Minutes 11-21-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Metadata

Thumbnails

Annotations

Council Member Ward said the private sector bids may contain a 5 year plan, but they will be a higher bid because of the uncertainty assumed. He clarified that the added services provided by the County are not included in the bids from private entities. Roger Stancil said yes. He said it was difficult to compare the private sector to the County, because the numbers and breakdown were different. Michael Talbert referred to attachment E on page 30. He said Gayle Wilson identified the key issues raised at the council meeting and attempted to provide answers. He said that when the Town requested bids from the private sector the County was not asked for a bid. He said the County entered the process several weeks after the evaluation process was started. He said the County has to go out and get pricing before a firm price for 5 years can be given. He said the County is interested in giving this, and estimates have been listed in the attachment. He referred to pages 30 and 31 of the abstract and reviewed the pricing listed there, noting that this is the best guess at the moment. . Gayle Wilson said he did try to respond to the questions he heard. He said it is difficult to give the Town a 5 year pricing when many of the costs are not known yet. He said the collections service cost and the roll cart bids are not known; and there is no answer to the grant requests yet. He said this makes it risky to give a price at this time. He said the multi- family cost can be fairly accurate, since this is already run by the County. He said he can't push a price and ask the County to guarantee it for 5 years with the lack of information. Chair Jacobs said a 5 year agreement is in the County's interest as well and the Board wants to make this work. He said the two staffs can work together to serve their constituents. He said the Board of County Commissioners is not going to stand in the way of making this work. He said the County has been interested in the purchase of carts for years but was hesitant to move forward without a mutual commitment. He said it seems this issue is close to agreement, and he hopes everyone joins. Council Member Ward said he is prepared to support a move forward with this letter of intent. He noted that it is written in this agreement that the Town of Chapel Hill is seen as an equal partner in setting the costs. He would like this letter to treat the other Towns the same way. Commissioner Gordon said she hopes everyone can find a way to have a unified effort and work together. She understands there is a process that has to be followed, but she would like to underscore the past success of working together. She mentioned a concern with privacy, regarding the chip in the cart to collect data. She wants the Board to think about this. Mayor Chilton asked if this is central to the application. Gayle Wilson said yes. He said the grant application requires the carts to be fitted with the RFID chip. Mayor Chilton asked why, and he asked if there is a significant cost difference in carts with or without the chips. Gayle Wilson said it is a nominal difference in cost, but most entities are using the chips nationwide, as it allows for tracking of participation rates. He said this can capture specific routes that have low participation rates where education efforts to encourage recycling can then be focused. He said the system does not track specifically who lives there. Mayor Chilton asked if there is a way of protecting this information. Gayle Wilson said this can be protected, since there is a portal where the information resides. He said those without access cannot view it. Mayor Kleinschmidt said there are open data interests at play here. He said cities at the front of providing high quality services to their community are opening their data to come up with new solutions to problems.