Decision time on waste for Simcoe County Council?

By Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe October 23 2011

County councillors have a lengthy waste agenda awaiting them on Tuesday, which includes: 

-Allowing contractors bidding on garbage pick-up service a wide range of options – ranging from bids on one, two or three collection areas. But the single countywide contract (for all four areas) favoured by staff also remains one of the options. In effect this postpones the tricky decision on whether the smaller local businesses are in the game or whether the major waste corporations will be the only players. 

-Rescinding the county’s no-import /export policy, based on staff and consultant projections that the county will run out of landfill space before it can get its waste stream under control.

-Instituting separate contracts for special collections like leaf and yard waste and bulky items. This is one area where staff’s quest for uniform service across the county really runs up against local arrangements. The rural municipalities prefer minimal or no service for reasons of cost, urban municipalities feel they can afford pickup, and they want it. And Midland has purchased equipment to vacuum the leaves, thus eliminating paper bags. “Those bags come from trees, the decision we made was for environmental reasons,” Midland Deputy Mayor Stephan Kramp reminded the corporate services committee earlier this month, adding that his municipality will take a dim view of any county decision that would require Midland to give up its vacuum equipment.

-Extending waste collection to Industrial, Commercial and Institutional properties. This appears counter-intuitive at a time when the county is running out of landfill space, but is aimed at addressing a hodge-podge of arrangements grandfathered from pre-amalgamation, two decades ago. The proposal is to impose the residential bag limits – one “free” bag per property to a maximum of eight with tags. The advantage is that the IC&I sector would be brought within the county’s diversion program.

The most contentious issue when these matters were discussed at the October 12 corporate services committee meeting was the two-envelope process. This is a system presently used to disqualify contractors who may not have the experience or capacity to provide a reliable service.

The system works on points, collections supervisor Willma Bureau told councillors. She said the first envelope elicits basic data, and a company has to achieve something like 800 out of a potential 1,200 points – or the second envelope with the bid will not even be opened.

Bureau explained that the system aims “to get the very best bang for our buck, the very best service levels… After that we look at the price.”

That didn’t sit well with Penetanguishene Mayor Gerry Marshall. “This is about pricing but we won’t get to see all the prices,” he complained. “You don’t set up a competitive process and eliminate competition – large versus small gets to compete.”

Procurement director Dawn Hipwell said the system incurs the “least amount of risk” of inadequate service to residents. The two-envelope process works because county emplyees spend time evaluating firms they know, she said. Without it, much time could be wasted looking at low bidders who don’t have a hope of meeting service standards.

Marshall wasn’t convinced. “To put the service first, which is the subjective piece of the tender and not look at the hard evidence of cash, I don’t like that scenario.”

Tiny Deputy Mayor George Lawrence asked if there have been service problems. Environmental services director Rob McCullough said complaints are monitored closely and the threshold is set at 1 complaint per 4,000 households.

Complaints went much higher a few years ago in Bradford West Gwillimbury and New Tecumseth, and the contractor was put on notice, he said. “They made management changes and got things back on track.”

Using the example of snow removal contractors gone missing and problems with a bridge in his townshjp, Essa Mayor Terry Dowdall said it’s necessary to do due diligence ahead of time. 

“Sometimes efficiencies aren’t measured in dollars,” said Springwater Mayor Linda Collins. 

“Let staff do the job,” said Warden Cal Patterson.

Marshall’s was the lone dissenting vote against the two-envelope process. The committee’s decision must be ratified by county council on Tuesday.