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IDNR PAYT Grant ProposalMEMORANDUM January 14,2003 TO:The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM:Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT:Iowa Department of Natural Resources PAYT Grant Proposal Solid Waste Management Supervisor Paul Schultz is requesting City Council approval to seek a grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for a Unit Based Pricing Rate Structure Contractor. This grant submittal would be in partnership with Barker- Lemar Consulting Engineers. The City of Dubuque's Pay-As-You-Throw program is a model that has many components useful to other Iowa municipalities. IDNR has outlined a model in their RFP for supplying consulting services at no charge to Iowa communities considering voluntarily implementing PAYT. If selected, the model has the advantage of having IDNR compensate the City of Dubuque for this assistance. It would also offer some prestige to the City of Dubuque, both for having a quality program and for being willing to assist other communities. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, Corporation Counsel Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager Paul F. Schultz, Solid Waste Management Supervisor CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA MEMORANDUM January 9, 2003 TO:Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager FROM:Paul F. Schultz, Solid Waste Management Supervisor SUBJECT:IDNR PAYT Grant Proposal The purpose of this memorandum is recommend that the City of Dubuque's Operation and Maintenance Department submit a grant application in response to IDNR's RFP for a Unit Based Pricing Rate Structure Contractor. This grant submittal would be in partnership with Barker-Lemar Consulting Engineers. The City of Dubuque's PAYT program is a model that has many components useful to other Iowa municipalities. IDNR has outlined a model in their RFP for supplying consulting services at no charge to Iowa communities considering voluntarily implementing PAYT. The City would assist in the following responsibilities under the proposal: Work with department selected communities to determine the appropriate and most effective type of unit-based pricing program for each city. Types of unit-based pricing programs include, but are not limited to, · Pre-Paid Bag - garbage in only official bags is collected · Pre-Paid Tag/Sticker- all garbage containers must have a sticker to be collected · Subscription System - customers sign up for a certain number or size ofcontainers to be collected in a given period · Weight-Based System- customers pay so much per pound for collection · Hybrid System - combines a flat fee along with a per unit fee for collection 2. Develop the rate structure for implementing the unit-based pricing system for residential solid waste. The rate structure should reflect the uniqueness of each community, the unit-based pricing system type selected in #1 above, and the costs of managing all residential solid waste and provide an incentive for the reduction, reuse and recycling of solid waste. Barker-Lemar has the following responsibilities under the proposal: 1. Gather all community data and be the contact and "educator" for all selected communities. Provide the unit-based proposed design and pricing rate structure in a timely fashion. 2. Present the unit-based pricing rate structure to the appropriate local government decision making body (i.e. city council or board of supervisors) 3. Provide a monthly report to the Department of Natural Resources regarding assistance provided to each community in the preceding month along with an update of planned activities for the upcoming month. If we were selected, the model has the advantage of having IDNR compensate the City of Dubuque for my assistance. It would also offer some prestige to the City of Dubuque both for having a quality program and for being willing to assist other communities. I estimate that I would need to spend an average of three to five hours per community in evaluating community solid waste data, PAYT design proposals and rate structures. For this assistance, the City would be compensated approximately $300 per community. It is unclear how many communities would seek these consultations, probably between 10 and 20. Minor travel would be possible that would be compensated on a time and materials basis. I believe in PAYT and would be willing to evaluate these designs on my own time. I do not seek any personal compensation from this grant even if I worked at home. I have reviewed the implications of the grant application with Ken TeKippe and he found it satisfactory from a financial compensation standpoint. After receiving input from Randy Peck, I made adjustments in the grant proposal so that there could be separate contracts for the City and Barker-Lemar. This should eliminate the perception of any "perceived conflict of interest". I recommend that we seek this grant. Our FY04 budget has an expectation of receiving $4,500 in grant revenue. I think that the work entailed in this grant can be accommodated within my schedule with little or no impact on the quality of service deserved by our customers.