City's recycling, yard waste collection contracts up for bid

With the current contracts for curbside collection of recycling and yard waste coming to their end, the city will soon take bids from companies looking to fill the need for the next seven years.

And among those applicants will be the city's own Department of Public Works.

To minimize any conflict of interest among bid reviewers, Sheboygan-based AECOM was hired to develop and administer the request for proposals.

The city anticipates opening the bid process later this week with a deadline for submissions in early August, Public Works Director Bill Porter told the Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday.

Since the department plans to bid, it has "taken an arm's length approach" to the bid process, Porter said.

He asked for an additional $11,710 to pay consultants so they could attend project meetings and eventually present the bid results and recommendations to the committee. Those are tasks city staff would handle under other circumstances.

The consultant also is re-creating bid documents that were lost since the last bid in 2002. The problem may have resulted from a change in software, but nonetheless, there's a document "48 pages long of extremely little type" that needs to be issued, the public works director said.

Alderman Craig Wilson, the committee chairman, said it was disappointing to have to pay more but "given the scope of what we're trying to get, it's a good investment."

The committee unanimously supported providing additional money for the consultant.

In addition to looking for updated pricing on curbside recycling and yard waste collection, bids will be sought for operation of the transfer station where solid waste is dropped off before it's hauled away for processing, hauling of waste to the landfill and operating the city's drop-off center.

The city expects to spend about $9 million on all the services up for bid during the next seven years.

The city took over its garbage collection two weeks ago in an effort to save money.