Good. >> All good. >> All right, everybody. I will call the October 16th select board meeting to order. Tonight's being uh broadcast on RCTV and Z uh and recorded on Zoom as
well. Uh the first item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Uh so the overview of the meeting is super brief. It's a discuss and vote on trash and recycling contact uh contract. So I'll just take uh attendance because uh Karen Rose Gillis I see is remote. Um
so Karen >> here >> is anyone else on Zoom? >> Not not that I see. >> All right. Carlo here. Melissa >> here. >> And Chris is here. All right. So discuss and vote uh on the
trash and recycling contract. We had a long discussion about this last meeting. Chris is here again. Hopefully not again. See how >> So, thank you for having us here again tonight. Um, just want to apologize to
the board first for the late um change to the packet. Um, when I was reviewing it tonight, uh, while the summary table was correct with all the numbers, for some reason, Republic's old proposal was still in packet, the one from October 3rd, so we replaced it with the correct one from October 9th. So, that was the
only change. Um, but what we did see for um, provides pricing. Uh waste management uh gave us pricing which incorporated adding one bulk item to the um trash
and um public services uh uh gave us pricing options adding um pricing for weekly recycling and then waste management also lowered their burnable bulky item from 35 down to 30.
Uh, Maddie, do you want to put the packet up on the screen and we'll start with um, >> and if I could real quick Rose Gillis, can you hear Chris at the podium because Perfect. >> I can. >> All right. Excellent. >> I can. >> Just making sure.
>> Thank you. >> Speak more to the mic, Chris. >> Yeah, I just turned the microphone off. Okay, that'll help, too. So, let's see. So, Maddie, if we can maybe go to page 19. Um,
so you can see the summary chart um in your packet there with the revised pricing. Um, and I just wanted to provide the board with a few points to consider um, when you're looking at, you know, who the next vendor should be for this uh, contract. So, um, we do have
four representative uh, three representatives here from, uh, Republic here with us in the room and, um, I believe, um, Ed, um, Pesak um, is on, uh, Zoom from, uh, waste management.
So just um as related to service collection methodology. So Republic proposes to service all the dumpsters, the bulk items and residential collection with the same two trucks essentially as they're doing now. So
these trucks um they're referred to as carado trucks, meaning they have a container in the front of the truck. looks like a dumpster and with a mechanical arm coming off the side that would still pull up to um all the residential properties and the arm would come out c you know capture the the cart
and dump it into this container and then after a few houses the driver would have to dump the entire container into the back of the truck. Um all bulk items would be picked up with these same trucks. Um, when it came to servicing dumpsters, the trucks would then have to
go to some place and detach the container off the front, probably like the DPW garage. They could then go service all the dumpsters. So, all of the trash and everything would be still um from all the dumpsters and the curbside
would still be going into these same trucks. Waste management on the other hand would provide two dedicated trash trucks just for the residential. Um they all the dumpsters would be emptied via separate trucks on a commercial uh route
and that is why all of the disposal costs are incorporated into their dumpster costs because you're going to be having where it's on a commercial route you could be having trash from other communities. It's in these commercial trucks and be no way to segregate what the tonnage was just for reading.
um and bulk items with waste management will be collected on a separate day by a dedicated uh bulk collection truck. So this would mean that Republic's trucks might fill up faster and require more frequent trips to ReWorld than what
waste management would be able to do. Um you know, which could lead to um more mis pickups and a potentially lower level of service for the town's residents. Um, as far as customer service goes, um,
you know, while Republic may provide minimal cost savings over the life of the contract, um, I would be remiss to, you know, mentioned, you know, the issues that we've had with Republic, you know, over the years. And you'll see some of the that represented on the
chart on the next page that I'll show you in a minute. Could I ask a real quick followup because you mentioned something regarding the bulky item and I didn't actually take this into consideration. So you're saying that
in waste management and republic's thing if we went with bulky public is picking it up the same day but waste management might be a completely separate day. >> Yes. Waste management would schedule and then probably do all the bulk pickups on
a certain day of the week. So different than it currently is like you currently we can leave out on a trash day. >> Correct. >> So you're saying it might be Friday for everybody or whatever random day >> in Republic would still be the same day. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Because it'll be serviced by the same
truck system. >> Can we ask question? >> Yeah. On this section only because I didn't want to miss that and it seemed kind of important. >> All right. I have a question this section. >> Oh sorry. I have a question as far as section
service collection. Um, you just said might fill up and in these words it said would fill up. So I guess Republic is here. Is this an issue currently? >> No.
>> So why is it mentioned in here? Well, I was I was just I was only mentioning that because all of the dumpsters um curbside in bulk would be collected in the same truck versus waste management would be having a dedicated truck solely for the residential,
>> right? >> But you're making it sound like this is a sound like the way I read this is that even though we have them now, it's not a problem. it will become a problem if we're not adding 3,000 homes to the town.
>> Well, well, all I was saying is there's going to be frequent trips to Reorld with um Waste Management because there the trucks are going to be only collecting the the curbside um trash versus um Republic's trucks would be going to do dumpsters as well. So, there
would be more trips to Reworld with Republic's trucks. >> But why is that our problem? because it would cause more delay um with getting back to do the residential routes for the Republic trucks. >> No, I get that part. But is it a problem now?
>> No, but um it would be a more efficient operation with waste management is what what I'm getting at. >> Okay. It's just a little bit misleading towards Republic. And again given trash gate and transition gate and all the
gates we had you know I doesn't really sit well but they've seem to recover from that. So >> I was just meaning it would be a more efficient operation with >> wast no I get that but the way this reads it sounds like you're dissing republic that's all it's my opinion only
that you read this like oh republic is if we renew with them it's not going to be as efficient or it's not going to be good compared to waste management I understand the efficiency part but aside from a missed pickup every now and then which is going to happen with anybody
I'd imagine because things happen. Um I I just don't like the way this is worded. That's all. >> Mr. Chairman, may I respond to that in part? Um your point's well taken. Thank you very much. Um there is a history
with Republic of Miss Hickups and everybody knows that. Um part of the issue is not just it's not the Republic issue necessarily as it is Reorld backs up. There's been a long history of reroll backing up with trucks backing up there and they're not
it takes a long time to get through. So if the truck is full and they go to reroll and there's a long line, not everybody gets through and they can't always make it back into town. So they pick up the next day. >> So that's that's that's the operational explanation.
>> Yeah. So I was under the impression that the mis pickups were happening just because they ran out of time or forgot or it was snowy. But it turns out some of them might have been >> sometimes >> because it was backed up, >> right? A lot of it is real world is the
only incinerator in the area and it's it's very very busy and the volume is such that >> the trucks trying to get through. Backing up at RWorld is a real issue for any for any municipality. So that's why we see this operational difference as as
um significant. So it's not a disc toward Republic. It's just an operational difference that we want you to look at. >> Yep. Melissa, >> just a clarifying question. Does Republic currently service our dumpsters? >> Yes, >> they do. Okay. So, the question I had is
I know on waste management we deducted the Reworld costs. Did we add that to Republic's number? Because we're still going to have to pay Reworld. Correct. >> Correct. But Republic's number is the actual number when you total up their prices. what I did with um Waste
Management's price is from what their total price comes. So, I deducted the savings that we would see by not having to pay reward from that. >> Yeah. But, so correct me if I'm misunderstanding you. So, Republic's numbers >> that are on this sheet on page three,
>> do those numbers include what we will have to pay as a town to reworld? >> No. >> Okay. So that would be an additional cost where waste management we don't have that additional cost. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> And what's the cost?
>> Uh it's about $122,000 savings >> annually. >> Annually. >> Annually. Yeah. Annual. Yeah. >> So I guess knowing that, why isn't that on here that we pay $122,000 more? >> Or is it on the chart? Because when I
see >> like 10 million, 13 million, is it included? >> Well, it is. If you look in the um the back of your packets is a there's a breakdown of how we got to those prices. And on the
>> waste management breakdown, you can see on the bottom there how I >> deducted the um cost for real world disposal and for the uh recycling processing costs, >> but on the republic piece, it's not
noted that we will still have to pay reworld and what that cost is going to be. And I think that's important for everyone to realize that there is an additional cost that will come with that which is like 120.
>> Yeah. I mean, if you wanted to look at it that way, you could add 122,000. Yeah. You know, to that price. >> Well, it's 122 plus some processing fee. Correct. >> Yeah. 126,000 on the on the um Republic's proposal if you want to look.
>> So I'm guess I'm still confused. On page >> 600 >> on page 23 the bottom dollar is 1,976 and then on page 24 it's 1,872. So
asking everything everyone always wants to pay the lowest but it turns out that's not the lowest. We have to add 112 to that. No, the 1,872 is Republic. Correct. The 1,976 is waste management. >> Correct. But do we add 122 to the 1872? >> Y.
>> Yeah. If you want to think of it that way. Yeah. Because we're still we're still going to have to pay. >> Then then you would not take off the disposal on the waste management side. It's normalized toward the Republic contract. Well, we can't do that though because the this chart for I see what
you're saying, but you can't do that because this chart took those numbers off for waste republic waste management already. So, it's kind of deceiving because the numbers are red um deducted on this side, but we don't have the addition for republic on this side. So,
it's kind of deceiving what the numbers really are. >> Did you have a comment? I guess I forgot what was your name again. >> Oh, Dan. >> Yeah, if you just want to come up and just clarify because I guess I'm still confused as well. Dan
Higgins, Republic Services, 385 Densport Road, Tigro. Yeah, I believe the the original bid from waste management included disposal. They included the disposal of the cans. And because their numbers included the disposal, you know, the town has a separate contract
disposal staff has reduced the disposal from their price because you're currently paying it part of your disposal contract and they're going to absorb those costs. The bid specs were for collection only, no
disposal. We bid, no disposal. So you're paying Cavanter a certain amount per year for disposal. anonymous don't reflect that. So there's nothing to add in Republic's case. I mean in Waste Management's case, you're paying a certain amount to Waste Management, you're going to deduct that amount because they're going to be
paying. So you're going to pay them you're going to be paying them more for that. >> Okay? >> So if you you know, so the price here does not reflect the disposal. This reflects the disposal that you're going to pay to them, not Cavanta. So that's up to you, but it's still going to take
advantage 100% with our our proposal. So to me, my my my understanding be inappropriate to add disposal to our collection bid because you're you're paying for each ton once. >> In our scenario, you're paying for each ton once to Cavana. In the waste
management scenario, you're paying part of it to part of it to waste management. The same number of tons. >> Okay, so that makes sense. But then how can we deduct it from what we're seeing on waste management? >> Because we're not paying it twice.
>> We're not paying Coanta for we're not paying Covanta twice, right? So there's there's a redundancy in the waste management contract because they're they're saying they're going to pay the disposal on what they take for just the dumpsters. So we are reducing
what we estimate that amount to be out and that is an applesto apples comparison with republic's uh proposal because we will be paying for any any any negot
based on weight. So the 197 >> So the 1976 compared to the 1872 >> is apples to apples or not. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> It would not be apples to apples to add
on an additional fund. >> Okay. That's that's I think we have to clarify. >> That's why we we normalize these numbers to take out that redundant payment that you would see to co. Is that fair to my team? But what I heard on the back end that happened, but I just heard Chris
say a few minutes ago, add the 126,000 to the middle. You tell me to say that. >> Well, I because that's that's what you were that's what you were talking about. And if you wanted to think of it that way, you know, you could have, but you know, really to compare apples to
apples, you wouldn't. >> You want to add the thing back into the waste management one if you were thinking of it that way. So even though it might not make sense to us to a point, everybody is in agreement on this. Waste management agrees with this
number and Republic agrees with this number that's on here. >> Those are as long as we have an agreement that between both parties that the numbers are accurate and it's not favoring one or another, then that's what we have to go on.
>> You can see the breakdowns in the back of your pack and how we got to those numbers. Yep. Those are all from the unit prices that they submitted. Um, then just moving on to the last point I wanted to make about the budget. So, and if Matt and Jane want to comment
on anything on this, um, pretty much any, you know, you see the prices and based on what where our budget is at right now, anything more than the bi-week, the recycling,
and no bulk is beyond what the budget that Sharon says we can afford. Um I don't know if you wanna Matt or Jane wanna >> Yeah. No, I can um add a little color to that. So if if we you know we were
planning for bi-weekly recycling, we've been talking about that for a while. That's the reason why they got the larger carts and whatnot. If we go to weekly recycling in any scenario, waste management or republic, it's going to be a larger increase. Obviously, you're paying for weekly. So by about $400,000.
So when we when we did the numbers to start building the budget and obviously the budget's not done yet. We calculated in you know you about 20 and now we thought it was about a 25% increase um over the last contract. Obviously that
last contract was a very good contract but not there anymore. And and we're comfortable with that number. If we were to go to weekly we could do it but we would probably have to use free cash. you know, it's not budgeted in and that's going to that's going to increase
the percentage um up to I think into the 40s. I don't think Sharon >> 48% >> 48% Sharon I don't think is able to be here tonight but you know this is what she's told me and I've related to her. So just so you know that that's going to be added and all the talk was to try to save money to postpone and override for
as long as possible which I wanted to do and and still want to do. It's just that that's just going to eat more out of our free cash at least for this year. um that we weren't really counting on because we thought that you know that and I still think that probably bi-weekly is the way to go. A lot of
other towns have moved in that direction. We have the larger bins to accommodate. Um I've gotten the emails you have saying, you know, don't take away our weekly. Um and I wish I didn't have to, but it's a big it's a big number. So, but ultimately it's up to you. Just wanted to clarify that point.
>> Thanks. All right. I'm hoping someone has the answer to this because this is to me this is important. of all the recycling barrels be dispensed delivered how many homes requested to
>> we do have that data >> um we do have that data um I believe the numbers around 500 have requested a second cart >> out of how many >> out of um >> 7200 something like that
>> yeah 70 75 100 8,000 cards that were on the initial roll up. >> So, you're saying approximately 500. Ask for the extra cart. >> So, >> can you clarify for me if you're asking
about an recycle cart or a regular trash cart? >> Yeah, I asked about an extra recycle cart. >> Okay. I didn't hear the recycle. Thank you. >> Yeah, because we all got one in one whether we like it or not. It may be a smaller trash depending if you're single
or you know of a senior but then a lot of bigger families or whatever could request a second because the town purchased them. So to me that's important because that's not a huge number. So I have the number because I
asked Chris this uh a week ago. Uh, it's 383 second trash carts went out and 526 second recycling carts went out. >> How many again? >> Out of I think that number is in here too
somewhere. >> 72 I think 72 homes. >> 7500. >> They're doing percentages because it's low. >> Yeah, 7%. Good question. >> Yes, Melissa. Do we have enough carts then if we go to every other week that
we can give every household an extra cart if they want one for recycling? >> Yeah, we >> And where's the money going to come from if we need to buy more? >> Um, it would it would have to come out of the the general fund, but um >> yeah, >> we have
>> good supply of carts um in storage right now >> from all the swap from all the swap outs we had to do. >> How many approximately please? Um 500, a thousand, 2,000. No, >> we can't store that many.
>> 2,000. >> Yeah. I mean, we have >> This is a good question again. >> We We probably have close to a thousand cards, I would say, in in storage right now. >> A mix of both, or is that just recycled? >> Thousand blue cards. We're asking about
the recycle cards. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. probably close to a thousand blue cards that we have that we have in in storage right now. >> Okay. Can I can I just keep on going on that? So, I I I understand, you know, no one likes change and I'm not advocating for either
one right now. So, whoever is watching, trust the whole town. Um but, you know, I my my parents are in Medford. They went to bi-weekly. It is an adjustment. Um, we're all going to have to get used to it if we go that
route and I think it'll work out. I I can't guarantee that. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of people say no, we fail to now. I I can't, you know, discount that. But we declared as a board at the beginning
of this year to, you know, we're very budget centric right now and trying to find ways. So, I know 400,000 plus doesn't sound like a lot of money, but you know, it kind of is in a sense. And people
say, "Well, you did this, you did that." Yes, we did, but you know, this is a big service. It's a big part of paying our taxes. So, I'm not taking this lightly. But if if if Chris said that we had 2,000 homes with two carts, that would
be a little more concerning right now with 526 and that could rise to a thousand um homes in the next week because whatever we pick we pick. Um but I I don't this a tough one as far as
weekly or bi-weekly. Can I ask this? Is is both representatives are here is it feasible? Is there any way to do a trial with a month, two months bi-weekly and just see how many complaints we get? Is that
has that been done before? Is that possible logistically? And I me and I was I don't know. I'm just asking because if it's possible obviously I'd say let's do it. If it's not possible, please let me know why. And I mean, it's also a matter of trucks, too, because like with
waste management's proposal with the bi-weekly, we would only have one recycling truck in town versus with weekly, we would have two. >> That's what I'm asking. I I don't know if that's even possible. Just idea I had today,
>> I guess. Did you want to Yes. Dan Higgins with public services. Um, you know, towns have made that change where they've gone to a week or a week. Um, you know, with enough lead time, you know, depending on what you contract out, you know, the truck requirements have a lead time. We have the trucks
existing right now. So, we can we can handle every other week or weekly. Um, you know, there's a different cost to it. So, we just need lead time in terms of having the trucks available. >> Yeah. >> Yep. So, I I get that you're here now and you
bought the JRM contract which had a lot of value when um you know you guys bought JRM, but is there other than financial is is there a reason we can't get newer trucks or within the five years because it seems like these aren't
going to be as efficient like Chris mentioned and Jane mentioned. So, that's a little concerning too for me. Can we have some kind of assurances or >> Well, we wouldn't be getting new trucks. No. Well, well, it sounds like the truck that they're using now is
requires more real world stops. >> Or is that something different? >> Josh Mitchell, Republic Services. I'm the general manager. Right now, we service all of the town cans with the rear load trucks. Um, and we are not
making additional reroll trips. Um, so changing the truck type and still servicing them with the same truck, the Coronado style truck is not going to increase more trips. Uh, we're not going to fill up faster. We're that's how we're currently servicing it with the rear load. They will actually be more
efficient because they will dump the containers more quickly than the rear load with the cables do right now. So I I don't expect that to be a challenge at all. It'll be a efficiency pickup for us by converting to the Curadas >> and it'll be a new truck that you'll be getting. >> And they're Yeah, they're newer trucks.
>> Okay. I misunderstood this that they're ex I heard the existing trucks that they're using now. >> That's what I heard. >> No. So, I think that the trucks they're using now, they're not they're not using the ones with the arms and all that. No, >> you know what I mean. But in the future,
they will be in in June is what I'm hearing. Okay. >> All right. I don't want to ice out waste management. So if you do have a question or comment, you can always raise your hand. >> Pastic is on the is on the line. >> Same thing to you Karen.
>> Oh well virtual hand Ed real hand. Thank you. Go ahead. >> Ed Basic Waste Management. Uh good evening everyone. Yeah, sorry I had to use the real hand. I couldn't find the virtual button on the screen here. Uh so
just uh wanted to address the question about the uh the weekly versus every other week recycling. So as uh we had proposed uh you know we have the o opportunity an option to uh provide
either service to the town and as far as making a switch midstream. Uh, I think what I'd say the best way that we would be able to accommodate that would be to start with a weekly recycling program and then potentially down the road if
the town was looking to save money or reduce services, then we could make that switch and and we'd be coming from the point of view of we need to order the trucks in advance of the contract start. So, if that's something that the the
town had interest in, uh, as far as having that flexibility, I think that was what we would suggest is to go with the with the weekly recycling. Um, but I think what we would also point out is that we service many communities with
every other week recycling in this area and it would be, you know, the program that we had proposed here and what was presented uh, is is very consistent with what's in the area already. So, we have full confidence that that it would be workable for the town and certainly
would be the most budget friendly option. >> I guess if I could ask a followup, Ed, um then obviously Republic. So if we did go with weekly recycling, uh is there a penalty if we stopped it
after the first year or at minimum we have to keep trash and the recycling is is not an issue or are we locked into five years on recycling? >> We would mean recycling as as a program
at all. No, meaning um going from uh weekly recycling to um >> going Okay, I I understand. Yeah. So, we would be able to switch after one year, we could uh make an arrangement within the contract to give the town the option
to switch and we would just uh write in both both prices that we've already proposed and and that would be available to the town. >> Okay. And the same thing with Republic. >> Yes. 80% of our contracts in the state, >> you kind of have to go up so other
people can hear you. >> Yeah, we we would be minimal as well. And 80% of the contracts in the state that are automated are every other weekly cycle. >> Okay. >> So the towns that are weekly that do automate, they end up being able to
it's adequate for most of the residents. And the second hot option for recycling is a good option people that need more recycling. >> Okay. Yeah, go ahead. >> Thank you. >> Um, one of the bigger questions and maybe Ed you can answer this. I had asked um,
Republic. So, there is a charge for the cart maintenance and delivery. Ed, do you know what waste management um, cost is for that? I know it's kind of built into the number, but I just trying to get an idea of what that actual cost is.
So, I don't have a like a per repair cost available off the top of my head, but it is it is included in the base price of the contract that or the price that we propose to the town. >> So, there's no if we said no, we're going to have the town take care of it. There's nothing that you can pull off
that base price. >> Oh, okay. No. So, that's I'm sorry, I misunderstood your question. The answer is yes, we we could reduce our price. I don't I'm not prepared to offer what that number would be right now, but we could certainly uh get back to you with
what the reduction would be. >> Would you give me a guesstimate? >> I I I don't want to figure >> I'm not comfortable doing that right now. I I really wasn't I'm sorry. I wasn't prepared to uh uh to make that change to our proposal right now, but >> No, that's fine. I was just curious of
what that number was. Um, for me, and I've said this, um, you know, many times, is that residents pay taxes for services like trash pickup, like road work in schools. And I'm having a really hard time
diminishing the services for our residents here from weekly everything and bulk pickup to bi-weekly and potentially no bulk. It's going to come out of their pockets. We're asking residents to pay more money. I mean, we just approved a $30 million recal
program or building, I'm sorry. And you know, a resident today said to me, you know, how many people in town does that building service? Probably not even 50%. But trash services everyone in town. So, I'm having a really hard time thinking that we're going to take things away
from residents when they're paying all of their taxes. Like, so for me, I'm gonna stick my heels on the ground on this one. And we need weekly recycling. Um, I think it's going to be a concern if we don't have weekly recycling with people throwing their recycling into the
trash. I think the recycling could build up as seniors going to have a hard time pulling that down every other week. Who's monitoring it every other week for these people? I forget. Sometimes it's even trash day, never mind every other week recycling. So, I really think it comes down to that we need to continue
the services we have here and not reduce them. Go ahead. >> Karen, did you have something? >> Yeah. So, I think a lot of my questions have been answered. I think um
I've talked to a lot of people over the last couple weeks and I agree that there is a there is a it's kind of half and half. Half of them think I pay for taxes. Trash impacts every single resident in the town and that's not something they want to give away or give
away easily. And then I have the other half that's like, I don't care. I need the cheapest value and that's all I want. And I've talked to single people, old people, families, and so it was really confusing for me to kind of wrap my head around what the town really is looking for. I think the option of
starting with recycling every week and then maybe doing a test after a year or six months in just to see how it works could be a good compromise to settle. You know, I would You're right. Sometimes people forget it's trash week. I completely understand that. But I
think with training and um education that we can move towards being greener and this is kind of it's not going to happen by June or July that we're going to train everyone to be every other week. But I think we can phase it in. We'll be able to save money at the at that at that end as opposed to right
now. I do want to say that I drove around town and the benefit of having a bulk item picked up every week. The amount of people that I saw on trash days with one bulk item outside was a lot less than I had expected. And I know it's cyclical and it depends on what's
going on. Um, but my neighbor uses it every week, but no one else on my street uses it. And when I drove all over town, I was really surprised by the lack of extra items that were out there. So, I think that out of the whole scope of our plans that that might be something that
we can consider. Um, one question I did have is if um, and it's expensive to pay to get rid of an item in some of these plans that if we could have um, either a plan, and I think it' been talked about last week, a dumpster at DPW where they
could bring it to DPW maybe for $20 as opposed to having it picked up at their curb. That could be an option that we could talk about. I don't think it has to be part of this discussion, but I think it could be a discussion that we have once we move forward after we sign a contract. Um,
I had a whole bunch of questions, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of them were answered. Um, I think that's it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Karen. Um,
I got to wonder like it seems like everyone's all over the road on this. It's like for me, I don't want to do everything all at once. I don't want to lose weekly recycling and I don't want to lose bulk. But then you get to the point where what am I picking? Do I want to do bulk and
not weekly or just do the um uh no bulk but keep weekly? And it just it it I don't want to change anything. I I agree it's it's nice with what we have, but you know, we have to be realistic
that times are changing. It's unfortunate. I know that these contracts were vetted, you know what I mean? And and I used AI like I always do with everything and stuff is within reason here. There's no, you know, I saw a lot of comments of people thinking we're
getting screwed and all that. And it's it's it's unfortunate that this is the, you know, the state that we the state the state that we live in of of how things are. And uh it went up. It didn't, you know, it didn't go up
massively like it, you know, one of the $4 million bids. That would have been crazy. Um, but, you know, we had a 10-year contract. That's what people have to understand is 10 years ago was 1.2. I understand there was uh scaling since then, but like in the grand scheme
of things, it's really uh not that far off. Um, but I'm still uh unsure which direction we should go with the recycling, the bulk and everything. I understand Karen's points.
Seems like you're advocating, Karen, if I had to guess for the lowest number possible with nothing possible, I guess. And Melissa, >> no, I think um I'm actually leaning towards um
a weekly recycling and no bulk item. I think that's where and it's not the cheapest option, but I think having the option to reduce it in a year or so is a very appetizing aspect to it. Um, I will say that some of the comments we got was that we need to get back to the table to
renegotiate. I think what's missing here is we've all been talking about this for less than a month, but child staff has been working on this for over a year. And so I think it's unfortunate that it seems like we just started talking about this, but this has been in the works for a very long time. And I think town staff
has done a great job putting everything together and I don't want that to get lost in the discussions because it's really complicated and it's not being taken lightly at all. We don't want to take a benefit away from the town. But if one of the benefits is not being
used by 50% of the residents, then I think it's a benefit that we really should look at to see whether it's a need or a want. And I think the bulk item is kind of a want at this point with the economy the way it is. just that's just my personal opinion and I'm sure I'll get flack for that but it's
based on observations and looking around town and you know I think that looking at behaviors is is really important and I think working on behaviors moving forward becoming greener more recycling more composting like that's something that we'll do in phases not all as part
of this contract so I'm really leaning towards doing the every week recycling at this point um with the option to modify it if we Carla, thanks. Um,
I guess for both parties that are here, uh, Republic mentioned and waste management, waste management, and get the chance, but I'm guessing it's the same on the customers that you service. You said 80% bi-weekly, which I get.
Of the towns that you service, this is for both of you, please. How many of those towns do the bulk item, you know, as part of their contract? >> Half and half. >> Waste waste management. You kind of know
of your customer base your contracts. How many have bulk uh pickup and how many don't? >> The the majority of our curbside contracts include a bulk pickup option. And I think at this point in time almost
every one of those if not all of them are structured such that the resident makes an appointment and pays for the item. >> All right. So they make it part of the contractor's weekly option. >> Is that is that what I heard?
>> The customer. So yeah. So I I would say if you were interested in in aligning the town's program with the way most programs are today in the state that that we service, it would have a a bul an option for bulk and it would be an
option where the resident contacts us, schedules an item and pays for the item uh to be collected. So that's the that that would be in alignment with the vast majority of the programs that we have throughout the state.
>> Thank you. So with those answers, I I I definitely agree more with Karen on the bulk item and and of course as we see in our packet, waste management has a clear advantage for our residents as far as
paying and for speaking individually, I haven't put a big piece out 15 years on my curb and I've had that luxury of putting one piece on a week.
You know, unless you're moving or decluttering and I, you know, I'm just speaking for myself and, you know, I drive all over town, too. And yeah, you see a burrow, a chair every now and then, but it's not widespread.
So, if we want to save the whole town money, I think having the bulk is the better option. We're already doing it for our appliances. we have to pay to have our appliances removed curbside unless someone's going to go to a scrapyard, which probably doesn't happen
that often. Um, as far as weekly or bi-weekly, yeah, I mean, we we got to pull the trigger tonight hopefully. And uh I don't know. I I value I value uh
Sharon and we what she has to do. But with Melissa, I I don't like take away his service. But given that so many communities have gone to bi-weekly and there's no riots in the streets, I don't see why we can't do it. >> I guess when I
always go back to the numbers. So I if if we were to go with uh hypothetically weekly trash, weekly recycling uh and picking obviously the more advantageous for residents paying that
would be waste management and the figure would be 12,989456. The problem >> over five years. >> Yes. Well, that's a fiveyear total is the 12 million. I'm always going with the five years. But then the problem that I get is that
when you can go with weekly trash, weekly recycling with one burnable item and one metal item with Republic for 13 357, that's a difference of like 300 grand over five years, which is like nothing.
So, if we're going to go with one on this, why wouldn't we go with uh 300 grand more and keep it somewhat the same that it is as opposed to like if if you took the lower number at 10 million for waste management for the five years with nothing included. 10
million to the 13 million is significant. But we're looking over here at the minimum of 1299.89 89 compared to 13 357. Unless someone else has another idea. That's
that's kind of uh like the theme I'm seeing coming out of this. You know what I mean? Like Yeah. I I I can't I can't deny that it's it's there in
black and white. It still puts us o over budget that we projected, but the math is Yeah. 300 almost 360,000. >> No, 11. No, more than that. More than
that. Yeah. Uh well, that's that's over five years. So that's not it's Yeah, that's not a lot of money when you break it down over five years, but it's still the budget issue. >> Yeah. No, I understand that. I think the general consensus before we got into
this, with Karen included, obviously, is that something was going to have to give. I didn't think everything was going to have to give. You know what I mean? So, I kind of thought that we'd be going against town staff because, you know, we live here. I understand they work here and they deal with the public and they
handle budgets and we handle everyone yelling at us um sometimes. Um but like you know we we we here we see what's going on. We we understand that you know how Melissa mentioned
there's bigger families they always seem to get getting hammered. I agree with that. Um, same thing, elderly residents or whatever, they're probably getting screwed on these options that we're picking because they're not using all of this. Like, so I understand there's the
the give and take. It's just it seems as if we're still all over the place, unless I'm misinterpreting how we're going with this. >> Real quick, right now there's four of us. Is Karen Herrick coming? Has anyone heard from her?
when we scheduled the meeting, I reached out to her and she said she was available to come tonight and I haven't heard otherwise. So, I don't know. I haven't I could reach out to her if you want me to, but I haven't. >> Well, if we're split tonight, that's a problem. >> Then I will I will reach out and see if she's coming.
>> I don't know if we're split. I think we're each one of us has our own decision and it all seems like we're all going different direction. That's the problem. >> Yeah, I know. Melissa to Jeff. Um, no. I was just going to say that
there's actually only if you did uh weekly trash, weekly recycling, no burnable bulky item. I'm sorry. Um, one bulky item but no metal item. It's like a difference of 342,000 between Waste
Management and Republic over a fiveyear. >> Do you see what I'm saying? >> So, which column? >> I don't see what you're saying. What are you saying? And so I'm saying that if Chris had mentioned like if we did weekly trash, weekly recycling and no items, it's 12 million 989456
for waste management, >> right? >> But if we just allowed if we went to Republiclix and just allowed one all the weekly trash, weekly recycling and one burnable item that that difference is only 342,871
over five years. So to add the item in for people to still be able to do at least one burnable item, not metal, but burnable that it over five years it's $343,000 approximately. >> Um, no more,
>> but it's still not a low number. Do you know what I mean? So if you're comparing what Chris is saying as far as if we go way down to the, you know, nitty-gritty of off, I don't want to say offering nothing but taking more away than we're giving to the residents. Um, it's still a pretty high number. You know, it's not
below two million per year. It's it's I feel like it's still the same 400 grand that we're kind of talking about between the two different companies. >> Sure. >> You know what I mean? >> Yep. Nope. You're right. >> Yeah. I'm not worried about 400,000 to be honest with you in the grand scheme of things. But million. >> I think Sharon is.
>> But yeah. No. No. I But you know what I mean. In the context of this >> given what we spend in this town and what we overspend in this town. Um, that's what I mean in relative to this. Yes, every penny counts. You know,
there's boards asking us for money. You know, there's, uh, you know, residents saying, why are we doing this? Why are we not doing that? So, I get it. But when we go from these numbers, you know, the highest being, you know, 14 million and to the lowest being, you know, 104,
that's a huge gap. Obviously, we're not picking 14 million, but these are the numbers that are in front of us. So, you know, if if I was deciding by myself, I would go crazy. So, I'm glad I have three other people to help me tonight.
But, you know, and I get staff's input, but it's I think we're a little bit all over the place, unfortunately, and that's because we can't meet in advance and all that stuff, which is good. But I uh right now
I'm agreeing more with Karen, but I'm not opposed to bi-weekly. Uh I'm not. Um so I think that's going to happen anyway. >> J um a couple of points to think about as you make this decision. It's not an
easy decision and I I understand I sat in your seat so I I understand what you're what you're working on and I know that the board has worked very hard to over the last several months and over the last several years as we've gone through the cart roll out and prepared the community for what could be
bi-weekly recycling you've all been very considerate and you've been thoughtful to the whole process. So I want to acknowledge and thank the board members and your predecessors for that for years of this conversation. um when you're talking about equity and how
we um provide a public good to all the people in the community. Um and because we're 10 years later than the last contract and so a lot has changed and we all understand inflation and inflationary pressures and and labor costs and so forth. Um, it's important
to understand that while you do have large families that are producing more solid waste, is it fair to ask smaller households to subsidize larger household solid waste processes? And so, speaking of the
recycling, if we're producing a lot more recycling in one house, that house should pay its way. Is it fair smaller houses subsidize that cost? It's not. Larger families make the decision to be larger families. >> I would agree with you, Jane. The
problem with that is typically larger families have larger houses and they pay larger amounts of taxes. >> So, we talk about a trash. >> Well, thank you. >> And larger families like myself are already subsidizing by paying for our
second trash barrel yearly. >> You Yes. would be paying for a second trash, but not not well, you're paying No, you're not subsidizing. You're paying for additional trash disposal and removal. So, you're paying your your share. The recycling is different to
subsidize what was known to be the increase in trash costs, >> right? But it's per your household. So, it's fair. >> Yeah. >> The other other folks who are producing less waste are not subsidizing your household. >> Agree. But it was not when we sat in town meeting it was described as there
will be a charge for those extra trash barrels because we know the new contract is going to be a lot higher. >> Yes, >> we need this extra money, >> right? >> We are subsidizing for everyone in this town by paying for those second trash barrels. >> We only have 300 extra trash barrels,
too, which right in the grand scheme of things is like nothing. Negligible money at this point. >> Um Karen, did you have your hand up? >> Pardon? I can't remember. >> What's your turn anyways? >> Well, you know, well, I guess in in
response to that is um large families get older and move on and new larger families move in and so we're always going to kind of have that dynamic and I don't know what the portion the number of families in town that are large as
opposed to the percentage of how are smaller. I will say what was really surprising to me um when I talked to a lot of people they didn't care about the money which I was so surprised about and this was not I'm going to say 25% of them cared about
the money and the rest of them are like I don't care and they said and I don't want to say that some of them said the town has afford can afford to pay for all these other things we've got and I'm trying to explain to them but at some point we have to kind of stop and we've all said we have to kind of stop
spending the way that we do and is this the thing that's going to be the catalyst to the beginning of that or is this going to be the last big thing that we decide to pay for in a town and then the the the override comes and I don't think we should be afraid of the override because it's coming whether we
wanted to or not. It's just have to be super meaningful in how we spend our money and what we're asking for. So now it's it's I just assume that a lot of people would have been more concerned about the money and so you know when you try and throw the money part of it and
the green community part of it to increase recycling and increase composting and you know we've got a lot of different things being kind of meldted into this discussion for the future and so I think that's also in there and so it's making it very
complicated for all of us. Um so that's Oh, I have to say >> thanks Karen. You're right. But from where I sit uh over five plus years and with an override in pending, what you just said,
this is nothing personal, goes out the window. And when they see yes for override, no for override on front lawns, >> Yeah. >> they're going to say we can't manage our money. Right. So when when people say they
don't care, they'll pay whatever. Yeah, they can say that, right? Because it's in their tax bill, but when their tax bill is going to go up by, let's say, for some homes over $1,000 in a couple years for the million dollar plus homes, they're like, "Okay, I have
a million dollar plus home." You know, my taxes go from 15 to 16,000. Then they go from 16 to 17,000 and and so and so on and so forth, right? So, but when the override comes because I've experienced it, it's a whole different ballgame.
>> Oh, I agree with you. I'm And I'm not saying I'm siding with them. I just was so surprised by it because I thought um you know, I just was very surprised by it. So, I'm not saying that I'm not super money conscious. Trust me, I am. But I'm trying to We're all trying to balance all the comments that we've
received from so many different people and figure out what's best moving forward. And it's really complex. And I >> No, no, no. Thank I this wasn't this wasn't directed at you. It's just >> Oh yeah, I understand. >> My experience of my experience. >> Yeah, we you know we're ready.
>> You know, a lot of people come here for multiple reasons, location, school system, you know, accessibility to New Hampshire, whatever you Boston train. Um so yeah, I I we don't know what the override is going to be, the amount.
We're trying to do our best to make that impact less. So by agreeing to a $13 million contract as opposed to a 10.51 million contract, that's the right thing to do. Doesn't
make this decision easy. I I just think that, you know, this room should be full tonight and it's not. I don't know who's watching, but unfortunately given the way we vote in town, 25% come to a local election or less. That's who's maybe paying
attention to what what we do as a board. So 75%, yeah, I'll agree with you. Those people don't care. That part I guess I could deduct from this conversation. 75% of
the residents that don't vote in local elections don't care. They live here. They love living here. They'll pay the taxes and they'll want their services. We take something away. Maybe town staff will get some more phone calls than they
normally get. I I don't know. But I think all these budget talks we've been having. Um, I haven't decided on which line item to pick yet, but right now I'm leaning towards weekly trash, bi-weekly,
the bare bones to get us the lowest cost. Um, I'll just say obviously this is a special Thursday meeting, so it's offkilter from what we usually do. So maybe that's a determining factor why nobody is here per se. But um obviously
this this is one of the more important decisions that I've been a part of. I haven't done 13 million. Obviously we had no control over the senior center and kill them and and all that but this is landing on us and we are going to get
the feedback after it happens whichever direction we go. Uh a lot of people won't be happy some might be. Um, but you know, like we have to do things within reason. You know, we can't we can't go crazy all the time. Um, I
wonder if there's anyone from the public that had comment before we kind of finalize this to a point. So, nobody in the room, but anybody on Zoom, Maddie, by chance that wants to say anything?
>> Nobody on Zoom. >> Excellent. >> All righty. So, >> I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. Can I ask one more thing? >> Go ahead. >> Sorry. Um, let's say we go to bare bones. I pretty sure we had discussed, Chris, um, having something available at
at the DPW for people to drop things off and then it would cost us money to have the dumpsters taken away. Do you have any idea what kind of cost that would entail if we decided to to do something like that? Um, it would be hard to say because
dependent upon how much bulk you receive, we'd pay by the ton. So, >> okay. >> You know, I've seen some of these events before and, you know, in the community I live in and the line is a mile long. You know, I I cannot say how much we would
see, you know, for tonnage on one of those. It would be the dumpster rental and then whatever we have to pay reworld and disposal. >> Okay. >> I think it was around two to four grand Karen. It's not like 60,000 or something
crazy. So in my talks I think with Ed I think I asked this question. Um and it was around 2 to four grand for you know like Chris said the amount of whatever we get and typically with our recycling vents they are backed up all the way to
Chimbo. So like it's it's crazy. >> So as far as how we can right now go Monday through Friday to the DPW, it is possible that we could have a dumpster there or whatever kind of collection venue to do a metal drop off if people
want to do it during the week if we decided we wanted to somehow do something like that in the future. that may not cost as much as what it is on paper right now, but we could talk about that at a later date because it's something we'd pay for that's extra and outside of the contract.
>> I mean, we could talk about it whether it's something that we have available every single day during the week or whether it was like a special events that we have on a Saturday because right I do have a space issue down at the garage too and to try to, you know, have separate dumpsters down there, you know,
while still trying to fit all the vehicles in down there that we have, you know, does create an issue. >> Okay. All right, >> look at that. >> Thank you. >> And I did just get some clarity, too. For recycling carts and storage, right now we have about 5 to 600 probably.
>> Okay. So, I guess we'll take a pulse of everybody and see what everyone would pick and then we can hash out numbers with uh either Waste Management or Republic. So Karen, were you weekly no
bulk or is it what is your first choice? >> I mean weekly recycling weekly no well weekly trash weekly recycling. No bulk. >> My first instinct before I talked to a lot of people in town was to go with a
lower number and do bi-weekly recycling because I just think that's the way that we're going to go anyway. Um, I completely understand where the public It's really hard. You know, I'm trying to not necessarily put my own personal opinion on where we think we should go
with recycling. So, I'm I'm you know, I do. But tonight, I think um I I my gut is telling me weekly trash, bi-weekly recycling, and nothing else. I just even though I've said I wanted the
other things, but after hearing everyone what everyone has to say and understanding where we're headed, um that that's kind of where I fall and which is contrary to what I thought an hour ago. >> Carla,
>> uh right now, same as Karen Melissa, >> um weekly trash, weekly recycling, no bulk items. And that is where I am at which is a problem because listen I I my mindset on this is
this is a big change for the town and we would do too much at once. And I understand the limitations on on bulk. You might see one on a street or whatever, but like we have the data on who's gotten second recycling things and it's like negligible too. It's 500
whatever I said compared to 7,000 residences. So even that number is ridiculously low. But I think the big change all at once is too big for us to do. That's just Carlo.
>> Yes and no. I I you know I think we're resilient hopefully. But we're talking two million bucks here folks for either either company. Over $2 million. That's a lot of money over five years.
That's a lot of money. And I don't have a crystal ball. I I don't And and I wouldn't want to be the deciding vote. So maybe Cameron made the right call tonight by not coming. But she should be here. It's It's not right.
But if we're 22, then we have to have another meeting. I don't I don't think I could be persuaded to spend two $2 million more. I don't think we can have another meeting on this though either. Like we're going to make a decision. I
understand everybody uh elected us to make the tough decisions. This is one of the more tough. This is not political unless somehow it is. I haven't found a way yet to to figure that out. Um so this, you know, I'd like for us to be
unanimous. It doesn't seem as if that's going to be the case at this point. >> Me, too, obviously. >> Well, can I make a comment then? >> Yes. So since one of the arguments against um too much too soon I agree with and you know I think getting rid of
a bulk item is going to be hard for some people and other people could care less. I think if we can write into the contract that we're going to give ourselves a year and then go to every other week for recycling. I think that gives us technically more than a year and a half between now and when it goes
into effect to be able to get get us towards that with the public and the price will come down at that time. I I know we can't afford it right now, but I'd be willing to do that option so that we can at least ease into it, but know
that that we're going to change and that year it will save us money, which we're really going to need to save the money at that particular year. We need it this year, but if we if we want to do it in stages, I think that that's the best scenario to do it in stages. >> Carl,
>> uh I I as much as I agree with you so far, Karen, that that's 18 months. We have eight months till July 1st. If we can't, what's another year going to do? If we were talking two months from now, okay, I give you that. We have
eight months to to blast. >> I hear you. I hear you. But I also heard that I don't think eight months is enough time for people to change the behavior and get used to the schedule. Honestly, I think that um I I just think
that that's >> it's going to be hard for them to get used to that. >> It's going to be of course it's going to be hard. I I I totally agree with that. just remembering my father forgets all the time but there are only two people in the house luckily so it's not a big deal and my siblings live in Medford if
it became a problem but waiting 18 months to to sound like the inevitable >> I I agree with you but I do think we need to take a vote on it tonight so I'm trying to compromise somewhere for people you know what I mean so I don't
want us to not vote tonight because one of us is not willing to kind me kind of take the step halfway. So that's the only that's the only compromise I feel like there is unless someone has another one. >> Well, I I would if if if my two
colleagues here that are here would, you know, consider my only amendment to you, I would and I don't agree with it, but I would say six months because we don't need 18 months. We don't >> Okay, if that's an option. I I >> I don't I don't like it. But I know what
you're saying. Listen, this is going to be a big change. >> And I'm every community that these guys have serviced. >> It's a cluster the first couple of months. I don't know how you can't say it isn't for the residents and for them, you know, and then you get in a groove and then we put on our calendar and we
put an X on the day and you know that's it. But yeah, there's no way I will create an extra year. >> Okay. >> Can I just point something out? >> Yes. >> So, no one's going to get used to it until they have to start doing it. >> I agree. So it would if you're saying 6 months. So really the time is from June
to December. That's it is what you'd be saying because now is not the time that they can get used to it because it's still continuing to be the same as it is until June. So I don't think that that's realistic either. I think that's the theory behind >> No, no. I'm I'm trying to I don't want
to say you know side with Karen. I I I don't want any extension. If we're going to do it, let's do it. >> That's my opinion. But if if if few of you agreed, okay, let's give the residents more time, then it would be six months, not a year. I don't I think
eight months is plenty of time. >> Huh? >> The vendor said a year. >> The vendor said after a year they would review it. Well, that was what Waste Management said. I don't know if that's the same for Republic. >> It would be the same. Yeah. They need a after the contract's been in effect for
a year, then they would make that change. they have their commitments that they need to make as well. >> So it would be that's the vendor driven. >> I gotcha. All right. So yeah, I don't like that option.
>> Great. I appreciate it, but I don't. I think if the bulk items were the pricing is similar at the bottom, this would be a lot more easier than it is because obviously waste management is like, you know, far superior in that
aspect. And like $80 on a small and 75 on a burnable bike, like I buy a chair for 2030 bucks on Amazon and then to get rid of it, it's it's $75. I mean, I understand it's the same thing. to get rid of. It's $30 on this aspect. Uh,
and like I was driving around, I saw somebody out with a lamp and like three pictures or something. And I'm like, that's not going to fit in the trash because I mean, they'd have to break them up, but then they don't have trash because they have one barrel. And I'm
like, is that like $105 sitting on the side of the road right now? It's like that's kind of what I was envisioning. And it's it's not a good envision. Um that's why we're these numbers were were uh closer because then it's it's easier
to start picking you know columns because if we want to do if we want to say no more bulk anymore and we pick republic we screw the residents. If we want to say bulk then we pick republic because then it's included and
everyone's happy. Like there's so many tradeoffs in this. So, like I said, it's it's one of the bigger decisions we've had to make. It's multiple line items with, you know, good
conversation that we've had uh tonight regarding it all. Um I I just never wanted Karen at a meeting more than I got to be honest. Everyone, even Carol
laughed. That's good. >> I won't We'll put that in minutes. The camera rose left. You got the minutes. >> She's still laughing. >> I laugh a lot. >> Thank you. >> So, what are we going to do here?
>> Sticking where I'm sticking. >> Sorry, guys. >> No, don't be sorry. >> So, so you wanted >> weekly recycling, weekly trash, weekly trash. >> Okay. >> I said no bulk. >> No bulk. She's okay with no bulk. >> All right. So, you're okay with no bulk on that?
>> Yeah. So it seems as if everyone's good with no bulk then. All right. So, okay. So, we have accomplished something. >> You two and us two is 2 million bucks. >> Well, I understand that. >> Um, >> I have something to say. We're not going
to >> but like I I understand the value of the bulk and you know it is a certain percentage relatively low. It's more of the change for the residents. That's the problem. I'm in Carlos. My wife sets
everything on Facebook. I have people showing up at all different hours picking up random stuff that I would have thrown away and she's getting, you know, she's doing it all. Um, so, you know, I haven't got rid of bulk stuff really ever. Um,
so but that doesn't mean that I would make a decision based off my own what I know other people obviously have to have it too. But it seems like the general consensus of us four on that means that uh we should uh omit the bulk
option and then see what we can do regarding recycling. It's nice. So, >> uh, can I ask a question regarding, um, >> uh, if a large family already has two blue recycle buckets, are they able to
get a third? [Music] >> Um, I mean, we've only been allowing one additional recycling bucket, but I don't see why we couldn't offer a third if someone really needed it. >> But are these contracts
based off the amount of bins that somebody is collecting? like are they doing it where I saw in Arlington where it's based off 32,000 carts or something and now we're going to add on another you know thousand or 2,000 and and put us over a certain number.
>> Yeah, I know waste management had a per unit cost for additional carts. I'm not sure we're public in there the price was I didn't see anything. >> So what what did we give them? our current our current amount and then you
scaled it up a little just for a little buffer. >> Yeah, we we had a we had a number that we knew of at the time that was in the RFP and then anything beyond that. >> Okay. I guess the I guess the way that it's going in in the amount of extra carts
was 500. I myself didn't get an extra recycling cart because I wanted to see how this was going to play out. So, I'm one of the people holding out like Melissa had mentioned where you might see a sea of additional people I guess adding a third cart um for
recycling is an option. Jane just mentioned that it's up to us and I don't see the problem with us doing that. >> Price goes up. >> Price goes up. >> Well, it goes up, but how much is it going up? >> Like >> I think either vendor we go with would
be able to make that price would like be able to tell us what the per unit price is. If the if the board feels that that week that billely recycling with those households that would need a third cart a recycling cart would be advantageous.
I think financially it's advantageous and even we would have to pay more based on the additional carts >> for recycling but it's I think I think based on the prices these are the vendors probably close. Chris is looking
at it right now. >> This is Republic. >> Yeah. Ed, did you have something in your proposal that had a pur like cart price additional beyond what we had scoped? >> I thought I saw it. >> We did. Yeah, they definitely
>> Yeah, we we did. And I'm just uh I don't think you have it in your packet, so I just was trying to pull it up in my my records here. I just been something to check on the proposal or something. I think possibly on the on the price sheet. >> Yeah.
>> Um item 5F that you had requested pricing for an additional town trash barrel, but per the price sheet, there was no request for a second or third additional trash or recycling cart. >> Okay. >> So that might be some confusion. Yes. So, um for waste management,
additional town trash barrel including pickup and hauling um for the first year was $3 each additional cart. >> But that's trash not recycling. >> That's just trash. >> So, what is it recycling? Because that's what we're discussing. >> We did have
recycling. >> And did I just hear what was your name again? >> Samantha, did you say you didn't price in a second recycling for us? Oh, you did I just hear that? It wasn't on the print sheet, so that wasn't a price that was provided to go. >> We didn't ask for it, >> right? But so of the homes that have two
cards, is that you're >> It's already included. >> It's Thank you. >> We gave them the we already have. >> So two trash barrels, two recycling barrels would be included in the cost. >> No, no, not one trash. >> Well, some people have two trash.
>> No, we gave out what we have. >> Okay. So what it is is extra but those families pay extra for those cards. So it's there was a base number in the RFP when we put out the RFP for what we had out there for carts at the time. >> Okay. But
if this gets approved as bi-weekly, that number is going to jump significantly for recycling, I think. >> Yes, I agree. >> So we don't know what the cost will be >> then >> from either vendor. >> From either vendor. So what Melissa is saying, the cost of the increase by
doing this might end up eating into So the way I would mentally visualize this is we're paying $400,000 more for you know um weekly recycling. >> But if we kept if we kept it >> bi-weekly, you see what I mean? like the
400 number keeps coming down per cart in this scenario because if we had 527 whatever I said second carts say it doubles to a,000 now what is the cost of a th000 extra carts it could end up costing us 100 grand more a year right
so now our $400,000 number is really 300 which is a little bit more manageable for us to swallow you know what I mean we're not arguing over higher numbers but I I see her point there that we could be setting ourselves up.
Um, I think we need that data. >> Well, I mean, if you had a thousand extra carts at $3 per cart for trash, for example, I mean, that's $3,000. >> But that's on a total contract for the whole year, >> for the for a year annually, for the
first year. >> And that's only trash though, not recycle, >> right? >> But that's So that's not per week or whatever. It's flat. That's for three bucks for a year. It's $3 per current >> per year. >> Yeah. So, if you have if you have a
>> you had it your hand up. >> Yeah. Chris, I I just wanted to clarify that and I'm not sure the numbers that you're referencing. Uh but even like in our revised proposal that we had uh
submitted and this was dated um August 14th. We had specified that additional carts added by the town would be charged $10 a month for weekly collection and $6 for every week
collection. >> Yeah. No, we were agreeing that like I said there's no way that it was going to be that little. I'm like I'll just start my own subcontracting company with extra additional $3 carts. Put you all out of business. >> So like >> I'm sorry. Ed, could you repeat that? It
was $10 a month per cart. >> Per extra cart for for extra card. >> For extra cart for >> weekly service. And if there was every other week service, it would be $6 per month per cart for every other week service.
>> This is for recycling, correct? >> It would be for either one. So >> either one. >> Yeah. So we just specified that rate based off because really just the collection of it uh based off the frequency. >> Okay. I know I'm, you know, beating a dead horse here, but I just want to
clarify. So, what is considered extra carts to you? So, beyond what we put in the contract >> be beyond the the one cart per uh one one trash cart, one recycling cart per resident. >> So, that's actually a fair amount.
>> It is. So, I did the math. So, if it's $10 a month, we currently have 562 whatever. I averaged it. I went up to a thousand. So now it's >> 10,000 a month times 12 months is
120,000. Like now we're getting into >> Is that for both trash and recycling? >> That's for I didn't even do the trash. >> So he's saying that the price is only one trash, one recycling. Anything beyond that is extra.
So that's 200 and something thousand. >> I thought the two carts was in I'm getting confused now. What's going on here? So we we put in the RFP all the carts that we already have out, >> right? So we rolled out the carts a year in advance and we have these numbers to
put out >> distinguished what's trash, what's recycled. >> Correct. Yeah, we did that. >> They just said that his proposal is one. >> I know. I don't We gave them the numbers that we already have out. So, and his price is applicable for additional carts as well. Well, if you're looking for a
point cart pick unit cost going forward, that's fine. We'll have to clarify with Ed why they didn't use the numbers we have now in the RFP >> or if they did and there this is because some households already have to out
right and then the trash pays for itself. So, I wouldn't add on the trash because the trash >> extra part pays for itself. >> Okay. >> Right. So, I wouldn't worry about that. But we're saying if we were to roll out an additional recycling part, a third cart or you know whatever to these
households, it will cost you more money and we're doing it for free. Right now the select board's decision was already made to include two carts up to two carts for free. >> So yeah, for recycling, which I think is more than adequate,
>> right? I just heard Ed say something totally different. You heard Ed say that it's over and above the additional one in one. That's right. But >> what's this number include for waste management? >> I don't know. I just asked I I don't
know Ed why you didn't include the the numbers we already gave you in terms of what our cart roll out what we already have out or did you and this is just the additional from this point on. So what we in again what we included was one and one, one trash, one recycling
and our intention is that we thought we were clear about it was that the additional units beyond the one and one would be charged at the at the rates we we specified and our thought was is that like many communities those rates are
essentially covered by the residents. the town oftentimes charges the residents for those extra services. So that would generally speaking that's a pass through. It's not really cost seen by the town. One other option that we
that we propose or certainly is available is that we can handle that directly uh ourselves. So residents can say lease a car uh maybe it's not the right word lease but they could they could pay us directly for that service to to use the service. Um, so that's
that's up to the to the town how you want to handle that. Uh, I guess what I would say that that's that's a certainly surprise a little bit of surprise for me and it would be significantly more expensive would be if every resident in the town had two recycling carts that
that would be a significant increase and that's certainly beyond the scope of of what our proposal >> Yeah. No, it's it's nowhere near it's nowhere near that. So the numbers are 383 second rash cuts and 526 second recycling
>> to date as of October 7th. So that's kind of where we're at. So your figure did not include the 383 plus the 526 that I just told you. >> It's not built into the base price. No, that's why we we uh thought we were clear in separating that out as as a
separate item. So then Samantha, you add something? >> Samantha, Samantha Gray, Republic Services. I just wanted to clarify our all of our pricing includes a second cart for everything that we've proposed >> for both trash and recycling.
>> Yes. >> For all households or just the ones we already gave >> for the ones that have been for the unit count, the current unit count. >> Yeah. where waste management that's on. >> So in so in the RFP our base numbers
were we had a total of about 70 about 8,000 trash carts and about um about 8,100 recycling carts on the base numbers that were in the RFP. I think the problem we have uncovered
here is that Waste Management's number is now going to be significantly more than what it was supposed to be. >> Yes. And it's not Ed's fault. It's not Jane's fault. It seems to be somebody's fault. I'm not sure. Not that it matters, but it seems as if now the number is even higher.
Um, and could go even significantly higher based off, you know, if we doubled, like I said, the recycling those 500 cycle are going to be gone. If we go to bi-weekly, it's going to be it's a it's a no-brainer.
>> Yeah. >> The ones we have are going to be gone >> and then we might need more. >> So, the decision is here right now. >> I as far as which company to pick,
>> I think everyone has to get on the uh well I I just hope this was not miscommunication or someone just didn't thoroughly read the RFP. Like I don't know where this this happened. And now we're here tonight in a special meeting
with our fifth member not here. Um so it's I I agree we can't delay this much longer. Um, I'm okay with another meeting, but if we do this next week, >> having another meeting, >> forget about it. Um, if we do it next
week on Tuesday, so I, you know, hate to say this, but I don't think we should even consider waste management right now at all. I think if
like I said if if we looked at what the bulk item costs I understand they're nominal you know maybe 5% of the town is taking advantage of this on a regular basis. I think when you look at that number and you're like well if you guys do no bulk
uh you can't public because their thing is so >> high. No, no. Right. But now hearing on the other end with waste management and potentially other figures coming up, I mean now it's as if we have to we have to pick republic with
a bulk bulk like I I don't know what to tell you. When you scale out, like I said, I base my thing off a,000. 10 a month ends up being 120,000. We're already at the extra 120,000 between 383
and 526. Essentially, we're already at that number. So now we're looking at instead of 120, we're looking at 240. And then when you're at 240 and the difference is 400,000, like what's the point? And if a Republic is saying that there's
this included for two and two, that gets into the whole second water meter scenario where we want to sell more water. So then now we want to sell more cards to people because then we're actually profiting per se from it >> to a point like
>> that are already out. They've included the ones that are already out. >> Correct. >> Okay. So I'm half correct on that. I stuff's happening way too. Samantha had something else. >> I just wanted to add as well u we've guaranteed that there's no uh need for
rental trucks at all. So, uh, the money that you would potentially need to invest in rental trucks to start with the new vendor, that would be not something to consider with this whatsoever. >> Yeah, that was the waste management. If they couldn't get the trucks in >> Oh, yeah. That's the 30,000. I didn't
really consider that, you know, but we're not voting. >> It takes about a year to >> No, I understand. And we we are voting whether or not it actually passes is a different story. What I'm saying is you could you could possibly be looking at July, August, September, October, four
months of rental. >> Yeah. >> If I could speak to our contract instead of Republic, I would appreciate that. >> Um, no offense. Um but uh this regarding our uh our rental uh proposal, we did
include uh rental, but one of the things that we did offer the town was the opportunity to uh to have no rental if we could have a signed agreement by November 1st. So, I I realize that it's getting close to November 1st, but one
of the reasons why we offered that is is while it is true that it's we can't guarantee a uh when the trucks would be here, we would uh as an incentive and and sort of a a goodwill offer to the town uh to to have a finalized contract
in place. uh if the new trucks were not available by July 1st, we would still rent so that we would have trucks, but we wouldn't charge that to the town. So, that was something that we were willing to absorb. Uh but obviously in order to
mitigate uh the cost that we would absorb, that's why we were putting the uh the deadline for November 1st in place. So, hopefully that makes sense. But I just just want to clarify that we also have a an option that's available to the town that's um that doesn't
include rental costs, rental costs. >> I forget who came to the last meeting, the girl that was here, but she had mentioned it as well. And I wasn't factoring in any rentals in my um you know, the way that I was going about this. Yeah. So,
>> appreciate that. Thank you, >> Karen. Any thoughts on what just transpired the past few minutes? >> Where are we right now? >> North Carolina is South Carolina. >> I It's colder here than it is there. I can tell you that
>> it's more here. >> Thank you. Um, so I guess I'm now lost as far as what direction we're heading as because now I I don't want to take away the third recycle cart, you know, and I'm I'm not convinced all of a sudden there's going
to be a huge rush because I think there's a panic mode of, oh my god, I'm not going to have enough space. And I think that that's going to initially be part of this transition where people like, oh my god, I'm going to have so much trash. And they may, myself included. I just um
I I don't know where we're all at at this point. I guess I'm just even more confused than I was before. >> The the problem is Republic's bulky item fee. If we go with Republic because it's seeming like this is going to be significantly inex less expensive on
both areas, then we're going to end up potentially scoring residents with a $75 chair. That that's what it is for me. I agree with you. I think that, you know, I think we as a community can come up with
creative ways of getting rid of our bulk items, whether it be um Waste Management has their dumpster bags that I've used many, many of and I was talking to my neighbor that you could get a whole bunch of neighbors together and get a dumpster bag and it gets picked up right by your driveway and we would already
know how to order things online through waste management. So, that's one option where it would be a lot less than Republic's per item charge. You know, if it's only, I'm guessing, $300 a bag, you know, if you fill up one of those bags, you can get a lot of stuff in there. And if you do it as as a community or as a
neighborhood, you know, you can save a lot of money that way. I think we're going to have to get creative in how we get rid of our trash, which is I feel like the next phase of dealing with trash in general as a community. Um, so I'm not I agree the cost per item for
Republic is too expensive and and um I think that's just a given. And so I think there's ways to work with the waste management contract to work with them and have it picked up at your door but pay for it but on a much lower scale dollar-wise.
that's not helping us, you know, figure out between bi-weekly and weekly recycling, but I think it's a way of dealing with bulk items. >> Carlo, uh, are you guys allowed to make executive
decisions here tonight? Can we cut the bulk in half? I don't see why it's that much higher. I don't understand. You're in the same industry. I think if you cut that in half, you're going to buy a lot of goodwill here
or compromising the the first two items at least, the burnable bulky and the small metal. I understand disposing TVs and all this other crazy stuff like and washing machines and all that. That's like, you
know, pay you're going to pay somebody to take care of this. But my chair scenario like to Kylo's point in in the small metal because that's what you're included in your you know um in the pricing options of including them in it and if we didn't include them like you
know what I mean. So those two numbers. So the first is you know large and small. So well what do you consider in your pricing option when you put one metal item? What does is that con consider a small and a large or no?
>> So >> if you want to just come up to the podium or the the small and the large metal items, we we would subcontract those out to a vendor who specializes in metal and this is the price that that they provide. I'm
I'm willing to come down on the burnable bulky. Um, I I can match that price, the waste management price, come down to 30 on that. Um, but the small metal on the large middle item, I could probably do the small metal if it if it fits in the
truck. Um, but if I have to subcontract that, that's why that the rate is there. >> So, for the small, are you willing to come down on that if it's if it fits like we can have >> Yes, >> we can have Okay. >> Yeah. I was going to say we can have a
regulation that people know if it's bigger than this. >> Oh well like Okay. I just have a quick question to clarify. Thank you very much. The is it up to so the are the drivers trained if this metal item is
too big they leave it and then Okay. So it's it's kind of >> we Yeah, we can make that. >> Yeah. Okay. Right. Okay. Thank you. >> Can I ask a question as well? >> Of course. Um I believe we have in waste management's numbers um the increase
every year for five years for the um bulk options. I I don't remember seeing a five-year increase for Republic for those items or does it stay the same for the next five years or does it increase by 5%. >> Says market. >> It says yeah it says mark it says
market. You're right. >> Oh okay. Okay. >> I gotcha. >> So thank you. >> So is that an undisclosed number? you can make that 40% if you felt or what is considered marked by like who is there some
trash oversee your committee that's set through. >> So because of the um some of our items being subbed out it it's really based on our cost. So we may not even increase it next uh year two year three. It's if we receive an increase then we would basically pass the increase on depending
on what the market >> most likely it would increase. Nothing goes down. The burnable burnable bulky could probably be 5%. >> Exactly. Yeah. The burnable bulk we could do 5% because again we would be collecting that ourselves.
>> It's good thing I'm here guys. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so knowing that like so where are we at with this? Are we still weekly recycling? So I think
speak car I'm going to speak for you real quick and then you can cut me off. Uh Karen and I are at weekly trash, obviously, bi-weekly recycling and I like that Republic came down to match
and I'd love a better price on a small metal. I think I forget what they settled on. Was that I forget what you guys said? >> Depends on you guys outside vendors, but a small metal would be okay. It's a small lamp you would that you guys would take on. Correct. I think you said 50 or
something or what number did you get? >> Yeah. What was the price for a small lamp or a small >> cut in half to 40? >> Well, yeah. You know, I mean, but a small metal item. >> Okay. Glass metal, whatever.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, I just see there's 10 million. Let's vote. >> 10 million. It's not even close to 10 million. I want I want the credit. No credit here. >> Um, >> Karen, did I did I state that correctly?
And I want to speak for you obviously. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> You're welcome. What's up, Melissa? Are we still weekly or what's our deal? >> Yeah, I'm still weekly. Damn it. >> How about this? Why don't we do weekly
recycling, weekly trash, no bulk? >> Yeah. >> At Republic's price. >> That's what I was >> with the reduced fees that they just outlined. >> Weekly trash. Weekly bulk. It's the third item down. So, the fiveyear is
12649. It's 2 million. >> Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're wrong. It's not because waste management number that we're looking at here. Oh, unless you're making unless you're in Republic um waste management.
>> All right, hold on. You are correct. >> Thank you. >> Won't get that a lot. Well, you know, >> I mean, we've been talking about the price and the bottom line. We haven't really talked about the providers at all as far as the differences in the
providers and what they offer. Do you know what I mean? Like I understand that half of us think the money part is very important, but when you get way down in the dollars, there's not that huge difference between the two of them. And so I feel like that's another part of
this discussion is um I understand there's history with with Republic and Waste Management is new. the bells and whistles that each of them offer is kind of sort of the same, but but I feel like the customer service part of waste management seems to be a
lot larger and a lot um I don't know, a lot bigger, a lot more customer friendly. Um I've never had any problems with trash at all. Maybe once they did pick up my recycling, but um I know some people in town have had issues
that I have not had. So I don't have I can't comment on that. So I don't know if that needs to be part of the discussion or not or are we simply looking at dollars? >> Well, no. I can I go first? >> Yes. >> Uh for me mostly no. But now we have the penalties that
>> right you're right >> have before for accountability because >> right >> our our recent history has been you know any any business transition is hard. Okay. part of many personally and you know I'm a business broker so I've seen
a lot of transitions so when you acquire a company there's always going to be hiccups did it go well of course it didn't I think they would agree they didn't want that why would you want that in your resume but and I don't have experience with waste management
anywhere I've lived so I can't speak to them but I get what you're saying as far as their their online services and their you know the other things they offer. But I'd say the majority of the town doesn't have an issue with the trash and
recycling. But that's my opinion. And people have problems. They have problems. My my recycling doesn't get picked up on time a lot lately. But I have two bins. I I I send an email or a text and it and it's none. So
>> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that that's also part of our negotiations. >> Yeah, there definitely is. like you know the the three of us meet me and Chris Moore >> we have a bad taste in our mouth >> uh you know and um and it's there was a
lot of unforeseen things that happened and we got through it they got better transition happened you know the strike didn't affect us thank goodness the strike has been settled so I mean the
the unions have agreed So, >> I'm done. >> Yeah. No, Karen, I I I was in the same boat and obviously Carlo and I are here during trash gate scenario. Um, and I said, I will never approve another Republic contract ever. I don't care
what percentage it is, any of these scenarios. And sometimes, you know, you make decisions and then time heals everything. And you know, it's I think so that's why the the
penalties got put in the in the packet because they were referenced previously at one of the prior meetings, the 19 new penalties. Um, and once I saw the numbers that were listed there, I I said like $100 for each house that they uh
miss a pickup. And if you do the CI fixes and scale that out to what it was before, we start making money off trash contracts. Just please miss houses, you know what I mean? And then we have this huge surplus. But now with the the 19 penalties, $100, you miss a street, that
could be like 3,000 bucks and you're not just going to miss one street. Um, and there's all other penalties in there, Christmas trees and all this other stuff. Um, but like the easiest one is missing is missing a is missing a house. And >> to clarify too, Chris, they do have 24
hours to get make that collect. >> Correct. >> Yeah. So they have 24 hours. That's the caveat is they have 24 hours to still make it. So you're not they skip your house and you run out say here's your $100 bill. Um so they do have 24 hours to to make that. But compared to before
there was no hours. They were never making the vehicle. It was like a week later, you know. Um but I was under the same mindset. I was like at no way on in the world like Fidel's hanging off the back of trash trucks back in the day. Nobody was doing this. And then it comes
and then it comes to budgets and everything else and and lowering services for people that expect something out of us, you know, and then you kind of start coming around and you know that's why like when people
think that their minds are made up and decisions are already made and you can't change things and um that's not really the case. like some things maybe but a lot of stuff like you're witnessing it here you know nobody would have if
Republic's contract was up like three months after crash date nobody would have said anything but here we are a couple years later um but to Carlo's one quick thing J but to Carlo's point that the strike did happen we were told that no pickups that we weren't going to get
missed on pickups we weren't going to do we're not going to lose any service and a lot of us were like, "That's not believable. You've kind of posed us in the past. Why would we believe you?" >> Yeah. And ironically, we didn't miss anything as far as I know.
>> So, Jane had something, then I'll go to you. >> Yeah. I just want to um say two two clarifying items. The liquidated damages that we added into the new contract are are are competitor comparative to the rest of the market. So, they're not targeted in any particular vendor. just
so everybody's clear that they're not targeted at our current provider or anybody else. They are just commensurate it with what we see in the market. And then secondarily, after we started invoking liquidated damages with Republic, we have never charged for a
mischup because they haven't missed them. We've been tracking that and we've tracked that with them and that has there been, you know, they they come back and get them the next day and they've been on that. So, um, to their credit, I just want to be clear, >> there are onesie choosies that I've seen
on Facebook mentioned and they do see click fix it and I I'd have to assume that they went and picked them up after the fact. >> We have to be we have to we have to have to report it if that happens, but Republic >> or somebody that we shouldn't in theory
be making. Sad a question. [Music] >> Yeah. I just wanted to talk about the the service and and the work that the team has done to repair that reputation. I mean, Jane teed it up pretty pretty well, but um you know, since the middle
of of last year, we've met many times. Uh at one point, we were doing monthly meetings to talk about service pain points. We collectively came up with a a system that works where we're able to in real time understand where misses are being called out, identify whether that
resident has not put it out, things of that nature. Uh, but I think you all have seen that service has improved uh tremendously. I'm I'm very proud of the the team coming together and and giving you all the service that that you expect. I think last month, correct me if I'm wrong, but there were, I think, a
total of 30 that were were picked up uh or were called in, missed, and were picked up by the next day. Uh the team, the drivers themselves take a tremendous amount of pride in servicing the community of of Reading and and want to continue to to provide that service that
you become accustomed to. >> Thank you. I I not you I I it's just we're still >> So, are we all still at the same place that we were before?
>> With what? Um no bulk. Is that the deal? >> Or bi-weekly? Um >> bi-weekly. >> So, I think you and Carla were were bi-weekly. Melissa and I were weekly still. I'm not sure how. Then and then I had made that accommodation of trying to
do the weekly and then after a year as kind of a compromise to change it. >> So you're saying to >> to do weekly recycling for one year and then years three uh two three four five to stop it and go bi-weekly.
>> Yes. And then I understand Carlo's point. I just feel like if we're going to try and resolve this, how can we all come to an agreement in some way to get this moving forward tonight of bi-weekly? I understand.
>> Um, >> how does that sit with you, Melissa? Like, I understand. Listen, I I understand that ripping the band-aid off now or a year from now, we're going to still get the same complaints. I understand we're buying oursel a year.
Um and then going literally buying buying ourselves a year. Yeah. Know literally literally. >> But for what we spend money on and recently I'm having a really hard time not giving residents basic services that
they have today. So I'm still sticking with weekly and I don't want >> I I agree with that. I don't disagree with that at all. I I agree. We just spentund and something million on a school which which we needed desperately >> and 30 million bucks on a on a community
senior center that who knows what's going to happen and what's going to how that's going to affect the budget. >> Yeah, >> I totally agree with you. >> But as far as the budget goes, I'm sorry. As far as the budget goes, I it it's harder for me to discount two
million bucks, but I I agree. We've just approved pickle ball which you know I obviously I supported as as a service to our residents. The town voted the majority not a huge margin the town voted for the community center senior
center uh active living sector whatever you want to call it >> that I wasn't a huge fan of the dollar amount I was I was a fan of doing something but not at that price. So I I totally agree with you on that. Um, but I
I I I think if we're going to go bi-weekly, inevitably we do it July 1, get the hiccups out of the way, and when by fall we'll have it figured out when everyone comes back for vacation and we start school again. That
would be I'm still favoring that. How about this question? Since Republic can make decisions, the weekly recycling is 2,289279. I need evening classes. Are you willing to come off that number? Come down a
little. >> So I'm under the weekly trash, weekly recycling, no burnable. The third line item under Republic, it's 2289 279. Yep. >> I think last week we were asked best. >> Yeah,
>> that's fair. >> No, I understand. And waste management. Same scenario. >> So yours is two >> correct 765. Well, can't blame us for not trying. >> And I still >> can't blame you for trying, but yeah, we
that's that's our our best number. And I'm a little concerned that the 2350764 for waste management is not a true number, right? Because situation. >> Yeah. >> So, can I just add, so I think people
watched the FINCOM meeting last night. So, they voted to allow us to use 6.75 million free cash. So this would be in addition to that. Um so that would be over 7 million 7.1
million. So and I just don't I'll have to if if if we're doing it I'll have to see if I have to go back to FinCom and ask them for more. I don't I don't know you know we had all agreed on that that number and fin. So that's just one little wrinkle about adding the the
weekly at this point. Unless >> I know it's not on our agenda, but I apologize. I could not attend or watch that meeting last night. I had a back procedure, but um what is that $6 million for? Just to balance budget. >> That's Yeah. So, last year it was 6
million. This year it's gone up to 6.75 million. It was it was even over 7 million, but we, like I explained last night, we worked it out with the schools, the superintendent. We made some cutbacks and we wanted to keep that number well under seven because psychologically I mean it's a big number
anyway but I mean going over seven seemed to be a big psychological number for you know people that open out 7 million so we kept it at 6.75 that was agreed upon you know so and that's you know that's that was my concern I mean I I want to provide the
best service too um and I have I just have to look at the overall picture If we go with Republic and we have the two differences that the four of us are between, we're looking at under $300,000 difference per year
>> between weekly trash recycling no bulk and bi-weekly recycling weekly trash no bulk. That's only under $300,000 difference per year. >> Wow. >> It's like >> I believe you. I'm just doing it. It's
>> Yeah, it's 1872 and 2289. >> No, it's 1 1996. What are you dropping? >> Where are you? >> Oh, I had burn Oh, you Oh, it's less than that actually because I did um >> It's 460,000. >> No, it's not. >> Weekly trash, weekly recycling, no
burnable with Republic is 2289. >> Right. >> Weekly trash bi-weekly recycling no on both is 872. Yes. So what's the difference? >> $416,000. >> So it's 416. >> How did I calculate before?
>> This is over the course of five years. >> That was just year one. I wasn't even doing that. >> Year one is $416,000. >> Free cash usage over >> Yeah. No, right. It's a big number. >> Almost 7.2.
>> Yeah. Perfect. My calculator's broken. >> Well, I like I I understand we're it's it's to the point where I understand that we have to do things within budget and we've been over here cutting things and trying to raise $1,000 for Valley
Park. Right. >> At the same time, we're just going to be like, "Ah, let's increase it by 400 to negate everything that we've done this whole time to try to get these numbers, you know, down year over year." Do I think residents would critique the fact that the number would go up because
we're trying to remain the same services that we had before? I think we get leeway with that on something like this where we're trying to maintain the services that everybody expects like Carlo mentioned good schools safety
security you know and you want your trash picked up and you know I want to go home and have it still be there. So like this isn't another I don't want to say frivolous because everyone has their niches. Not everyone's going to play pickle ball. Um, and they always get
pecked on. There's also softball, basketball, the fields. Who knows what's happened with that. Um, so I understand it's a a careful balancing act, but like on trash pickup, I think that's one of the things the levers that we can use to
accommodate residents as opposed to other things. You know, I I understand I might screw up Sharon's budgeting, but like for a decision like this, I think this is one of the items. There's probably >> a handful of items that,
>> right, >> I would think, you know, >> and it's not just screw up Sharon's budgeting. I mean, it's just a a bigger number than we expected to account for that. It's not that, you know, it throws a number off and she can't deal with it. We can, but just so you know, you know where we're at on it. But like like I
had mentioned to >> we say let's cut our way out of it. We'd probably be cutting other services. So what's the tradeoff you know? So >> so that's why I had mentioned so Jane my reverse Carlo Karen scenario here where they're wanting the first year um and
then reducing it. I was thinking or maybe it's the same >> that you know if we go to the override we can make it the option that you know trash is getting trash and weekly recycling is going to be cut. it's going to be
bi-weekly and that's one of the things or if this override passes it's included in this number people can factor that in but that is one of the a driving point I could see it being the override and then the town would actually get their vote but for that to happen we have to
include weekly recycling and go from there you know what I mean like >> but the problem with that is you expect 100% turnout on >> No I no I understand no I'm not I I I'm I was I I I get it. This is
part philosophical, part services, part budget. You as the chair, us as the board advocating, you know, this free cash stuff is crazy and just getting out of control. And obviously, we're adding to it if we if we do that. But to
Melissa's point, yeah, I don't want anyone to, you know, get uncomfortable and but it's, if we were the first adopter of this, I'd have a much bigger issue with this or the fifth adopter, but we're
not. And, you know, we we always, you know, up here, you know, peer communities, surrounding towns and all this other mumbo jumbo, let's worry about writing. I don't worry about writing. You know, Wakefield has their issues. Stonemos, they have their
issues, different forms of government. I worry about writing. So, I I could debate this eight ways till Sunday. But to me, the fact that Republic Republic stepped up on the two items is a big one for me. And
I I I'm fairly confident, and guess who's up for re-election? me um that we'll adjust like all the other communities have. My 80 plus year old parents can do it. I'm confident we can do it.
>> But I'm not saying that's fair. >> So I think Karen's compromise originally was doing the the initial year of of still being weekly recycling. But I think for our decision if we had
agreed on that during the initial year I think to kind of um sustain Melissa and I whatever that word is that after the first year we're kind of approaching the override scenario anyway and that is going to
determine years 2 3 4 5. It's not our decision anymore. It ends up becoming that. So at least we're getting this and then that however the override and everything else goes forward in the future that will get determined that way. You know what I mean? Like so if we
if we can agree to the initial first year here and then the override hypothetically if it happens next year whatever that's going to be the determining factor whether or not we reduce it to to bi-weekly recycling. And if it does so be it. We tried we have to
be responsible for the budget but at the same time like I said we want the services that we've always had and I agree the large families or or not just having the you know weekly recycling but it takes it out of our hands after year
one and then it puts it to the voters for the override. So, like, can we get all on board with that or because that's where Karen was originally compromising with the year. It's a semicromise because I think the
override is going to drive it anyway. But how does the override determine Melissa's points? Because the town is going to ask for, you know, it's going to come up to us to vote because it's going to come before us. Whatever the figure ends up being, are we going to
ask for 7 million, 20 million? And in that figure, it's going to be broken down. We need this for this, this for this, this for this. But the override is not trashdriven. >> No. Will. No. Will it be? >> No. But the increase to the budget will be. >> And then we're going to have to vote on
the increase to the budget. The number to put in front of the voters. >> It's a cost savings dollar. Do you know what I mean? like you can say, okay, we can come back by we're going to save 400 grand or 300 grand on trash by going to bi-weekly after the first year.
>> So, right now, we're we're satisfying the needs of what people think that they need and a year plus eight months to kind of monitor their behavior with their trash to see what they really really need. you know, as far as it's up to the residents
to also see realistically what do they use and how do they do their trash and it's too much one week but not enough another. Do you know what I mean? So, it's it's being mindful of how we're going to move forward after this year 18 months. I think that's important to this >> behavior portion of this in trash.
>> It is, but it doesn't change the fact of Melissa's points which are very good points. There are good points. You're right. There are good points, but I think Jane also made a good point that there's a big part of the town that is
doesn't use their whole recycle bucket, doesn't need to do it every week. So, you know, we're we're balancing families are incredibly important in reading and I think that we serve them very very well. We have great schools. We're building a school and I think that the whole town uses this benefit but at some point we have to make some compromises
and I know the school system is going to have to make some compromises in the next couple years as well. So it is impacting everybody in different ways and I think it's just one of these mindful decisions of trash is changing. Nobody likes change but we need to change trash just in
general. And it it it's the weight of our trash that can be reduced by all the other things that we can do. So, I feel like there's other ways to bring our trash cost down as we move forward, but it's not all going to happen. And the and the biggest quickest thing we can
change is going from weekly recycling to every other weekly recycling. So, I and I think override time in a year, we can say we're going to take 400 grand or 300 grand off of our trash budget and that's going to help with the override numbers that we're going to have to
determine. Yeah, >> that's what Chris was getting at and I agree with that. >> All right, this will help my decision. So, based on this recent conversation, Melissa, would you would you be okay with that? >> Um, yes.
Because I also think a thought that went through my head is that if we go to bi-weekly and then we go to the residents and ask for an override, they're going to be like, you just keep taking services away. Why am I supporting an override? So, I think this way we allow the
residents to have it for at least a year and then if we have to go in front of them for an override and say, "Listen, this is what it's going to cost if we want to keep it. Otherwise, we're going to go to bi-weekly." >> Yeah. But you're right. >> But no matter what, the override is our fault. This is all us.
>> It's We've already It is. >> Everybody knows like I I I know what you mean. It's when um >> it's our town meeting's fault then. >> Well, it's it's a lot of people's fault. I'm not picking any of us out or town
staff >> and like you know Cameron said, you know, we got a couple emails like, "Why is this coming up so quickly?" I'm like, "Yeah, this has been in the works for a long time." So, I I get it. Not everyone knows how the sausage is made, unfortunately. I wish I was that person.
Um but I'm not anymore. So, uh, I I I don't like this idea, but if that gets us to a vote, you know, I'll maybe I'll abstain. >> I don't want to laugh by Karen. That's the truth tonight.
>> We need a bell. >> Inside joke. Inside joke. >> Easy button. >> Inside joke. >> So, I I understand we have to be mindful of our money. I agree. Everyone's going to do whatever like that. That's kind of the the reason that I've been having on
the agenda items ways to cut back and and do things. Um each thing I don't think there's I wanted to go into the override, not just the finance committee running their whole show that they do. I wanted it to know that the select board was actively involved in it too, as is
town staff. Matt's found some great stuff. Um uh Chief Nelson found some stuff like >> where we are mindful of the money. A lot of people won't believe that. A lot of people will believe it if it's coming from Karen and not from me, which is fine. We we are we're all up here trying
to do, you know, what's best for everybody. We've had a great conversation on this. Nobody's getting thrown under the bus with anything. Um, you know, I I know in the future someone probably will be and it's unfortunate, but like listen, we got to make a
decision. Not everyone wins, not everyone loses. Um, so that's kind of where, you know, we'll let somewhat the voters decide going forward in the override scenario. Um, or not, maybe we get a windfall from somebody wants to donate money to the town to keep this
going. I don't know. But so we got weekly trash, weekly recycling with no burnable, no bulk. Is that where we're at? >> For one year, right? >> For fiveyear contract. It's a five-year contract, but we can't scale back the
recycling is what Republic had said that if we want to ax it, they they would prefer that we did it this way instead of the opposite direction because that's a yearly one. >> I'm sure that language is in >> how much nurse would you need? >> How much nervous would you need to
notify that we're going to bi-weekly? >> Not the first year, we just need time to for the residents to understand and us to rebound. So, it's not that significant. >> Okay. Whatever time we need. It's communication with the >> res for us. You guys will >> better for you. Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> Yeah. I'm okay with compromise. I don't like it, but I get it. And you know, let's make a motion.
>> Do we want to Someone has their hand raised in the public. Do we want to address that now or Taylor Gregory has had her hand up for a while? I kind of already went over the public comment, but I guess since it's what 9:09, we can go with two minutes name and address
because it's, you know, it's Thank you, Taylor Gregory, Pleasant Street. I just wanted to say that um I would support moving to the bi-weekly. I understand wanting to do it sooner rather than later, but I think it would be more beneficial for us to move to have it in to start with. I agree with
the compromise. Um, I don't really care about service provider. I don't have a preference there. But thank you for all the work that you guys have done on this. Thank you to town staff for all the work that they've done on this. I know how much it's been how much you guys have been paying attention to the budget. So really appreciate it. Thank
you. >> Thanks. >> Thanks, Taylor. >> I did tell my wife it was a half hour meeting. Was wrong again. Um, all right. So, we're kind of under the
general understanding of at least another year of weekly trash, weekly recycling, >> and see where things go beyond that. And that can, you know, Matt can bring it back to the board or or he can do it within his perview to see where we're
at. Um, but obviously hypothetical override would drive that decision regardless. >> So, >> nobody likes it. Nobody I understand like listen can't fault us for for hashing it out
for two hours tonight compared to all the other times we've done it. No, I I think we resolved a lot tonight and I appreciate you guys being here and Ed being here and >> if you guys weren't here this would make it much more difficult and would be
flying in the wind. So, just like when any resident comes for an application or an approval, coming in person means a lot for me anyway. And that, you know, and like Chris said earlier, if we were voting on you guys three months after
trash wouldn't even be a thought, but I I appreciate the coming back to us because you didn't have to, you know. Um, so I I I I think I'm not going to be happy with the vote tonight, but I understand it. I will respect it and
come a year from now, not a year and a half from now, we'll start talking about it and we'll see where we're at, but I I really don't want to be on a year. I know it's like to see what happens, but I think it has to be a year and then we
pull the lever um regardless because I don't see it getting better unless we get money. >> But we can revisit it. >> Yeah. at that time anyway or like I said the over can >> terminate. >> I guess the only other one catch thing too Chris we can still have
>> um one or two so like um spring cleanup and fall cleanup we can do a bulky item to negate some of these extra additional costs that people are going to pay. >> Yeah. >> So we did get the items themselves reduced but like um we can still do
something like that. >> Yeah. we can look into this >> and that's no cost to residents. I understand we eat the cost but it's not something crazy. So, um, all right. So,
it looking like we're at weekly trash, weekly recycling, no burnable, bulky, no metal item, um, with uh, Republic Services with burnable bulky item at $30 and
small metal item at 40 >> at 40 at no more than 5%. guys that there >> because >> it's 5% on burnable but market on the other stuff because they that's handled by an outside vendor.
>> I think the small metal we agreed on 5% and yeah >> and everything else is market. >> Yep. >> It was 5% small burnable >> is it also 5% on the small metal? >> Okay. >> Okay.
>> So Karen, did you want to make that motion? Did you write it down or you want me to do it again? >> So moved. >> Well, we we added more color to this. So Karen, I think has to do with an official. >> Well, can I just say as presented today as it says and you all have the details
or do you want me to put the details? No, I would put I I would say weekly trash, weekly recycling, no burnable, no metal with Republic Services with a um for 2,289,279
per year with a 5% increase. um with burnable bulky being $30 and small metal items being 40 with both the 5% increases and the rest is market with no rest is
5% right >> no market >> all right let me give it a try move to approve trash and recycling contract with republic services for a term of 5 years as presented today for 2,289,000.
Sorry, >> I did the same. >> 2,289,279 with um burnable bulk weekly trash weekly recycling, no burnable bulky item, no metal item with a burnable bulk bulky item at $30 and a small metal item
at $40 with a 5% increase um per year. Second. >> Second by Melissa. >> I would just add to authorize the town manager to sit. >> I'm Yes. Um and to authorize the town manager to execute said contract. >> Second. >> Yeah.
>> All right. So seconded by Melissa on that. Any discussion, >> Carla? >> No discussion. But do we need to add a friendly amendment that in year two we can go to bi-weekly? Do we need to add that in language? >> You could you could put it at the
motion. We work it out in >> any year you want to do it. >> Any year. >> Okay. >> I think I think work it out in the contract. >> Okay. >> I'm just saying put it in the contract more than the motion. >> Okay. >> All right. It's going to be in the contract. They've agreed to
I'll I'll take that back. >> Take that back. Okay. >> All right. Are we ready for the vote? >> Yep. >> Uh Karen Rose Gas. >> Yes. >> Melissa. Yes. >> Harlo. >> Yes. >> And Chris. Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Ed. Waste management and public as well. >> So which will issue a notice of intent tomorrow to waste to to republic. >> Thank you. >> Republic services tomorrow.
>> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Seconded by Melissa. No discussion. Par. >> Yes. >> Yes. Melissa and Chris. Yes. Thank you.