayed pickup that would also occur during that time. For example, if there were a holiday. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 6 Councilmember Bolkcom asked who she would call if her organics were not picked up. Ms. Workin replied, the customer could call Republic Services or the City. That is also how the City operates the recycling services. They are very interested in making this an easy to use and customer friendly process. City staff is definitely very excited to help the residents through the process and act as a liaison to Republic Services. Councilmember Bolkcom stated she also happened to notice their name and number are right on the organics container. She asked if that was one of the stipulations. Ms. Workin replied yes. Councilmember Bolkcom referred to page 82. Under 1.3, it says “either paper or craft.” She asked if she could use a regular paper bag. Ms. Workin replied, that type of paper bag refers to the paper bag from the grocery store. It is the style of paper and that language was taken from Chapter 113. They definitely encourage paper bags as being an option for disposal. Compostable bags are the preferred method of collecting organics. Residents would be able to obtain those for free while supplies lasted which they are anticipating would be all of 2018. Compostable bags are also for sale at most retailers in Fridley. Councilmember Bolkcom stated Ms. Workin mentioned composting. She asked whether the City can use that as part of its numbers for its SCORE funds and if they had any idea how many people are backyard composting. Ms. Workin said the City would be able to use those numbers. They are a little hard to determine because the City does not issue permits for backyard compost systems. Mayor Lund stated typically they see a three-year contract or something of that duration. He is not sure if it is beneficial to the City or the hauler since it appears to be 13 months long. That is kind of an expensive thing if they opt out or if the City does not want them in there after 13 months and they have delivered all these carts and have to pick them all up. He asked if there was some reasoning there, perhaps because of the newness of the program, that they wanted an out in 13 months. Ms. Workin replied, the initial contract term was decided to align with the end of the recycling contract which also runs until April 30, 2019. The yearly contract terms were agreed to by Republic and the City since this program is so new and the organics market is also changing. They were able to secure a lower initial cost based on this lower contract term. Prices for organics disposal are not known and might be subject to change, and that was the reason for having such a short contract period. MOTION by Councilmember Barnette to adopt Resolution No. 2018-05. Seconded by Councilmember Bolkcom. FRIDLEY CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2017 PAGE 7 UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 8. Informal Status Reports. There were no informal status reports. ADJOURN: MOTION by Councilmember Barnette, seconded by Councilmember Varichak, to adjourn. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, MAYOR LUND DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY AND THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:40 P.M. Respectfully submitted by, Denise M. Johnson Scott J. Lund Recording Secretary Mayor