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Updated, 10 a.m.
NORWALK, Conn. – City Carting has been chosen to be the company that picks up Norwalk's garbage if the controversial plan to outsource collection wins approval of the Common Council next week.
The company was selected Thursday by a panel that included five city employees and two councilmen – one Democrat and one Republican – according to a memorandum written by Department of Public Works Director Hal Alvord and posted on the city's website. A special meeting of the council's Public Works Committee will be held Tuesday to allow public comment.
Councilman David Watts (D-District A), a vocal opponent of the plan to outsource, called the public hearing meeting a "sham" in an email, and said that, at this point, Republicans have the votes to ratify a contract and go to outsourcing.
Common Councilman David McCarthy (R-District E), chairman of the committee, said that he had moved the meeting to July to avoid a criticism made by Democrats that it was being done while people are on vacation. He thought it "unfortunate" that Watts' characterization of the meeting as a "sham" made its way to the public. "I pushed the schedule to make the discussion fall into July...and for some reason this is a sham?" he asked in an email.
Although 10 firms expressed an interest in picking up Norwalk's garbage, only Finnochio Brothers and City Carting submitted bids. The panel making the decision consisted of Alvord, DPW Operations Manager Lisa Burns, Management and Budget Director Bob Barron, Assistant Corporation Counsel Diane Beltz-Jacobson, Common Councilman David McCarthy (R-District E) and Common Councilman Bruce Kimmel (D-District D).
Finnochio Brothers remained firm during the negotiating process, Alvord wrote in his memo.
"City Carting proposed the more attractive prices in both its base proposal and its alternative value-added proposal and negotiated revisions as a result of the City counter-offer," Alvord wrote.
The contract being considered with City Carting would begin Oct 1 and extend through June 30, 2023, according to the memorandum posted on the city's website. The contract will save the city $855,328 in its first full year, according to Alvord's memo.
In addition, City Carting will switch to single-stream recycling on July 1, 2013, and provide 64-gallon recycling toters to all properties at its cost.
Other amendments include a change in the rate the company charges at the transfer station.
Alvord wrote that the first full year of savings for the city is more than $1.2 million. "Over the lives of the proposed actions, the city of Norwalk will experience cash flow savings of nearly $17 million," he wrote. "At Norwalk’s current discount rate, these savings have a net present value of $14.5 million."
The current contract with City Carting expires Dec. 31, 2018. The new contract will expire on June 30, 2023.
"I cannot see how any council person could possibly vote against saving the city almost $17 million over the next 10 years," McCarthy said in an email.
The public hearing will be at 7:30 p.m. in Room 231 at City Hall, 125 East Ave.
Comments (15)
What's next? Outsourcing snow plowing also? How about we lay off the police and hire Securitas Security. Why don"t we put Hal on the City Carting payroll.
Securitas Security.
Would be better than the NPD
I cannot see how any council person could possibly vote against saving the city almost $17 million over the next 10 years," McCarthy said in an email.
WHY BECAUSE IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN..ITS A SHAM
MORE BACK ROOM DEALS
they cant even pick up my recycling now still out there from last night! i think they should do random drug tests on their drivers as well. are they going to police their drivers like the city does?
You are so right. The driver of the recycling truck on my street had his rap blasting up and down the road...Would never see this with the city garbage men. Thia is bad idea that Moccia the Moron is pushing.
Until the Common Council votes to authorize the contract to outsource, all City Carting has won is the bid to perform the work. While I support the single-stream recycling and standardized garbage containers, the only way Norwalk can achieve cost savings in garbage collection is to reduce the amount of garbage collected and shipped out. That's where the costs are. It seems irresponsible to to have the same company in charge of collecting both recyclables and land-fillables. There is no profit incentive then to increase recyclables which are more costly to collect and decrease land-fillables which are a profit center to the company charged with hauling away the trash.
I hope that the Common Council members realize that there are no savings to be had in the macro if there is no legal obligation to reduce the overall amount of garbage shipped out. Note that when the DPW director claimed that public garbage receptacles supported by advertising would save the city money, it did not. Note that litter throughout the city is increased. Note that the policy to enforce litter and garbage collection in proper receptacles is ignored. The Common Council would be outsourcing its fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers if it in fact votes to out source the management of garbage collection. You can't manage what you don't know, and you should have at hand the collection tonnage for recycling and garbage for the past 5 years.
outstanding observation,this is where trash diversion reports has never been done or even talked about in Norwalk.There was a time you couldn't send paper anyplace no one wanted it 2 years ago.It is cheaper and more cost effective for the hauler to just throw the days take in the trash from all those blue bins.
In part I agree with your post but not for all the same reasons.
Crime is generated for us who live in residential areas where collectors of cans and bottles first open the bottles of wine and hard spirits and drink them in front of our homes in other words the last swig in the container.Push their shopping carts full of returns until they spot a open garage or decide to go behind our homes and beat the honset collectors or those who need the extra cash for the familiy.Its a wonderful life to have to gaurd your blue bin and your trash until pickup.Its amazing what goes on in most areas of the city,from miners hat lights to bic butane to see whats in the bucket then you have those who empty contents on te street go thru your trash and leave a mess behind.
NO POLICE ACTION NO LAW ON THE BOOKS IN NORWALK PREVENTING RECYCLE THEFT yet most cities and towns do have a bylaw to enforce.So yes I agree on this thought we need to enhance collection,myself and many others refuse to use the bucket it draws undesirables like flies to City Cartings contracts.Thanks to an East Norwalk councilor the first round of dealings with Carting was nothing more than a joke glad she is gone yet I sincerly miss her she was smart she was able to talk to and knew what she was talking about unlike the deli lady.
Single stream was ignored Hal he was making money on blue buckets so that was denied to the taxpayer before it hit paper.
You go on any given day to the transfer station and there are blue buckets in the plastic dumpster so maybe more are convinced its a waste of time or just a magnet for trouble new buckets will bring even more trouble imagine a 64 galon bucket of returns?Yes there are those who are committed to helping their city and there will be cans to turn in.
What was the cost of these containers and can you still use whatever works instead?Of course not City Carting will not allow it check with other cities I have its a mess.
The litter is also caused by trash trucks going to the transfer stations the same is the case for oil an other fluids that drip off of flatbeds going to Lajoies it goes unchecked but by now you know I have pictures they work they tell the story check TOPIX.
Maybe you would know does the city get money to recycle from grants stop the blue bins you stop money coming into the city.
One other point there are reports that show its a wash to pick up any size bucket as not cost effective unless there is another source paying for the pickup.
No one no where can anyone be forced to join the program there are many ways to save the earth and not give Norwalk your trash in fact we should be able to bring it ourselves to the transfer station and sort it ourselves. most of us have to go anyways some things like tvs and vacumes are not allowed on pickup day only but a few times a year.I'm willing to stop my regular pickup for the year and take my money and buy a cop or a light post for the front of Dunkin North main st and see my investment into the city like you said there is no big brother making sure its done right.
64 gallon sounds great if you live in a complex and are not made to use the bucket,enough already take me off the pickup list.You think this isn't going to be special bucket to pickup with special design only for a truck to pickup?This bucket doesn't get picked up by the driver its a system so,forget using your own container.Why have yours stolen unless it comes with insurance.Sounds like not telling us what the bucket costs is again Moccia math.
litter law but no stealing recycle law isn't that the cart before the horse? Norwalk will fine the victim for litter created by a trash diver,poor Tom like he needs any more enforcable laws when the ones we have and generally ignored.
Its like everything else in Norwalk taking the meters off washington st in front of Linda's Republican headquarters so there is no obstruction to her banners and providing quick parking to run in and out (no parking signs are in place) and then having no handicap parking spaces in front of the post offices seems self serving in one case and ignoring the needs and wants of the residents to poor planning with the other example.
Or is it just greed and playing favorites that has made the city the way it is?
What a surprise !!
This was predicted here a long time go, back when campaign contributions were being discussed. When Alvord first advocated giving them a ten year contract to haul city trash, about five years ago, he predicted the city would make a lot of money, even after paying five million to lease City Carting transfer site on Meadow St and let City Carting Co operate a regional trash and recycling business with Norwlk getting some of the proceeds from recycling, but not metals recycling. There were public hearings and a lot of questions. City Carting got a five year contract to only operate the city transfer station on crescent st. When the question was raised at one of the hearings/council meetings if any investigation had been done to insure the city was not doing business with organized crime, in view of recent federal convictions of James Galante and others for racketeering in the trash business in CT and NY, the mayor was upset by the question and refused to answer it.
Once again Alvord heaps praise on City Carting Co and will advocate giving them another 10 year contract which takes the city out of the business of trash collection. Many of us are skeptical of Alvord's numbers and opposed to the concept of privatizing another city service. The question of organized crime connections has not been answered, but a name involved at City Carting Co is reputed to be connected with several of the people convicted with Galante and was specifically named as someone who could NOT be part of a contract City Carting got with Westchester county because of his history with organized crime figures.
First step in the process of collecting our garbage will be a requirement to use standard 64gallon containers, designed, of course, to eliminate the need for three men on each truck as the required containers are made to be dumped into the truck by a hydraulic handler. This system has proved quite effective in other places and trucks may well be one man operations where the drivers get off at each stop and operate the container handlers. The question arises why didn't Alvord try that before choosing to privatize ? One can only speculate about possible conflicts of interest.
It looks like this is all but a done deal. However, whomever is in charge of this on the City side better make sure that the drivers take SAFETY into consideration as opposed to the Recycling Collection drivers. We will not tolerate the speeding or reckless driving, or lack of concern for safety from CITY Carting. In the last year the recycling trucks in the Wolfpit area have hit 2 cars. They speed down our blocks, stop short constantly and have very little regard for the residents. So, we will be watching and if they even sneeze the wrong way the City will hear about it. My kids, and other residents really like the guys that pick up our trash every Thursday! They are courteous, friendly love the kids if they drop something they pick it up. They truly care about our neighborhoods and community. I truly hope the city does the right thing by them. We give them gifts every holiday season because of the little things they do. I hate this outsourcing and really hope the service level that has been set doesn't fall.
We will be watching!
Lets not drag this on any longer McCarthy had a big stick and showed Dick he could handle this job.Now the city wil be held hosatage to any demand City Carting wants to make.Pushing it down the throats of those who have seen what private work in Norwalk is all about.
Norwalk should now see where we can save some money in Rowyaton they voted him in.
Lets close or take over the Rowaton post office
start charging for false alarms in Rowyaton and audit the baily beach intake of funds as to the spending of tose funds
close the Rowyaton post office or meter the parking they have the money to pay for parking along city owned city maintained streets
Lets start selling passes to Rowyaton beaches its as nice as calf pasture
Lets start having bus service in Rowyaton,they could use the extra people going to the Rowyaton train station where many cars including this wek have been broken into,not for nothing all those kids going to NCC coud get off in Rowyaton and a short trip to campus,the not in our backyard needs to stop that bridge work and all the other perks Rowyaton gets thru all of out taxes should be enjoyed by all of us not the chosen now should residents of Norwalk be discouraged to use Rowyaton perks paid for by all the taxpayers.
Lest show Rowyaton Dave has brough more than enough attention to a hamlet ripe for picking taking back what Norwalk gives each year hell they can shoulder the cost or thier own services given to them by the city.
Hal uses the street sweepers to pick up leaves once you rake them to the curb costing the city mega monet to replace brushes way before if they were used right,yes why can we all rake our leabes to the curb like the Norwalk Rowyaton taxpayers do.
Lest close Rowyaton school or make it bigger and send all the kids in South Norwalk there its time to pay the price of an exclusive school or send their kids to a real school,as it is 1/2 of the school is A/C those new trailors from FEMA have a cloud of environmental problems to them in other cities how did Norwalk get good ones?
Radon was found in the Rowyaton School and since the gas was found and a system was put in there has been no line item for additional testing against Industry standard in the Radon world folks are those kids safe?Lets ask Dave McCarthy what his plan is to spend more money in testing.Once radon is found at such levels and exposes children that clearly have small lungs I would hate to have have not pointed it out to those who have children there that it could of been an issue unchecked.But where there was enough documentation showing a problem ,parents need to be assured proper operation of the system has to be maintained over the years.Now a service plan should be looked at to see when the last testing was done,ther shoukd of been so far two testings radon does not go away in most cases and additional cracks in the foundation for a building that old only suggests trouble is brewing.
Lest ask Dave about the contamination levels of Village creek all the way to Darien and why a no shellfish ban has been in place for years and likely wil be for years to come,dirt removed recently under Dave McCarthys watch had shown contamination in some Rowyaton areas as well as in some shellfish.Contamination has no wealth boundries why havn't we heard from the DPW group whats going on,someone certainly knows the truth maybe no one told Dave about the ongoing problem lets hear from him he clearly has become a trash expert maybe he can now focus on other issues that brought him into public service.
Has Dave saved money for Norwalk to earmark for Rowyaton guess we will see,until then I'm sure there will be a concentrated effort to
to shoot holes in my post,I had children in Rowyaton all 6 of them went there so don't try and tell me Radon was not and still isn't an issue.
Ken: Come to the meeting and we can get that explained in detail for you. In a nutshell, the positions in the Highway Dept have been held open for them. In past years the funding for those positions was used to fund overtime or some other manner of getting the work associated with those positions done. Now it will be used to pay them to do the work. So, there is potentially some efficiency there as well (i.e. we won't be paying overtime or contractors, so it could be cheaper to get things done)
what are the buckets going to cost 64 gallons?
if we are saving that much money why not give us the buckets I'm sure at the suggested price there will be widespread theft among the profit in confusion mentality.
How much money does Norwlk get to pick its recycle stream from the state or feds?
Why has City Carting been allowed to store up to 8 dump trailors of 70,000 pounds of rotting garbage that can emit a smell sitting there from friday night to sunday that effects Village creek to Meadow gardens and Meadow st residents have you even been told about the stink most council members have gone for themselves and can confirm in your next meeting the area smells like crap all the time
What do you know about the removal of dirt along Meadow st it was a DPW matter wasn't it?Was any contamination found from Lajoies after the last fire at lajoies like the previos 25 fires?
So many questions now you have taken care of business lets move on what else are can you help us all with?
Why does it cost Norwalk $30 an hour to cut grass around the pumping stations,even local youth workers by the city could cut grass can't they at $9 an hour lets start looking at private conractorsa who work for the parking dept ever really see what goes on there?
So city carting will come in on Sundays and pick up rubbish from the Oyster fest and Sono during peak periods for the same $ must of been a great contract with a lot of loopholes some think.Lets see the contract let us see what insight was given to those who need the service and might be charged extra,seems there have been a lot of strings in other cities City Carting have been and also been asked to leave.
Trust in your elected officials has not been easy to attain when the books are cooked and given out as gospel by department heads.
When the city entertains trash consultants from New England and the public sees a paid lobby working for the city it all seems to stink.
Even here on the Daily a paid ax from Boston leaves a comment on an article on the contract telling us all we are misinformed on our trash cost you have to wonder what is at stake,maybe not many saw it but a lot of us did the research the guy met with Norwalk years ago moving to this outcome that simply shows that the backroom was working overtime.Leaves a rotten taste behind knowing this was in the works long before you were came and it shows its not just this contract that was pushed tru.The deal was made behind closed doors some suggest before you came were you just a vehicle for such dirty work.
One quick question did City Carting install an illegal storm drain on the property on Meadow st,ought to be easy for you to find out and tell us no it went thru the DPW hands.Village creek is a great area in Norwalk seems a lot has transpired there leaving some with questions and no answers by the city.
I'm sure by now the Republicans have a damage control center on this issue,money will be made taxpayers will be asked to give a little more and when the price skyrockets you will be gone.
When its cheaper to throw away a load of recycle that to process it will Norwalk still have someone in place making sure the city is protected?
The story makes it sound like the containers will be supplied "at it's cost". I think the it means City Carting Co, but I would not bet on it.
The neighborhood people most affected by those trailers full of garbage should be complaining, loud,clear, and often, to DEEP and to local police and health depts. If the trailers were properly covered with airtight covers, and the trailers were washed every so often, a lot of that stink would not get carried all over the neighborhood.
I'm not sure how I can understand how this will save us money if we dont let the current guys doing the pickup go. If we just move them to different departments and keep them on the payroll it would seem that it would cost more than before since we still pay them AND will be paying city carting.