From:
To: Mary Gourley
Subject: Recology
Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025 1:47:15 PM
Thank you very much to council member Sandra Maurer for her thoughtf reply to the concerned businesses. It is very helpful to know the background of the situation. That being said it is not clear that changing to SCRR is in the best interest of the businesses and residents ofSebastopol.
The prices that are listed in the city agenda plans are significantly higher than my current charges. I realize that both companies will start charging for recycling, but SCRR’s prices are at least $125 more than I am currently paying for just my compost bin. I realize this is a 15 year cap, but there’s no reason to assume they won’t automatically go to that cap. As a business person, I would if I was them. There’s no way it’s going to be that inexpensive 15 years from now so I would assume they’re gonna have to make the money upfront.
In addition to that, when I called SCRR, they were polite, but very unhelpful. They could not give me any information as to what my rates might be. They could not answer my questions regarding recycling.
Recology has supplied me with a lot of information and they have always been incredibly helpful in the past.
Please consider postponing the vote tonight. I do not feel that the businesses have enough information and I think the decisions that you are making tonight will greatly affect our downtown businesses.
Thank you for your consideration,
Maraline Olson
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 5, 2025, at 1:45 PM, Sandra Maurer <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear all,
Thank you for writing to council to express your concerns.
When the need for a new garbage contract came to council in April 2023, the vote to renew the contract with Recology was split 3/2. I was one of the three who supported renewing the contract because I had received many comments in support of Recology's services, I believed their services were excellent, and staff had asked to extend the contract. Two council members wanted to go out for proposals. The council created an ad hoc committee and I served, and still serve on it, as does Vice Mayor Jill McLewis and the assistant city manager, public works director and the city engineer. I fully intended and believed that we would be able to negotiate a new contract with Recology, but after months of effort we failed. Their rate increases were too high and they were inflexible. It was a very disappointing experience.
Next we brought it back to council. The council voted 4-0 (one council member was absent) to go out for proposals. There were two proposers- Recology and Sonoma County Resource Recovery (SCRR) who currently serves Windsor. I studied the proposals very carefully. Although the scoring for both was relatively close, the adhoc committee was in full agreement to switch to SCRR. They are smaller, have a better service model, and they were more responsive to our needs.
Their proposed rates are below Recology and they are committed to help residents and businesses right size their containers. Throughout the process SCRR demonstrated and we believed they are a better fit for Sebastopol.
Warm regards,
Sandra Maurer
Sebastopol City Councilmember
Sent from my iPhone