REPUBLIC 3260 Blume Drive, Suite 115
SERVICES Richmond, CA 94806
June 5, 2023
Mr. Dante Hall, City Manager
City of Hercules
111 Civic Drive
Hercules, CA 94547
To follow up on our meeting last month and in advance of the June 13, 2023, council review and discussion on a franchise extension we want to take the opportunity to provide information about our facilities and services in West Contra Costa and more importantly service in the City of Hercules.
Business and Facilities
Richmond Sanitary Service ("RSS), now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Republic Services ("Republic"), has been operating in West County since 1917—106 years. The RSS Service Area includes the Cities of Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo and the Unincorporated Areas of West County, Crockett-Tormey-Port Costa and Rodeo, and, since 2001, the City of Piedmont in Alameda County.
In Hercules, we proudly provide solid waste, recycling, and organics collection service to 7,300 residential customers, 66 commercial and 19 industrial customers.
In May 2001, Republic acquired RSS and its family of companies that included the then active West Contra Costa County Landfill, that was closed to waste disposal in 2006, NOVE Power Plant (fueled by methane gas siphoned from the closed West County Landfill), Golden Bear Transfer Station for residual waste transport to Keller Landfill and West County Integrated Resource Recovery Facility (IRRF) for primary recyclable materials separation. Last year, the IRRF underwent a $5 million dollar renovation to upgrade quality materials separation and increase diversion.
Since the 2001 acquisition, Republic opened the West County Composting Facility and in 2017 installed a state-of--the art Covered Aerated Static Pile composting system to decrease decomposition from 6-9 months to between 3 and 4 months (see attached slide deck). A C & D primary processing operation was created on the closed West County Landfill Site. These full- service facilities provide local waste, recycling and organics processing and management capabilities for all West County communities.
Operations--Experienced Leadership- Experienced employees The above facilities are operated by Shawn Moberg who has served as General Manager since Manat, Maintee Mam ger, desa erases hanger, tomer Service Manager and Community and Government Affairs Manager. Most of the management team have been with RSS for more than 20 years.
There are 225 dedicated employees working in West County, which includes Richmond Sanitary Services, Inc., and the Post Collection Operations, which includes West County Resource ecovery Inc., and West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, Inc. The Company's staffing outloo emains strong with 44% of the employees having more than 10 years of tenure with th Company, and 43% of the employees residing in the cities that we service.
Customer Experience
Our experienced staff are truly dedicated to providing the highest quality of personal service.
We believe Hercules customers enjoy a high level of satisfaction with services received.
Customers who call regarding missed pick-ups, carts not placed in their set out location after service, or trash left behind on the ground are scheduled for resolution the same or next day.
Franchise Agreement
The Franchise Agreement is silent regarding an agreement extension/renewal process. We have successfully negotiated 5 amendments with the city to enhance the contracts requirements and meet state regulations. We believe that good faith negotiations between the parties provides the best opportunity to take advantage of our nearby processing facilities with agreement that the city reserves the right to go to RFP.
As you can appreciate, waste management is a high risk, highly labor and capital intensive, high cost, heavily regulated industry. We are keenly aware of the cost impact on our customers.
Unfortunately, many of those cost items-equipment, equipment maintenance, insurance, regulatory and governmental feesquite simply are beyond our control.
State Mandates
As environmental regulations have been enacted over the years, Republic Services has been the partner that has worked to keep the City of Hercules compliant:
• AB939- Republic implemented new programs to meet the requirement of diverting 25% of solid waste by 1995 and 50% by year 2000.
• AB341- Republic implemented new programs to meet the requirement of mandatory recycling for commercial and multifamily customers generating more than 4 cubic yards of combined solid waste, recycling, and organics.
• AB1826- Republic implemented new programs to meet the requirement of mandatory commercial organics for commercial and multifamily customers who generate 2 cubic yards of combined solid waste, recycling, and organics. • SB1383- jurisdictions must implement SB1383 that is an unfunded state mandate that requires recycling and organics programs, route reviews, contamination auditing and massive documentation and reports.
We have been your solid waste and recycling partner since the beginning and would like to continue the relationship going forward to provide world class service to the Hercules Community. Thank you in advance for your review and consideration.
Shawn Moberg
General Manager
cc: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council Mike Roberts, Public Works Director