Resilient Community Advisory Commission Letters on Fiscal Year 2023 Budget RecommendationsCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Consent Items # 17.
Copyrighted
March 21, 2022
ITEM TITLE: Resilient Community Advisory Commission Letters on Fiscal Year2023
Budget Recommendations
SUMMARY: Correspondence from the Resilient Community Advisory Commission
regarding the commission's recommendations on certain Fiscal Year
2023 budget proposals.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
RCAC Budget Letter -General Sustainability Supporting Documentation
RCAC Budget Letter - Automated Collection Supporting Documentation
RCAC Budget Letter - PW Consultant Supporting Documentation
RESILIENT COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMISSION -CITY OF DUBUQUE
City Council, City of Dubuque
50 W. 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 5201
March 11, 2022
Members of City Council,
At their March 2022 regular meeting, the Resilient Community Advisory Commission (RCAC)
reviewed budget proposals currently under consideration by the City Council. The commission's
review was guided by the aim of identifying specific items that advance our city-wide
sustainability and resiliency goals.
In consideration of this review, the RCAC formally submits this letter in support of the following
proposed budget items in the FY 2023 budget cycle:
1. A three-year full-time position of Climate Action Coordinator
2. Creation of the Teen Resiliency Corps
3. Support for the Dubuque Winter Farmers' Market
Funding for both the full-time Climate Action Coordinator position and the Teen Resiliency
Corps program will increase the collaborative capacity of our city government operations while
improving the adaptability of our population in a rapidly changing world. Funding for the
Dubuque Winter Farmers' Market provides residents with continued, year-round, access to
locally produced foods and products while creating an intentional market for small businesses
to thrive.
By a unanimous vote on March 3, 2022, the RCAC recommends the City Council approve
funding for each of these proposed budget items.
Sincerely,
Jacob Kohlhaas
Resilient Community Advisory Commission, President
RESILIENT COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMISSION — CITY OF DUBUQUE
City Council, City of Dubuque
50 W. 131" Street
Dubuque, IA 5201
March 11, 2022
Members of City Council,
In two recent consecutive meetings held on February 3rd and March 3rd, John Klostermann
presented to the Resilient Community Advisory Commission on behalf of the Public Works Department
concerning purchasing mandatory carts and arm for automated waste collection as presented in the FY
2023 budget proposal.
The majority of the commissioners do not support this request at this time. The proposal to do
so failed 2-5. Instead, the RCAC voted (5-2) to provide an advisory letter to the City Council to explain its
reservations about this request.
The commission understands that a more fully automated solid waste collection system with
standard carts could benefit the community on many levels. These may include increased collection
efficiency, decreased risk of worker injury, and improved street aesthetics on collection days. However,
concerns about the process surrounding this budget request created significant reservations. In March
2020, representatives of Public Works presented to the commission on a related proposal and many of
the concerns that led the commission not to support that proposal arose again. These concerns include
limited public input and education in advance of this proposal as well as limited efforts to integrate the
proposal within a larger review and revision of practices aimed at reducing waste as supported by the
2020 Climate Action Plan.
The commission looks forward to supporting future proposals for upgrades to the solid waste
collections systems when these have been developed through adequate consultation with the public
and are comprehensively integrated into our community's sustainability objectives. Additionally, if the
City Council believes the ARPA funds are appropriate for this project, the commission encourages these
be held for a future proposal in this area.
Sincerely,
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Jacob Kohlhaas
Resilient Community Advisory Commission, President
RESILIENT COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMISSION — CITY OF DUBUQUE
City Council, City of Dubuque
50 W. 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 5201
March 11, 2022
Members of City Council,
On Thursday evening, February 3rd, John Klostermann presented to the Resilient
Community Advisory Commission on behalf of the Public Works Department concerning items
in the FY 2023 budget proposal. Mr. Klostermann asked the RCAC to support the proposed
budget item related to hiring a consultant to review waste collection processes to increase our
community's rate of recycling. Members of the RCAC voted unanimously in favor of supporting
this request.
The RCAC strongly supports the Public Works Department's request and recommends
the City Council support hiring a consultant as requested.
Having reviewed collection and recycling information provided in Mr. Klostermann's
presentation, the members of the RCAC feel there is significant room to improve our rates of
waste diversion city-wide, specifically in reversing the falling rate of recycling. The present
trends are out of line with the commission's hopes for advancing more sustainable processes
within our community as well as with the 50% by 2030 Community Climate Action & Resiliency
Plan's goals for waste reduction. We believe a well-chosen consultant may prove very beneficial
in addressing this important concern.
Sincerely,
Jacob Kohlhaas
Resilient Community Advisory Commission, President
Adrienne Breitfelder
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Attachments:
CtyClerk
Monday, March 21, 2022 5:42 PM
Adrienne Breitfelder
FW: 24 hours prior notice to the City Council Meeting 3/21/22 of my intent to provide
public input in -person
Consent agenda RCAC letter to Council 3-21-22.docx
From: Paul Schultz <paul@greendubuque.org>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2022 5:41:59 PM (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
To: CtyClerk <ctyclerk@cityofdubuque.org>
Subject: [CAUTION: OUTSIDE SENDER] RE: 24 hours prior notice to the City Council Meeting 3/21/22 of my intent to
provide public input in -person
Warning! This message was sent from outside your organization and we Allow sender I Block sender
were unable to verify the sender.
Dear City Clerk,
Attached are some written background to my intended comments about Item 17 on the Consent agenda: the letter to
Council from the RCAC.
Please distribute to appropriate parties.
Paul Schultz
From: CtyClerk
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2022 8:19 AM
To: Paul Schultz
Subject: RE: 24 hours prior notice to the City Council Meeting 3/21/22 of my intent to provide public input in -person
Mr. Schultz,
Thank you for contacting me to state your intent to provide public input at tonight's City Council meeting. Please let me
know if you have any questions about the process for providing public input.
Thank you,
THE CAdrienne Breitfelder (she/her/hers)DU1B9kFE
City Clerk
0: 563.589.41211 C: 563.581.6473
Masterpiece on the Mississippi City Hall 150 W. 13th Street, Dubuque, IA, 52001
From: Paul Schultz <paul@greendubuque.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2022 2:38 PM
To: CtyClerk <ctyclerk@cityofdubuque.org>
Subject: [CAUTION: OUTSIDE SENDER] 24 hours prior notice to the City Council Meeting 3/21/22 of my intent to provide
public input in -person
Dubuque City Clerk,
I am providing you, as requested, 24 hours prior notice of my intent to provide public input in -person to the City Council
Meeting on 3/21/22 staring at 6:30.
Paul Schultz
2700 Matthew John Drive
Apt 207
Dubuque, Iowa 52002
563.845.1714
Why Public Works Should NOT Mandate City Trash Tipper Carts in FY23
Measure Twice, Cut Once; Nothing For Us, Without Us
Voluntary subscriptions to City Trash Tipper Carts have been available for many years at higher monthly fees. These are
currently used by a semi -automated robotic arm to collect subscribed carts. The Automated Side Loader (ASL) first
collection phase started in September with one truck. It has improved collection time per pickup in suitable
neighborhoods with many carts. However, all other bags or cans need to be collected manually by the driver. Public
Works estimated that in the future, automated collection will not work for 30% of our ratepayers. At least these
ratepayers should not be mandated to use these carts.
City Budget Policy Guidelines provide targets or parameters for Departmental budget recommendations in the context
of the City Council Goals and Priorities established in August 2021. — Mandatory carts were not identified. The Policy
Agenda includes items that require major policy direction decision and/or funding. — Mandatory Trash Tipper Carts have
never been approved as a City Policy. Proposals should be tested against the following questions: Is this $1,020,117
service change truly necessary? What is its priority compared to other Resource Management service needs?
Resilient Community Advisory Commission (RCAC) on March 3, 2022, voted 5 -2 to not support Mandatory Carts. Why?
There has been ZERO community outreach, engagement, or input opportunities on the FY23 Mandatory Carts proposal.
This new system does not clearly align with the goals in the Imagine DBQ 2037 Plan: Paths Toward Zero Waste. Neither
does it support targets in the Climate Action Plan: 50% Recycling Diversion by 2030. Recycling collected tonnage has
declined by 41% and trash increased 10% in the last 8 years. Most of our lowest volume ratepayers do not want
mandatory trash tipper carts. In 2019, Foth Engineering reported that 78% of our ratepayers were satisfied with the 35
gallon can/bag option. There is no fiscal reason to rush to use ARPA funds, if allowed, in this FY23 Budget.
Pay As You Throw collection had been a key cornerstone in our Community Sustainability success. In 2010 the monthly
solid waste fee for a 35-gallon bag/can was $10.72 and a 64-gallon tipper cart was $21.00. Today lowest fee has been
raised 70% to $15.32 while the trash tipper carts have lower fees. These changes have broken the financial incentive to
waste less. Since over 4,000 trash tipper carts were deployed over the last 8 years, I have observed that recycling bins
are set out much less frequently, or not at all, next to many of these larger trash tipper carts.
There are about 4,000 "Equipment Replacement" trash tipper carts in the Maintenance Budget beyond the expected
demand for voluntary carts. This excessive unrequired proposed purchase of carts is contrary to City Maintenance
Budget Guidelines. It creates a in essence a new policy before Council has approved one. These carts belong in the
proposed $1,020,117 ARPA funded improvement increment. The maintenance budget needs to stand alone based on
expected annual growth in current services, expenses, and normal income.
ARPA funds do not seem to be a Federally allowed use for trash tipper carts. The US Treasury Department allows Four
Use Categories in its Final Rule: 1. Replace lost public sector revenue; 2. Respond to the far-reaching public health and
negative economic impacts of the pandemic; 3. Provide premium pay for essential workers; and 4. Invest in water,
sewer, and broadband infrastructure. Dubuque's ARPA grant writing partnership has a list of 62 great potential projects.
Also, the recent 3-year San Driver Work/Comp data of 43 lost workdays equals 5.7 hours/year/San Driver. Crews
consistently have told me over the years that injuries are not a current problem. The reported W/C injury data from
2006-20017 was an exception based on injuries when older city employees, that were scheduled to be let go, were
basically forced onto our Solid Waste Activity to become San Drivers. Bad Decision. Also, retiring employees who, for
years, had to manually lift 60# plus containers under pre-PAYT, had expensive surgeries before they retired.
Give the new Resource Management Supervisor a chance to Review, Plan and help Implement Diversion. Hire a
consulting engineer to initiate planning in waste minimization and help revise the Fee Structure that burdens our lowest
volume ratepayers.
Don't Put the Cart Before the Horse! Delay consideration of mandatory carts at least until long-term Resource
Management planning is developed with ramped up outreach, education, and community engagement.
Paul Schultz 3-21-22