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020298 swsE718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4:00 P.M. MEETING February 85 2 1998 The City Commission of the City of Sanford, Florida met in Special Work Session on Monday, February 2, 1998 at 4:00 o'clock p.m. in the City Commission Chambers, City Hall, 300 North Park Avenue, Sanford, Florida. Present: Absent: Commissioner Whitey Eckstein, Vice Mayor Commissioner Velma H. Williams Commissioner Brady Lessard Commissioner Kerry D. Lyons City Manager William A. Simmons City Clerk Janet R. Dougherty Mayor-Commissioner Larry Dale City Attomey William L. Colbert The Chairman called the meeting to order. Ouestions and concerns regarding proposed Solid Waste privatization. City Manager Simmons reported the purpose of this meeting was for the Commission to meet with the employees of the Solid Waste Division to hear the employees concerns and questions in regard to privatization of the Solid Waste Division. Jerry Herman, Public Works Director, reported the employees are scared and nervous about the proposed change. The Solid Waste Division formed a committee consisting of Mr. Herman, Tony Helton, Daryl Udell, Ray Lareaux and Dimitrias Delance to come up with the best proposal possible for the Division to compete in the RFP process. Mr. Herman felt the committee had been quite productive in making significant changes in operation. The two major questions of the employees seem to be "Why?" and "What are we doing wrong?". He reported they really haven't been doing anything wrong and they are working to do things better. The employees have come up with several ways to do the same job with less money. Mr. Herman reported the evaluation process for the proposals needs to be addressed. Typically the department doing the bid reviews the proposals and writes a recommendation, but since the division itself is submitting a bid it causes a conflict. He asked for the Commission's approval to bring in someone from the County, as an outside consultant, to assist the division in preparation of their bid. Anthony Helton, an employee of the Solid Waste Division, asked each Commissioner to express his reason for wanting to privatize. Commissioner Lessard reported that the evaluation of the bids will be determined at a later date. The reason he is looking at privatization is that we are in a new age of government, and the Commission has to look at every City department and make sure the taxpayers of the City are getting the best possible service for the least amount of money. The Solid Waste Division is not doing anything wrong, the only question that needs answered is can they do things more efficiently, or can a private company do it more efficiently. Liability and costs are the two issue that will be considered when evaluating the RFP' s. Commissioner Willjams reported the evaluation process discussion is premature. Privatization is an issue that is being considered by the Commission, and as a Commissioner she is obligated to consider to pros and cons as it relates to benefits to the citizens of Sanford. She is not aware of anything the Division is doing wrong, but she would like the Division to demonstrate how effective they can be compared to the other agencies that will be providing the bids. Privatization is a wave of the times throughout the country, a trend, and whenever anyone presents something that documents that money can be saved, it is something the Commission cannot ignore. E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4:00 P.M. MEETING January 2 19.98 Commissioner Eckstein reported privatization was brought up at a Work Session by one of the Commissioners with the potential of a great deal of cost savings, adding potentially $500,000.00 to $600,000.00 to the General Fund every year. Also, there would be no liability. What the Commission must do is evaluate whether this would be in the best interest of the taxpayers. To mitigate this Mr. Heman could raise the rates, which would bring in more money, but something must be done to make the Division more cost effective. Commissioner Eckstein reported the Commission has agreed that for anyone in the Solid Waste Division who has less than ten years of service and is not vested, the City would set aside money to vest them so they would not lose their service time. The Commission will also consider whether or not the private sector can offer the employees jobs with more benefits than the City. The decision will be purely economics. Commissioner Williams reported the Commission has not made a decision, and as an individual she has not made a decision, and when she does it will be a decision that she makes, not one that someone has made for her or manipulated her to make. Commissioner Lyons reported the level of service should remain the same no matter who is awarded the bid. He is personally for privatization and this department was the first one to be looked at because waste privatization has been one of the main departments privatized. What he would like to see is the City developing a policy to look at privatization issues and look at what the operating costs are right now. He felt the department is efficient on the streets, but needs to reduce costs and be able to compete with the private companies. Mr. Helton asked if any of the Commissioners have ever asked Mr. Herman what the Division. is doing to save money' now, what have they have done in the past, and what they plan on doing in the future. Commissioner Williams reported she has never asked Mr. Herman, but she expects him to come to her and report to the Commission those things he has done. Commissioner Eckstein stated Mr. Herman has reported to the Commission what he has done in the past year, and the money he has made, and that money is going to go into Capital Improvements. The ongoing capital structure of the Solid Waste Division is very expensive, so the money it makes goes into buying tracks, etc. The way the citizens are going to evaluate the Division is the cost per month, and that figure has not come down. Mr. Herman reported the Division does not want to publicize its proposals for cutting costs before the RFP is bid because it does not want to give the advantage to other vendors. Commissioner Williams reported it would be to Mr. Herman's advantage to reveal his proposal to each Commissioner individually, not necessarily publicly, and Mr. Herman said he did not have a problem with that. Commissioner Williams asked if there were reasons why the City shouldn't privatize. Mr. Helton reported the Division offers the City the best service, the customers couldn't get better service anywhere. They are making cut-backs and they have made money in the past two years. He asked why the Commission didn't privatize when the Division was not making money, but is trying to do it now when the Division is making money? They have more cut-backs they can make, and there is more they can do to be more efficient (which they are trying to do now), and the private company has nothing on the Division. The Division offers a lot better service as far as the bulk pickup items, and gives a lot of free service. They "sweep" streets frequently and "eat" the cost, a private company would not do that. Commissioner Eckstein reported the Mayor voiced a concern over the liability aspect of the Division, that is a big consideration. Mr. Herman reported that the track record for the Waste Division as to comprehensive claims has been E718672 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 87 4:00 P.M. MEETING February 2 19-- 98 excellent, about one or two major claims in the past twenty years. Commissioner Eckstein reported that the potential is there for someone to get hurt, and if the Division was privatized it is something the City would not have to worry about. Darrell Eudell, as a representative of the employees, reported it appears some of the Covmnissioners already have their minds made up to privatize, and asked who originally initiated the privatization issue (one of the Commissioners or City Manager Simmons). The Commission reported the decision has not been made by anyone, and the issue was initiated during a goal setting session in a Work Session of the Commission. It was not brought to the Commission by Mr. Simmons, that is not his job. His job is to come up with data and methods of incorporating ideas. The employees were informed that if they need to know who initiated the issue that information is available in the minutes. [Mayor Dale joined the meeting at 4:45 p.m. and took the gavel.] Other concerns expressed by Mr. Helton, Alvin Olmedo, Ray A. Lareau, Johnny Miller, James Meyers, John Chermick, JoAnn Legge and other employees were: a private company may pay more in wages in the beginning, but will start getting rid of employees after a year or so. Also, the employees may not be able to meet the qualifications to be hired by the private company. They employees reported at this time they have the protection of the Civil Service which they wouldn't have with a private hattier. Another concern is the toss of the opportunity to buy combat time after vesting. The employees wanted assurance that if positions became available in other departments of the City, they would have~n oppommity to transfer to those positions. The employees questioned if all private hattiers' backgrounds would be investigated, and what happens if there is a strike? The Mayor reported that it has not been his experience that private haulers fire employees after a year if the employee is doing his job. The City would have contractual oversight on any private hauler, and would make sure that all employees had the opportunity to continue to work, possibly with better pay and benefits, as long as they do the job as they are now. If there were a handful that would not be hired, the City would give them first consideration for other positions in the City. The vesting issue will also be addressed in the contract. The Mayor assured the employees that a private hauler would be investigated before a contract was signed with them, and the City would make sure the employees' wages, benefits, etc. would be protected. If the hauler would strike, it would be up to each individual whether to strike or not. The Commission assured the employees that privatization was not a punishment, and no one is out to do away with jobs. The employees expressed discomfort at the 'attendance of outside haulers at this meeting. They felt they were inhibited to speak freely about some of their fears because one of those in attendance may be their future boss. The Commission explained that this is a public meeting in the Sunshine and anyone had the right to attend. The employees agreed it was a public meeting but did not feel the haulers should have been given individual notice of the meeting. City Manager Simmons reported this notice was given per request of the haulers. The Mayor stated that any employee who wanted to could talk to the members of the Cmmission individually about their concems. Nell Snow, a resident of Kaywood, spoke on behalf of four anonymous employees. She reported the employees in the Solid Waste Division give excellent service, are quiet, careful, gracious, cooperative, pleasant and friendly. Also, the containers some private haulers use are much too heavy and cumbersome for some people to handle. She reported that by reducing the force by attrition and reducing the number of pick-ups per week the Division could decrease costs. Also, the streets could be "swept" less frequently. 88 E718~72 MINUTES City Commission, Sanford, Florida 4:00 P.M. MEETING February JoAnn Legge, secretary for the Solid Waste Division, asked when Commissioner Lyons would announce his conflict of interest and submit a conflict of interest form. Commissioner Lyons reported he has previously announced this and that he would file the proper papers when a vote was taken by the Commission, and abstain from voting. The Commission assured the employees that a decision has not yet been made on this issue, and when it is made it will be based on what is best. The private haulers that were in attendance at the meeting introduced themselves as follows: Bob Hyers with Jennings Environmental, Jim Swan with Jennings Environmental, Thomas Daly with Disposal and a representative from Republic. Mayor Dale announced Amnesty Day will be held February 8, 1998 at the Central Transfer Station on County Road 419 through the Seminole County Solid Waste. There being no further business, the meeting was adjoumed. Attest: