Title
Authorizing continued negotiations between the City of Saint Paul and currently licensed residential trash collectors, and establishing an Organized Collection Options Committee.
Body
WHEREAS, Minnesota Statute § 115 A.94, et. seq. (hereinafter “Statute”) authorizes a City to organize trash collection and creates a required procedure a City must follow to organize collection of trash; and
WHEREAS, on February 24, 2016, the Saint Paul City Council in RES 16-337 directed the Saint Paul Department of Public Works to solicit input from residents in order to develop draft goals and objectives for implementing a system of organized residential trash collection within the City of Saint Paul; and
WHEREAS, the Saint Paul Department of Public Works conducted a public information campaign and on June 1, 2016, the Saint Paul City Council in RES 16-174 accepted the report Organized Trash Collection in Saint Paul: Report on Community Input and Draft Goals and Objectives from the Saint Paul Department of Public Works and conducted a public hearing regarding the goals outlined in RES PH 16-174; and
WHEREAS, prior to establishing a committee under subdivision 4a of the Statute, the City must meet and negotiate for a 60-day period exclusively with existing licensed residential trash collectors to develop a proposal to collect trash from designated sections of the city; and
WHEREAS, the Saint Paul City Council in RES 16-1300 designated August 1, 2016 as the official date to begin the required 60-day period of exclusive negotiations between existing licensed residential trash collectors and the City; approved priorities and parameters to guide the negotiations; and authorized staff to conduct the negotiations; and
WHEREAS, since August 2016, City staff and the fifteen existing licensed residential trash collectors have held eleven negotiating meetings, both parties have negotiated in good faith, and the collectors have submitted three proposals for consideration; and
WHEREAS, although significant effort has been invested by the residential trash collectors and City staff and progress has been made, certain priorities remain unresolved; and
WHEREAS, subd. 4a of the Statute requires that, in the event an agreement is not reached with existing collectors, before implementing organizing collection, the Council must establish an organized collection options committee to identify, examine, and evaluate various methods of organized collection and appoint the members of the committee; and
WHEREAS, the Statute outlines the duties of the committee; and
WHEREAS, the Council wants to ensure that organized residential trash collection can be implemented in Saint Paul as soon as possible; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council authorizes City staff to continue to negotiate in good faith with the existing licensed residential trash collectors; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, the Saint Paul City Council authorizes the formation of the organized collection options committee under Minnesota Statute 115A., subd. 4a; and be it
FINALLY RESOLVED, the Saint Paul City Council appoints Council President Russ Stark, Councilmember Dan Bostrom, Deputy Mayor Kristin Beckman and Public Works Department Director Kathy Lantry to the organized collection options committee.