City Commission - workshop

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Thank you. As we begin, we kindly ask that all mobile devices be silenced. To ensure the best possible sound quality, please speak clearly and directly in the microphone, and remember to mute your microphone when you're not speaking. Should anyone experience difficulty hearing at any time, please raise your hand and the hearing device will be provided to you. Thank you for your cooperation. Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Riedel.

He said, he

lost his

vote. I didn't hear you. You said Commissioner Rydell?

Yes, I did, sir. Commissioner Rydell. Here. Commissioner Welch. Here. Commissioner Raley.

Here.

Vice Mayor Brody. Here. Mayor Wasserman. Here. City Manager Rose.

Here.

City Attorney Popburn.

Here.

Okay. Thank you, city clerk. Could we please all rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. This meeting is being conducted live with a physical quorum present. The material for today's meeting is available online @www.coconutcreek.gov. We're a .gov website now, if you didn't know. And the meeting is being broadcast live. So, we are now going to begin the solid waste and recycling discussion.

We're going to kick it off with, our city manager, Ms. Rose. Madam Rose.

Thank you, mayor and commission. This evening's workshop is specifically related to discussing how we intend to handle recycling going forward with our contract with Republic. Mike Heimbach and Harry are here to answer questions and to run through the PowerPoint, but I've also asked the representatives from Republic to be here to answer specific questions. As we go through this presentation, there are very specific items that we're asking you to consider and reach a consensus related to. And after you reach a consensus, we will modify the conditions of our contract extension to make sure those are included and included clearly. So, that, I think Mike is ready to kick off the presentation. Let

me cut to the chase, because I won't repeat what our city manager said. But, thank you. We're excited to be here tonight, to take the next step. Also here is Austin Metcalfe, he's the General Manager of Public Services for Southeast Florida. And the Republic's technology team has representatives on the phone, which is Tracy Nestor, Mike Montgomery, and Heather Tweedy, to also assist in answering any questions you may have.

So, tonight's presentation will provide an overview of the current solid waste collection, and the following areas. There's six areas up there with options for your consideration. And slides will be marked with that oval yellow oval circle. And those are the areas that we're going to ask for a consensus from the Commission. And from here on out, Mike Heimbeck is going to take over the presentation from here. Thank you.

All right. Good evening. So, before we get too far into it, I wanted to take a minute to kind of go over what the responsibilities are for the city and other agencies when it comes to solid waste. So, the cities are responsible for the collection of garbage. So, each city has different service levels and frequency and things like that.

So that is really the goal of the city as responsibility for service. Solid Waste Authority that we will be discussing later tonight will be focusing on the disposal and processing of solid waste. Typically in Florida, counties handle that process. For example, we are currently in ILA with the county for our bulk yard waste and solid waste disposal, and that runs through July 2028. I'll just go over our current service real quick.

Right now, our curbside service includes twice a week service. The first cart is at no cost and each additional cart is $75 They pay one time and continue to use that cart. Bulk is once a week. It's currently unlimited. Construction and demolition debris is two cubic yard maximum for small projects at homes.

And yard waste is limited to six cubic yards per week. And we amended the contract back around COVID time to address that. So with the new agreement, we've got some changes that we'd like to implement, and that includes curbside recycling. The curbside recycling will include new carts. Republic is going to provide artificial intelligence to identify contamination.

And Republic has had good luck with less contamination with every other week's service on a collection day that is not garbage day. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that later. Also, the Republic is offering to provide electric curbside automated collection vehicles. We're going to reduce the maximum of bulk waste to four cubic yards. I'd like to point out that that would, on any given week, encompass 95 plus percent of the people out there.

They put out less than four cubic yards. And to accommodate people that will occasionally have more than that, we're going to offer two large collections per year. So when we sat down with Republic, we wanted to do things that were different and forward. And they offered, you know, these technological opportunities to us that we are very excited about. First of all, the electric vehicles, while they do exist in some communities, very few communities have full integration of the automated curbside collection.

As with all EV vehicles, it has the benefits of less noise, less pollution. It also results in less hydraulic leaks because there's less hydraulic hoses on them. So that's a benefit to the roads in the community. And they're also safer. Here's just some things that are safety features that are on the trucks: auto braking, collision warnings, they can identify cross traffic.

So that will make our community safer. The other thing that we're really excited about is the artificial intelligence that's going to be available on these vehicles as it relates to single stream recycling. So, the technology is new. It is developing, but it is proven that it can reduce contamination. Republic has seen a 20% to 40% reduction in contamination so far.

That will likely increase as the artificial intelligence software gets better. And there are just a few communities up there that have already implemented this. And this is a sample of what a notice to the resident would look like once the contamination is identified. We're currently working through the process with Republic, but essentially it would be an email or a postcard to the resident showing what they dumped in their container and then providing what is included in our program. So it's hard to believe it's been almost seven years since this contract started.

The world's been through a lot, so there's been a lot of changes and things that we've learned through this process. Obviously, contamination was a major component of us stopping curbside recycling in Coconut Creek, so we know that education is important. It's going to be important at our level. It's going to be important at the solid waste authority level. Markets have been a challenge.

That's why at the drop off we have been focused on materials that only have value and we know that will get recycled. We've had incidences of bulk and yard waste programs where materials being brought in from other areas are not generated at the home. Like everything else, collection costs are increasing, especially the cost of equipment, trucks, and the cost of labor. So that has been a significant increase, as it has been in all industries. We know that the transfer stations are near capacity.

And as we've gone through the solid waste authority process, we've learned that the recycling facilities in our community have a lot of capacity. So they are ready and prepared to handle materials that we divert from the Royce stream. So I'm going talk a little bit about curbside recycling. I got up there quality over quantity. That's something that we hope to focus on.

So as with any program, we're going to spend a lot of time and kick off on education. That includes many of the typical things that we do information with the cart delivery, direct mail. We'll do obviously our great social media team will be with us. We'll be in the HOAs and obviously our events around town to get the message out as soon as possible, as soon as we're ready to approve this. Okay, so some of the options.

So as I mentioned previously, Republic, when we were talking to them and we're talking about quality of recycling, you know, they came back to us with this option for every other week collection on a day that is not the garbage Their experience has been that that reduces contamination by making that day separate and special. It keeps somebody who's got a full cart, you know, garbage cart, and then throws whatever's left over in that recycling cart and things like that. The other option that we would have is to have the typical traditional curbside collection on a garbage day. Like I mentioned, it may increase contamination. And it'll also increase the cost per month to about $3.04 dollars per year, maybe $48 per year in total cost.

So we'd like to get feedback on what the commission thinks about the frequency of recycling collection.

Are we taking these one at a time, Mayor? Wait until the end of the presentation?

Are any of them conflicting?

No, they're not conflicting. Think we had kind of planned a

So let's just do it one at a time, and we'll take our time, and so we don't get muddy in the water. Yep. So, yeah, Commissioner Welch?

I would, while I'm on, thank you very much. Given that we got the financials on the difference between the week and every other week, it is a significant enough difference. And then also, the bonus is the thought that it would be less contamination. So, after all, that's what we're striving for. If we do return it to curbside after all this time, we want to ensure that we give it the best set of circumstances for everyone so that we have a successful result. So, my favor is for the every other week on the non garbage collection date.

Commissioner Riedel?

Yeah. I appreciate the financials, but at the end of the day, this is a reeducation campaign, right? And if we're tying this into something later on the agenda, in terms of the Solid Waste Authority and reinstituting a campaign, you gotta reeducate and then scale back. So I don't I don't I I I'm on the other side of that. Think it has to be a weekly collection, and I understand that it's a little more of a cost now, but I think that's the only way you can appropriately reeducate because that's when we stopped in Coconut Creek three years ago, and a half years ago.

That's what we were doing. We were doing a weekly pickup. The goal, and obviously this is coming straight from the Solid Waste Authority, the goal is to not have a bi weekly trash pick up. The goal would be a weekly pick up, right, to traditionally recycle more, reduce more. I mean, that's if we if we can start somewhere that our residents are understanding and consistent with with working it into the contract that we could potentially change it down the road, The key is an education campaign. And you gotta you gotta start right, start what people are used to, and then slowly scale back. Like, people think it's crazy to say, oh, we're only gonna pick up garbage once a week. Listen, in Parkland, it's monthly bulk pickup. We offer it every week. Yep.

You know? So it it but the problem is you get you get residents accustomed to it. So I don't want to jump into the bulk thing yet. I'll I'll chime in on that because we'll get there when we get there. But I I I think you have to start where we left off with room in the contract to scale

back BERNANKE:

with the hopes of re educating people. So that's my comment. Thank you. Commissioner Reilly? There you go.

Thank you. Sorry. We're creatures of habit. And I think on a weekly basis, people would be more aware. I know it's an additional cost, but I think in the beginning, I happen to agree with Commissioner Reidel that we need to do once a week, because people get used to the fact that they have to recycle. Every Wednesday or every Thursday, there'll be a pickup. Every other Thursday, they'll I know I would be. Oh, did they pick up last week? Do I have to put it out this week? And it becomes, oh, I don't care then.

Let's just I have to I ran out of room. I can't recycle anymore. I think they would become more aware of a weekly practice. So I would be in favor of a weekly service.

Can you explain the May increased contamination bullet point? Because to me, it sounds like the less it's kept in the home, the less contamination it would be. So can you enlighten me on that comment?

Yeah, I'll go a little bit, too, and I'll also ask Austin to come on up and talk a little bit about that. So one of the things that Republic has found is that by having the separate day, it's more of like a different day. And there's more focus on that. And there's more awareness of what goes in the bin and the appropriate day. The other thing is, what we see a lot in the solid waste industry, is that when there's an overflow in the cart, people get lazy and they throw that garbage into the recycling cart.

And is this happening on the same day as garbage collection day?

So a weekly service would be on the garbage day, one of the garbage days.

All so Wednesday's garbage day. Wednesday or Saturday is same day. there a separate truck coming for the recycling? Yes.

Yes. It would have to be for us to then dispose of it at the location. But exactly what Michael has said, we've seen that there's some intentionality when it's separated and especially if you're considering a limited space. So, when you're putting them side by side, oftentimes it does come to the fact of, oh, this is overflowing, let me just put this bag into the other container. Whereas every other week, what we've seen is that you have to be a little bit more intentional in what you put in there. Now, with that being said, we're offering to increase the container size too, so that the residents aren't running out of space on a weekly basis. So bumping that up to a 96 gallon container to alleviate that worry, but it makes you be a little bit more intentional with your dirty pizza boxes, I guess.

Austin, while you're up there, thank you for the response. I agree with our mayor that I don't necessarily agree with you, but, like, right now, so we're operating on a completely drop off basis with recycling. Huge success, right, but still seeing contamination rates. So it's crazy to me that now a it's a nominal marginal as opposed to what we were seeing on curbside, which is why we got got rid of it. But just think of the consciousness Mhmm. Right, of the resident. I say it like this. You're taking a proactive step to take your belongings, your waste, right, your recyclables, drive to a location with it in your trunk, put it into a bin, and we're still seeing contamination rates. So that's what we're really up against here. Right?

So I agree with you on the contamination rates. Listen, I me and I think, and Commissioner Welsh made the hardest decision when we terminated curbside recycling. But when you looked at the contamination rates and the cost, it was astronomical. And we get the brunt of it in public hearings saying, well, you guys don't do it in Coconut, Well, we have a robust drop off program. But I I I'm curious the data behind what you said, really to peel that back. Because I think, as a commission, if we have the the data, whether it's through consensus, you know, census, whatever it is, I'm curious to see that because we need to educate ourselves out of this box.

Absolutely. And we're more than happy I can go back and find the data and pull data from the cities where we're implementing this. It's a common expression in the industry, wish cycling, when you have enough space to do it. You just put in what you think is recycling as opposed to narrowing down to what is recyclable. An example would be, I have a bag of a bunch of plastic water bottles. I've seen examples of people who empty their plastic water bottles, put that all back in the wrap that it comes in and put that in there, and that then contaminates the whole load. Now, would that be lessened by going to every other week? We can debate that, of course, and of course, I'll look up the data as well. So happy to come back

with that. Yeah, and I think to me it's night and day. Think we've crossed this bridge. We went from, you know, ten years ago to the largest recyclable being newspapers and papers. The largest recyclable commodity right now is cardboard. It's like the Amazon effect. You could drive down any neighborhood in Coconut Creek, single family home, and you're gonna see stacks of boxes outside that's being thrown away right now on bulk debt. Right? So that's the I hate to use the term low hanging fruit of trying Jean Pierre is, like, itching. What do you what do you mean?

And I I would say the the

You're like, you're up. You're jumping. You want to say something?

One other thing, I would say probably the biggest piece of education comes in the later steps with the emails that we send out when it's identified and whatnot. So that'll be

a piece of it, but go ahead. Yes, thank you, Austin. Thank you. Where we left off, okay, I totally agree. It used to be, okay, once a week.

It was dirty. It was contaminated, to be honest. So, I think that, you know what, the way to be successful with a good and to have a good recycling program is by saving money for education. The frequency, you can have it twice a week and ending up with contamination. You can have it three times and end up with contamination because there's another phase of it that oftentimes people are not mindful of, is the fact that, you know what, there needs to be some a lot of money behind education to make it happen.

Exactly, it's all about education. Once you educate, okay, then if we want to increase the frequency, that's fine because, you know, we have more, okay, that we're going to have because, you know, our people are educated. But if we do it, if we put the carriage, you know, before the horse, we may end up in the same situation that we had before where we decided, you know, to cancel this program altogether. I'm not you hired us, okay, to be your hauler and also to be the expert. I think that, you know what, for the past three months, as we've been talking about this, we've done our homework as employees of Republic Services to come here ready, prepared, okay, to give you the best advice.

But ultimately, you know, it's in your hands, but we came here with the best intentions because we can take the increase of pickup and then make money, make more money. But we here, okay, you know, scaling back on the So,

you're you're I just want to stream through it because we're limited on time. Your Oh, recommendation let me just be very clear because I'm I'm putting up what you're I get what you're saying. I wanna be clear. Your recommendation is to not do weekly recycling. Is that your recommendation?

That's that's correct.

Is that the entities? Well, I can say. And, Joanne's saying no? Let me You guys gotta have a powwow outside. Yeah, no, no.

You know, at the end of the day, you can do either. We've just seen more success, right? Comes down to how you follow-up with the education, to your point. And that's where the AI contamination comes in, following up on identifying those with pictures. So we've just seen some success with option Okay.

It seems a little inconsistent. I'll get back to the consensus of the Commission so we can move on to number two. But I will just say this, as a household with three girls in it, the amount of cardboard my house produces is I I am at our drop off recycling center all the time. And for cardboard, if I'm getting it curbside, I guarantee you, I think my wife is on a hundred and sixty two days consecutively of getting Amazon packages dropped off at my house. Could be a record, but I could fill up a recycling bin weekly of just cardboard, because my trunk is filled up weekly. It's filled up right now. Thank you, mayor.

No problem, Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner Ehrlich.

Okay. I do have to address about multiple housing, HOAs, condos, so to speak, co ops. How do we address that?

So I would say tonight, Jackie, our focus is on single family and the recycling processes. I think when you get through the presentation, you're going to see the option of having the contractor help us enforce or the city enforce. So I think it's focused tonight on that single family.

Strictly single. Okay, thank you.

So I'll wait to see what the the rest of the commission consensus is. I'd really love for us to have a dedicated day for recycling to ensure that we have the best set up for success. But I'll go with the will of the board. And I totally agree with what has been said, Education, no matter which way we go, because even though the waste carts are going to be larger, it's still going to happen. People are going to even plastic bottles filled with water are going to go in.

But I'll leave it at that. But education, no matter what we do, one time a week or every other week, has got to be full press. So, but my vote is to keep it for every other week dedicated to the recycling.

Thank you, Commissioner. I'll just say one thing. So this would be an increase, if we went to every week, it would be an increase of approximately, say, 36 to $48 Yeah. Per single family. Is there a proposed increase currently for this coming year, coming to the MS.

Yes. We do anticipate you know, garbage rates are going up. They're going up across the board. So the expectation is that it would, you know, exceed that $400 number.

And that's without the weekly service of $36 $40 a year?

Yes.

Okay, so it's going to we're going to see it That go out

add an extra

So it add an extra 36 to whatever it is. $40. $50. Right. $50. Okay. So the only thing I'm seeing so if it's every other week, that's adding just nothing, or just it's a part of the 400, there's no additional add ons if we're doing the every other week service?

So, currently have the estimate that with the every other week service, would be $4.00 9. That's a draft. With the once weekly, it would be $4.67.

Okay. I mean, listen, sticker shock is a big thing, especially when you're, you know, a lot of families are living paycheck to paycheck, keeping up with their mortgages, seeing things like that. So, we're already seeing an increase. You know, I prefer if we, you know, we hear more things and we'll do all the consensuses at the end, if that's okay. Do have all of Yeah. Okay. All right, but we can talk about each one. Let's move on to the next one.

Okay, so I just want to take a couple minutes talking about our recycling processing options. As obviously as we enter into curbside recycling, we need a place to take it. So I think a couple of you at least have been to Coastal's Pompano facility just outside the city limits. They have piggybackable agreements available that we can use, and we will be able to start immediately once Republic's ready to go. I just want to let you know as part of our agreement with Republic, we will be paying that processor directly.

And we're currently budgeting about $25 per year in the assessment. The other alternative is that we could wait to begin curbside recycling until the Solid Waste Authority has an agreement in place. It will probably have slightly, possibly have better processing costs, and would defer to the collection costs another year. But Coastal's ready to go. They're our neighboring facility. And I don't think and we will be able to get the better pricing that the Solid Waste Authority gets when it does become available. I did want to make that point.

So the request for the consensus is, are you ready to start curbside recycling this October, or do you think it's appropriate to wait another year, at least?

So they understand, we need consensus one in order to get consensus two?

No, you can move forward with consensus two.

Okay. Is it Commissioner Welch?

My consensus is to start in October with our neighboring provider.

Anybody else? Because we can

go with the SWA option.

Anybody else? Commissioner Raley?

Anybody

have comments on this?

I thought you said that you wanted us to wait for

No, wait for the consensus, but she's obviously used her time to tell what she wanted, but you can use your time for any way you choose.

Okay.

Anybody else have anything to say?

I just feel that it would be beneficial to piggyback with Hollywood, as well.

Okay. All right. Let's move on to number three.

JAMES DAY: Okay. So we have some options when it comes to distributing the carts. So the typical thing is full distribution to every household in the community. It has some negatives and positives. You know, the unengaged may just be using it as a trash container, but also may invigorate people. Hey, I got something new. I want to participate in this process. The other option is to opt in. That requires the person to actually make a commitment to getting that recycling container. Obviously, those would be the people most interested in recycling and the most likely to participate correctly.

There are distribution issues with that. The hauler would have to go back and forth to the community. Someone sees a cart in their neighbor's yard. Oh, I need a cart. I didn't hear it. The message didn't get to me. The other option is an opt out, assuming everyone is going to get a cart. And then a person would have to actually make an action to not get a cart. The one benefit to that is there's always, when you do a full distribution, somebody calls up and says, I don't have room for this car, I'm not interested in recycling, or whatever that is. So that is something that is available also. So those are our three options.

I think we can move along on this one. Anybody Moving on, just consensus four? Any comments here? All right. Number four.

J. Okay. So as you know, I'm going talk a little bit about materials. So as I've stated, and as you all know, that we've been focusing on the quality materials. Our drop off has the materials that are easily recycled. They have dependable value. So they're in the community. So as we promote recycling, we have a couple options. So the contract with Coastal has additional program material. So the plastic containers that are not bottles or jugs are included.

They're lower grade recycling. Their markets are somewhat limited. And also, I think it tends to lead towards the it's recycled attitude, and it ends up, you know, we get contamination nonprogrammed materials in the bin. Mixed paper has a low value, relatively dependable markets, and also is a pretty big portion of the waste stream still, even with junk mail and stuff like that, I'm sure you see in your mailbox. And then glass bottles, neither recycling facility in Broward County, Waste Management or Coastal, is actively sending glass to market.

So, Coconut Creek, you know, remains the only community in Broward County that is sending glass to market. So our hope is that we would continue the glass drop off, you know, irregardless of the decisions made today.

Anything?

Just for point of clarification, if option one were selected, bottles would go into the recycle?

So we would not promote you're talking about glass bottles?

Right.

Yeah, so we would not promote glass bottles to put in your cart, right? So we'd focus focus on on these four. However, if those other three got into the container, it wouldn't be contamination. It would still be a program material.

The only promotion that we would make would be bought plastic, steel, and cardboard.

Or we could add one of those other three, also, depending on what the commission finds Okay.

Just a point of clarification. And the glass stays the same at drop off.

Right. Okay.

What's the staff's recommendation?

staff recommendation is that we stick with marketing column number one, and maintain our glass recycling on-site.

So, staff recommendation is valuable commodities only per year chart?

Yes.

Okay. Michael?

Yeah, and I agree, and I would also note that the

Obviously she's the city manager. Of course you're going

to agree. All right. I would note that the current Solid Waste Authority education is also this.

I agree with you on that. That's why I was going to chime in on that, because the intent right now what we're doing on SWA, is the valuable commodity.

Right.

So

it would stay consistent with any sort of potential expansion down the road. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. So we have some options available on actions we can take to reduce contamination in the community. So we've got a couple up here. So we have REPUBLIC's AI identifying the location using GPS, and also the picture of what's coming from the cart. So the way that we've drafted out that policy is that we public would notify the resident either by email or postcard.

Public work staff, in the time between the next pickup, would attempt to get out, at least look at the worst offenders, and make contact with the resident, either leave material or if it's the collection, they actually roll that cart back with a note on it. There is another option that we are addressing. It may require code change, and we're still working out the details with Republic. And that's where Republic would send a bill to that resident for $10 for the infraction of the contamination. And it could be only like bad contamination as opposed to some minor things.

And then they would send back the city $3 of that. There is an initial period that we would have where education and break in to, you know, get people squared away. But our thought is that three significantly contaminated carts in three months that we would actually remove the cart from the resident, and that if they wanted to recycle again, we would have them attest and go on to our website and say that they've read all the recycling rules.

So to understand, number two would put more pressure on the city and our staff?

So, number two, yes. So the code enforcement, which is, you know, a more formal process, as you all know, so that would be that Republic would send us the information to public works, then we would work with code enforcement.

Right, understood.

Yeah. Yeah, that would require a lot more effort on the city's part.

So number one is Republic would be basically being the code enforcers?

Yes.

Okay. Any comments? Commissioner Whitehill?

I don't like either of them.

Okay.

So I don't want to be boxed into one or two. I find both of those unacceptable options when we're rerolling out recycling.

Anybody else?

I definitely would not be interested in additional staff for code enforcement. And I feel like that with the AI technology that Republic is bringing, will identify those that are contaminating and lose the ability to have their recycling cart. Because we have to put some meat into what we're doing for those that aren't participating, or the habits are not going to change. And that comes all along with the education, too. So, if there are other options to identify those that are contaminating, and either reeducate them, or get their recycling privileges removed, then I'm open to hearing them.

But I feel like the contaminators have to be identified, and it needs to be enforced.

So with the and commission a vice mayor in a second. So with the I'm having a time understanding. So basically, we're going to educate, and if they let's say they fail, the student gets a D or an F, they're having to pay a fee?

Yes.

Okay. Vice Mayor?

So I'm going to put this out. I'm not a fan of having one of our vendors address things with our residents. That's the city's job. So certainly, number one is not feasible, all right? We should be the ones addressing the issue, not our vendors addressing it directly to them. I think that's a cowardly way of going about this. I think that number two needs to be tweaked a little bit, though, for sure.

Commissioner Reilly?

Thank you. Am I to understand that this is optional? Recycling is going to be optional for the

residents? Yes, yes.

So if I'm a resident, and I decide I'm going to recycle, and I'm in violation, and then I want to say, well, this becomes too much, then I'm out. Then I just opt out. So to enforce this, it almost negates the purpose, So I want to this is a hard one to enforce, because it is an optional recycling. You either have it or you don't. And I also have a question about identifying contamination.

Are we actually your AI, does it photograph as the bin is being dumped to identify that? So if there is a violation and a resident says, well, prove it, prove that it was mine, you would actually have the proof to show them.

Yes, ma'am. So, as it goes by, it takes a video and it identifies items as it's being dumped out. It also matches that up with the picture of the resident's house so that there's no confusion of who it is. And the first pass is with the technology, but then we have two rounds of human overlay on top of that, so that we're making sure we're not sending out false bills or anything like that. So that's really the key step in it, the technology is still progressing. You don't want to leave it just up to that. You have several layers of humans reviewing, and I think that's part of the lift and the education, is getting that across

to them. Okay.

Thank Is it one more thing, Austin.

Yes.

So, for example, there's a company that does, you know, bus citations, AI, right? People drive by the bus, you know, a school bus opens up stops, you're taking pictures of AI. A lot of people complain that they're getting the wrong pictures, they're getting wrong addresses, and things, but this is like garbage, garbage, garbage. Like, this stuff is coming out. So, like, how often are we seeing, or are you guys seeing, people getting I know you said there's a two person overlay right after. How many times are we seeing residences getting the wrong infractions, the wrong stuff, and they're having to fight for it, and how often are you seeing that?

So, I'll start by saying there is a customer portal as well as a city portal for reviewing the media as it comes up. And I'll defer that to our technology team who's on the line, they're actually implementing and working through cities with this exact same process. So, for those Republic members on the phone, that would be great for you.

Oh, they're here. Yeah. Oh. Wow, surprise.

Hi everybody. Are you guys able to hear me?

Yes.

Perfect. Yes. I'll just give a little bit of context on some of the cities that have implemented this for recycling. On the contamination side, so post secondary review, we do the AI review and then two layers of human review. After the second layer of human review, our average actual, like, instance rate of customers calling in and complaining about it being a noncontaminated event is currently sitting about 2%.

So out of all the events that we're flagging, only 2% of the time are we getting customers calling in and challenging those. And most of those challenges result in us providing the the video evidence to, one, educate, and then, two, show that it really was contaminated material.

Thank you, voice. Commissioner Rydell?

I'm going to double down on this again. This isn't something we should be giving consensus on, and this isn't something we should be creating a policy on in the start. And I'm going to double down on why. If we're trying to create a new program, and we're trying to change behavior, behavior for the most part, and I'm not trying to be an aegis with that, starts with our kids. We're hoping our kids learn these recycling protocols, learn them in school, and change behavior in households, and are the ones that are saying, mommy, daddy, don't do this, or this goes here, and this goes in this bin. This is totally counterintuitive to doing any of that, any sort of fine based system. Brody's completely Vice Mayor Brody's completely right on it shouldn't it's not on the vendor. And the fact that we're even having a slide that we're gonna fine people for not recycling right after not a robust education effort is lunacy. Because then that person's gonna get a fine. They're gonna be like, screw it.

Right. Here's my bin. See you later. I'll dump it all. It's the worst idea ever. So this slide should be like kicked down the road until we're six months into a program, that if we're able to target somebody

Right.

Then target that person. But we are what we the concept of this, and this is why I hate the one and the two, it's like the eye doctor, is this better or worse? Like, no, I don't want either of them. I want something not here yet, right? And we cannot do that if we're trying to do this right. And this slide isn't doing it right. So I'm not Jeff, I'm going ahead of your thing. There should be no consensus on this. Right. And we should see what the problem is once we have six months of metrics in terms of contamination households, then we could assess how to do it. And hopefully, the partner we choose to have is proactive on that. Sorry to get a little animated, but that's the only way if we're trying to really solve, a, to quote the chair of the Solid Waste Authority, which I hate the fact that I'm going to do, the existential crisis of garbage.

So I'm going to say, Mr. Redell, I'm in agreement with you. I think this is something, if we want to put it as a clause down the line for a contract a year later, once we see real data on this, then we can have that conversation. But I think at the beginning, it's premature, and it's going to scare people off from doing what is the right thing to be doing in the first place, which is recycling. So I think if we start giving threats at the beginning, that's the wrong message.

You know, it's just the wrong message, period. And so that's why I said it needed to be tweaked, because I don't really agree with any of that now. Now, I'm not saying down the line it's not something we can kind of address once we have real data on how much you know, we were talking 2%, but if we're talking it's like 26%, 27% of the an issue, then we can start talking about these things. But I think, yeah, this slide right here, it needs to go bye bye or be buried in a contract for a year to review. But it's not something we should be talking about tonight.

I agree with the Vice Mayor and Commissioner Reidell. I think at twelve to eighteen month you know, I think six months is like it's time, but it's not a bigger big enough, you know, snippet. I would be more inclined to review in twelve to eighteen months to see if this is something that we should implement. But, yeah, I mean, punishing somebody because they didn't do the right thing the right way, it just doesn't make sense to me. So, we'll come back to the consensus on six, because that was kind of our routine here. For number five, let's move on to number six.

So, one of the goals of the Solid Waste Authority is to have source separated yard waste. So yard waste is very recyclable, either from mulch or compost and various other means. So we know that it's coming. Right now, the Solid Waste Authority is scheduling that for fiscal year 'twenty nine. But today we wanted to give you the option to move that up.

There are a couple of piggybacks available. Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale pick up their yard waste separately. And they use facilities that are fairly close by. As anticipation of that, we have negotiated a price with Republic for $5.15 a month collection on that. And that would add, obviously, about $62 a year to the assessment. So the question is whether we want to wait for the SWA or start that before fiscal year 'twenty nine.

I think that it's too much at rolling it out initially back to curbside. And my thinking is, if we're going to revisit the one other item in twelve to eighteen months with the service provider, can this be a piece of it? That would be my recommendation.

MR. Anybody else on the dais to comment on number six? Commissioner Riedel?

MR. I agree with Commissioner Welch. This is we, there's a record of it.

That's quite stupid.

There's a record of it.

All right, excellent. Anybody else? All right, anything else from the team?

No, that's it.

Alright, let's rock and roll. Yes, so let's review. So, let's start backwards. We'll start from number six. The yard waste collection. Do we have a consensus to delay this? What was the timeline on that, Commissioner Welch, that you suggested? Sorry.

I was side barring, and I are you on consensus No, number

we're starting from six because we just talked about it.

Six? No. The timeline is, whatever the same timeline is for introducing the metrics of the contamination and additional finding, or whatever, that it be the same?

Six months. I think we should address five and six in six months. I would say a year. Yeah, but just because we have a conversation about it with data doesn't mean we need to make that decision. We shouldn't kick the can down the road for a year on it. We should have the conversation. And if Mike and our staff believes they have the data and are willing to take a position, it's one thing. And if they don't, as Harry and Mike are So

you're saying six months review, let's have a little data chat. And then, if, you know, then we're not happy, we could still push it to 12. So you're saying, all right, what'd you say, city manager?

My only concern is that on the single family homes, we put the assessments on the property

tax Taxes. It has

to be a year. So, at least as it relates to number six, it would need to be a year.

Well, no. It doesn't need to be a year, because we're talking about reviewing a policy, not changing a policy. So if this was a review of a policy, I would agree, because it's a yearly property assessment. But to discuss it, and to have a conversation where we can be well informed to add to the budget workshop the following year. So, with all due respect, Madam City Manager.

Problem. Alright. Then I would agree with that. Review six months policy change or not twelve.

Alright. So, we're going to say number six, consensus to review in six months. Okay. All right. I was a year I I'm a year for five and six. If there's I mean, I don't know, Commissioner Brody I mean, Vice Mayor Brody, I'm sorry.

So, I have no problem having the conversation in six months, but really the decision needs to be in a year. But there's nothing wrong with having that discussion in six months. But then we'll have some data at least to look at, and we can kind of kick the can down the road six more months or make a decision then. So that's I'm okay with

that. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So, number six, consensus for a six month review. Number five, we have consensus for a six month review. Number four let's go to number four.

This was the valuable commodities, plastic bottles, aluminum cans of bottles, steel cans, cardboard.

Any Number one.

Number All Commissioner Riedel says number one.

Number one.

Number one for Commissioner Welch. Number one. Commissioner Raley, number one.

Number one, but I also want to put on record that I still want the city to use the recycling glass recycling ourselves. Yes.

Okay.

And I echo that, that that has to stay.

All right. So, we have consensus for number one, valuable commodities only, while the city maintains the glass drop off. Correct?

Yes.

All right. Super. All right.

Let's go to number three, distribution of carts. Number one. Number one. Number one.

Oh, well, since our city attorney advised that number two was not a viable option that I was trying to do, then I will vote for number one.

Number one.

All right. We have consensus for full distribution. Every home's getting a cart. Let's go to number two. Jiggybacking on the Hollywood contract or waiting for the SWA. Number one. Commissioner Rattel, number one.

Number one. One. One.

One. Obsesses already there.

Yeah, Obsesses already there. I'm gonna say number two, so I would've been the last man Alright,

number one, we're piggyback. It's kind of a breath of fresh air. Coastal's right around the corner. Yeah, it's kind It's two

properties on Yeah, it's

kind of nice. I mean, I'm number one.

Alright,

And now now let's go to number one, which was which was our hot which was our hot button consensus

this evening.

I'm not At this time, mayor, I'm not prepared to I'll be very candid with you. Was a little, like, troubling, not troubling, but, like, team republic can't even get on the same page with this one. Yep. So before I'm able to give consensus, I'd like to see either the data, pro or con, because we, I asked for that, to make that decision. So I don't know if I am comfortable giving consensus either. Understood.

Commissioner Rose, City Manager Rose, Sheila, what is the timeline if we were, let's say, not to have a consensus on this tonight, we push the can, kick the garbage down the road, what would be the timeline you would need to have this answered by?

There's no reason we couldn't have it in just a couple of weeks, and then we'll include that, and then push the contract to a couple of weeks following that.

Okay. So, it's possible we could put this on, like, to just have a discussion.

Like the second meeting

in May.

And the second meeting in May. Is there any opposition to that,

Commissioner Mayor, Welch? May I ask if Yeah. Ms. Stanley, Joanne, is it possible for you to share any hesitation that you may have had? No, I Or not?

Well, boss is getting up now. No one has any

hesitation. I'm not

the boss. Austin is the boss. No, you know, it's really a matter of choice for you all. I mean, we just know that because you aren't recycling now, you're starting with every other week, it's we figured it'd be more intentional and like, you know, a shock to let everyone say, We're recycling at this point. But we do recycle weekly all throughout the county, too. So, I mean, it's really it's a preference what the commission wants to do. We can do eitheror. We just have, you know, a lot of the cost of recycling has gone up so much, but a lot of the cities, not just in Broward County, but in the country, have gone to every other week just because of the cost of processing and so forth.

Quick cut. Cost versus results.

JESSICA Cost and results, yeah. I mean, yeah. There's a little bit of both.

JESSICA So, thank you, Joe. My only concern with that is this. We've educated our community, right, in Coconut Creek. Everything's weekly. Everything is weekly. Our bulk is weekly. We've paid for that. Other communities don't do that. Our pickup is weekly. When we have recycling, it's been weekly. Everything is on a weekly schedule how we've run it in Coconut Creek. Do you see an implement and that's why I'm geared to weekly. I'm open to the data and to say a random standalone day biweekly, but the education campaign that would have to go into that, tremendous. So I'm just curious your thought on that. And I get you make more money if it's weekly, but I just don't you see some issue with the fact that we have educated our community in terms of a weekly pickup option for so long, and if we're going to flip that?

Yeah. We did this to kind of entice you to go back to curbside pickup, and we figured we'd do that with an every other week, kind of to start to get everybody back into, you know, really paying attention to what they put into the recycle bin. That's really what it was all about, And then the conversation started out with that. So, like I said, it can be eitheror. It's really a preference on you. But I understand weekly, if weekly, if that's what you want to go back to weekly, we can do it, you know, one of the others.

So is the vendor open to a blended contract that could be phased in its approach from a start of maybe weekly, and then a phase down with whatever that contract is? So, mean, Terrell, I'm not trying to, you know, see

How would we phase I mean, we to pick one or the other, because it would we don't want to confuse the residents either.

I'm not trying to confuse residents. I'm trying to talk that if we're doing it if we're reinstituting a program, it should be the most robust program possible. And it should have the ability to, as time, scale down. That would be logical, But, you know, I don't want to get into contract So, negotiations around the

I think we're at the point where we're going to revisit this, consensus number one. Let us, you know, let them get it together. We can all, like, ponder and, you know, reflect. And then we'll come back at the second meeting in May to make our final decision on consensus number one.

And hopefully have a good staff recommendation.

Yes.

Yes. And we'll have a good staff any other thing else from the Commission? Alright. We're going to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

We're The motion to adjourn.

Thank you. We'll see you guys in about, we'll say 07/2002 will start.