After a more than two hour discussion on details of what they wanted to see in a proposal, Los Alamitos City Council members approved a request for proposal document for solid waste collection services to seek proposals from bidders during their Tuesday, Jan. 19 meeting.
The council’s current agreement with Consolidated Disposal Services was set to expire Dec. 31.
The firm of Sloan Vasquez, which was hired by the city at the Dec. 21 council meeting to prepare the RFP document. Proposals are to be submitted before March 8 with a contractor expected to be chosen at the council’s April 5 meeting.
Proposals will be for an exclusive franchise agreement between the city and company to provide residential and commercial waste management services for a 10-year period. Some potential upgrades included having alleys cleaned up and having the company provide collection services for city events such as Race on the Base.
The city presently has separate agreements for its commercial and residential pickup but City Manager Jeff Stewart asked to combine into one agreement. Los Alamitos is the only one of 34 Orange County cities to have separate agreements, according to Joe Sloan of Sloan Vasquez.
Sloan said having separate agreements this time could force an increase of 15-20 percent in the city’s residential rates. “It’s a lot more complex to split the contract,” Sloan explained.
Mayor Pro Tem Ken Stephens said he believed having separate agreements would force more competition and having more people in the discussion gives the city more options. Council member Troy Edgar asked if there could be three contracts (one for residential only, one for commercial and then a combined one).
Sloan said anything could be done but getting new RFPs and contracts drawn up could take as much as three weeks.
He added that in his many years in the business he had never seen any city that didn’t have lower residential rates with just the one contract.
Much of the discussion hinged on what council members wanted to see in the proposal. Mayor Marilynn Poe said she wanted to see unlimited large item pickups for residents as well as unlimited e-waste and hazardous waste removal. Having alleys cleaned regularly was a priority.
Council members later agreed on having street sweeping included in the price and removing all enhancements.
The council also agreed to let an urgency ordinance concerning temporary signs and banners run out.
At a September meeting, the council approved the ordinance, which extended the time temporary signs and banners may be hung from 45 to 90 days. The council approved a cutoff date, which could not be extended, of the urgency ordinance of Jan. 18.
While the ordinance was being used, staff approached businesses and educated them on the type of advertising that was allowed to be used and the permitting process. Community Development Director Steven Mendoza said very few complaints have been received about the project. The urgency ordinance has received good feedback and Mendoza has sent copies of it to other cities.
The city is now expected to update its banner ordinance.
