City of Grand Forks

Staff Report
GRAND Committee of the Whole - July 12,2021
City Council - Jnly 19,2021

Agenda Item: Request for Proposals (RFP) for Recycling Services No. 8372

Submitted by: Todd Feland, City Administrator

Staff Recommended Action: Accept the Waste Management of North Dakota, Inc' RFP as
the most complete, comprehensive, bes! and competitive proposal to include the following
services:
o Option I - City-wide Curbside Service via Manual Collection - $3.35/month and unit
o Multi-family Residential Service - $1.57lmonth and unit
o Small Business Recycling Service - $19.75/month and unit
. City Drop Site Services - Public Works Facility - $900/month
Valley Dairy - $1,700/month
CVS/Hugo's - $4,980/month
Hugo's #2 - $145/month
Hugo's #3 - $290/month
Ilugo's #6 - $290/month
o Electronics Event - $11,950/event
o Grand Forks AFB - $495/month

The approval is subject to linal administrative review and approval of the RFP and final
terms and conditions of the City Attorney's Office.

Committee Recommended Action:

Council Action:

BACKGROT]ND:
The City of Grand Forks (City) began a pilot program for curbside recycling in 1990, expanding
to Citywide single family and multi-family recycling in 1995, in an agreement with Vern's Refuse
Service, Inc. Vem's worked directly with City staff and residents throughout the contract.

Vem's Refuse Service, Inc. refuse and recycling division was subsequently sold to Waste
Management Inc. who then became the successive sole provider of curbside recycling services in
Grand Forks. The City then contracted with Waste Management, Inc. 2003-2013 through extended
and renegotiated agreements for single stream recycling collection, transfer, and processing at their
Material Recovery Facility in Minneapolis, MN.

I
ln 2012, the City Recycling and Diversion Task Force conducted public meetings in order to
examine the range of services and qualifications of vendors were providing in the area in
preparation for a Request for Proposals for Residential and Multi-Family Recycling Services 2014-
18. At that time, Waste Management of North Dakota, Countrywide Sanitation Company, and
Minnkota Recycling of Fargo took part in the task force exploratory meetings. The City's Task
Force was led by Ciry Council members and Service/Safety Committee members Curt Kreun and
Terry Bjerke with additional input provided as part of the public meetings. The Task Force
approached the programs from a near-zero based focus on service level, fiscal responsibility,
customer satisfaction/value, sustainability, and furure technologies.

The Task Force recommended a timeline to release the final RFP in the fall of 2012, following the
completion ofthe 2013 budget, and to execute an extension to the recycling agreement for 2013
to allow for the RFP process. In particular, the Task Force recommended proceeding to Request
for Proposals (RFP) to include collection, transfer, sorting, and marketing of recyclables for
curbside single family residential services including the cunent level ofmanual collection services
and an option to upgrade to side load style collection, multi-family residential recycling, drop site
recycling, ancillary City Facility and Small Business Recycling, Special Events Recycling, and
optional Electronics Collection Event Services.

The results ofthe RFP process for the 2014-18 recycling services agreement maintaining the level
of service to include manual curbside collection were:
Waste Management, Inc. $528,828/year
Countrywide Sanitation Company $663,384/year

The City approved the proposal fiom Waste Management, Inc. as the lowest, best, and most
complete bid to maintain the level of service for Recycling Services, which resulted in an initial
l1olo increase in 2014, and 3% annual increases 2015-20.In addition, the City has planned and
incurred additional costs by adding drop site containers, frequency of drop site collections, and
number of locations/containers for multi-family participants over the course of the contract to
address demand and overflow seasonally and city-wide growth.

The 2014-18 Agreement with Waste Management, Inc. included and provided for the subsequent
administrative extensions for 2019-20.

During the years following the adoption of single stream recycling (2003 to 2016), city residents
increased the tons recycled by over 60%. Since that time, recycling tonnage has plateaued due
mainly to a shift to lighter packaging materials - saving manufacturer and shipping costs and
addressing increased demands for environmentally friendly options. Single Family participation
(weekly set out rate) continues to range from 30-45o/o and approximately 2,500 tons of materials
are recycled annually. Drop site cardboard has doubled while 1/3 of the multi-family residential
units participate in the recycling program, using centralized exterior receptacles. As is typical
across the industry, contamination continues to be a challenge at the drop sites and multi-family
locations.

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS OF FACT:

o On October 5,2020, the City Council approved a one (1) year extension with the City's
current contractor, Waste Management of North Dakota. The current level of service was
sustained in FY 2021 with an 1l% increase for residential and 50% increase for drop sites.

2
 as was approved in the FY2021 budget process.
a The City's Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Permit SW-0347 issued by the ND Dept. of
Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) includes Specific Condition F.4. ...demonstrating
reasonable efforts to promote at least 40%o reduction ofwaste disposal, with a description
ofrecycling and waste reduction actiyities and an estimate of the volume and percentage
ofwaste which has been diverted to be included in the annual report to the NDDEQ. The
City has sustained the recycling program as a component of its Integrated Solid Waste
Management, a strategic approach to managing waste from the aspects of generation,
segregation, transfer, sorting, treatment, recovery, and disposal. The City's current
diversion rate is approximately 35 percent.
a City administrative staff and consultant (Burns & McDonnell) and intern, Gracyn Cole,
Environmental Studies student minoring in Sustainability at the University of North
Dakota provided a City Council Residential Recycling Services Request for Proposal
Process Update at the City Council Meeting on May 3, 2021 that included an overview of
the Grand Forks integrated solid waste management system, recycling overview,
procurement planning process and schedule, and issues of consideration.
a City administrative staff and its intem, Gracyn Cole, designed and conducted a city self-
selected online survey to gain Grand Forks citizen input.
a The City administrative staff helped design a scientific residential recycling survey with
the professional support and execution of the UND Nistler College of Business & Public
Administration lnstitute of Policy and Business Analyics to gain additional Grand Forks
citizen insight to consider as part ofthe RFP process and decision making.
a Bums & McDonnell has provided consulting services in review of the past and current
recycling program, benchmarking of the City's recycling progam, interviews of potential
recycling conmctors, an overview of industry trends and domestic/global market
projections, support ofthe resident suwey, and level ofservice recommendations FY2022-
26 in coordination with Landfill Master Planning City Project No. 7870, and Cost of
Service and Fee Analysis Update City Prcject No. 8049.
The City's Recycling RFP Process Schedule in 2021 was as follows:
o February - Staff Procurement Workshop
o March - Vendor Interviews and Benchmarking Trends
o April - Draft RFP Completion
o May - Initiate Resident Survey, Final RFP Completion and Distribution
o June - Resident Survey, Proposals Receipt, RFP Evaluation, Negotiations
o July - Staff Report, Recommendations to Committee of the Whole, City Council
to Award Contract
a Based on the survey results, Grand Forks residents are generally supportive and positive of
the current solid waste and recycling levels of service. For example, here are some survey
outcomes from the scientific and online surveys and were both administered in the
May/June 2021 timeframe:
o Overall satisfaction with City policy of all residents paying for cost of recycling
through utility fees - Scientific (61%) afi Online (80%)
o Overall satisfaction with single family residential curbside recycling collection
service levels - Scientific (62%;o) and, Online (69%)
o Overall satisfaction with single family residential curbside garbage collection
service levels - Scientific (93%) and Online (84%)
o -
Subscription cwbside recycling service support Scientific (50%) and Online
(28%) up to $4 per month and weak overall support beyond $4 per month

J
 a The City of Grand Forks RFP for Recycling Services No. 8372 was advertised from May
26 to June 30,2021.
a The recycling services RFP provided opportunities to propose on a variety of services to
include the following:
o City wide curbside manual collection
o City wide curbside semi-automated or fully automated collection
o Subscriptioncurbsidecollection
o Multi-familycollection
o Small business collection
o City drop site collection
o Electronics event collection
a StaffRecommended Action: Accept the Waste Management of North Dakotq Lrc. RFp as
the most complete, comprehensive, best, and competitive proposal to include the following
services:
o Option I - City-wide Curbside Service via Manual Collection - 93.35/month and
unit (current 93.35/mo.)
o Multi-family Residential Service - $1.57lmonth (current $1.20/mo.)
o Small Business Recycling Service - $19.75lmonth (current $19.88/mo.)
o City Drop Site Services - Public Works Facility - $900/month
Valley Dairy - $ 1,700/month
CVS/Hugo's - $4,980/month
Hugo's #2 - $ 145/month
Hugo's #3 - $290/month
Hugo's #6 - $290/month
Total Amount - $8,305/month (Current $8,878/mo.)
o Electronics Event - S 1 1,950/event (Current $12,500 event)
o Grand Forks AFB - $495/month
The approval is subject to frnal administrative review and approval of the RFp and final
terms and conditions of the City Attomey's Office.
a The current budget for FY 2021 for contracted recycling services is $834,000 and the
proposed FY 2022Mayor's budget has $860,000 budgeted.

SUPPORT MATERIALS:
o Recycling Services Agreement 2014-18, Including Extensions/Rates 2019-2O,Fy2021.
. City of Grand Forks Landfill Materials Logs for 2019 and 2020.
o Residential Recycling Services Request For Proposals Process Presentation - City
Council Meeting of May 3,2021.
. City of Grand Forks Recycling Survey Report - Conducted by UND Nistler College of
Business & Public Administration Institute of Policy and Business Analyics dated June
7,2021 (Cotdncted between May 17 to May 26 with 503 randomly selected adults).
. City of Grand Forks Online Recycling Suwey Report (Conducted between May 18 and
hne 4,2021 with approximately 1,500 respondents)
. City of Grand Forks Recycling Survey Results and City Administration Takeaways.
o The City of Grand Forks Request for Proposal for Recycling Services datedMay 26,
2021 and Amendment 1.
a Waste Management of North Dakota Proposal dated June 30,2021 .

4
r Country Wide Sanitation Company Proposal dated June 30,2021
o Bid Tabulation.
. Bums & McDonnell Letter of Recommendafion.