DOVER — A local sanitation services company will be picking up an estimated 9,186 cans for the city of Dover following the city council meeting Monday night.
The city’s curbside recycling services contract now belongs to BFI Waste Services, LLC (Republic Services of Delmar), based out of Felton, after council voted unanimously 8-0 in favor of the company’s bid proposal at City Hall.
“I thought (the bid proposal process) went well,” said Donna Mitchell, acting Dover City Manager. “The current vendor (Inland Waste Solutions, LLC) chose not to bid.”
A large portion of Mrs. Mitchell’s recent job has been getting the city’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget in order.
One thing that Mrs. Mitchell had already told city council members to expect in the upcoming fiscal budget was an increase in sanitation service fees for the city’s residents.
So it was no surprise that sanitation services for Dover residents will jump from around $17 to $21 per month, a 23.5 percent increase to cover cost of service, during the next fiscal year.
The contract with Republic Services of Delmar, which will cost the city around $413,370 in fiscal year 2018, is for three years with the option to extend for two additional one-year periods.
The city had $295,800 in its budget for curbside recycling services in FY 2018, based on its prior contract.
“We will be adjusting some of the other operations in that department to make up the difference so that we will still be within our budget,” Mrs. Mitchell said.
The city’s current contract with Inland Waste Solutions, LLC, will expire on July 31.
However, an early contract termination date of June 30 has been requested by the contractor.
So Republic Services of Delmar will begin its service to Dover residents no later than Aug. 1, but could actually start as early as July 1, depending on that potential contract termination.
During the city’s evaluation of proposals, Republic Services of Delmar received an evaluated score of 83 and beat out proposals submitted by Waste Industries of Delaware, LLC (Townsend), which was graded at a 75, and Waste Management of Delaware, Inc. (Wilmington), which received a score of 60.
Republic Services of Delmar did qualify for a three percent price evaluation reduction due to the local vendor preference rule 2.
City Councilman Bill Hare expressed some concern that Republic Services of Delmar’s bid came in at a much lower figure than its two competitors.
The estimated annualized costs for the first year of the curbside recycling services contract for Republic Services of Delmar are $400,968.90.
For Waste Management of Delaware, Inc., those costs were $468,486 and for Waste Industries of Delaware, LLC, they were $468,118.56.
“One of my concerns is (Republic Services of Delmar) was the lowest bidder by about $70,000 over the other two,” Mr. Hare said. “I don’t want to see us get in the same kind of situation where we were with what we’ve got now, who was the lowest bidder, but provided probably the worst service.
“I’m just bringing that up, because the least expensive isn’t always best and I don’t want to see us getting into something that we don’t change what we’ve got now. It’s just a concern, that’s all.”
Mrs. Mitchell said she has confidence that, following the bidding process, Republic Services of Delmar has shown it can handle the job.
“Based on what we have today and what we’re understanding is we’ve checked the references of this company further, I don’t think there is going to be any problem,” Mrs. Mitchell said.