Lee's Summit committee advances plan to seek bids for citywide residential trash service

The Lee's Summit Public Works Committee voted Sept. 8 to advance to City Council a draft request for proposals for a citywide residential solid-waste collection contract covering curbside single-family and qualifying multifamily units.

Michael Park, director of public works, told the committee the RFP would seek proposals for an initial five-year contract with up to three two-year renewals, include weekly trash, recyclables and yard-waste service, quarterly bulky-item pickup and an amnesty week after Christmas. Park said annual price adjustments would be tied to the consumer price index with a 4% cap and that the initial price returned by vendors would set the 2027 base rate.

Mike Anderson, deputy director of public works, said the RFP would require new uniform containers (95- and 65-gallon options, 95-gallon default), a QR code on each container linking to city information, and that containers would become city-owned at the end of the contract. Anderson said current privately owned containers would be offered back to existing haulers; containers not collected would be repurposed by third parties identified by the city.

The proposal would allow optional features: a three- to nine-month "snowbird" suspension of service, a senior discount tied to the city property-tax freeze (self-reported by property owners), and additional bulky-item pickups for a fee. Anderson said reasonable accommodations must be provided for residents who cannot place carts at the curb; the RFP will require contractors to make arrangements but not prescribe an at-the-door paid service. The city will not include apartment or commercial collection in this RFP, and existing HOA contracts would remain in force.

Council members focused on customer-service capacity, billing and accountability. Council member Hodges asked how the city would ensure a contractor had sufficient customer-service staff for roughly 26,000 homes; Anderson said proposals must include a project approach describing staffing, call handling and how routes would be organized and that project approach would be part of the evaluation.

Staff proposed a detailed set of performance metrics and associated liquidated damages. Examples presented by staff included: $500 per incident for violations of local, state or federal regulations; $250 for failure to clean up contractor-caused leakages or spills within one business day; $100 for failure to maintain vehicles or equipment; $250 for failure to provide requested reports; a free month of service to a customer for missed collections not remedied within 24 business hours; and escalating damages for prolonged, systemic failure (illustrated by staff as $50,000 plus daily penalties in extreme, multi-day service failures). Park said penalties are intended to incentivize performance, not to generate revenue, and committee members asked staff to recommend where collected penalties would be deposited and how funds would be used.

Council members also asked about exceptions for weather and other force majeure events. Anderson said the contract would allow exceptions when the contractor provides timely notification to customers and the city; staff would include explicit language for rare multi-day events.

On procurement and evaluation, staff proposed weighting project approach (30%), experience and qualifications (20%) and cost (50%) but noted council could set different weights. Anderson said staff had studied comparable contracts and would allow proposals from single vendors or partnerships; the RFP would allow subcontracting but the city can prescribe minimum percentages of work to be performed by the prime contractor if council wishes.

Public comments earlier in the meeting reflected the debate: Brian Jones and Rody Taylor, local haulers, warned consolidation could put small haulers out of business; Bill Christie and other commenters said consolidation could reduce duplicate truck miles and save money and wear on streets. Anderson and city staff pointed to outreach they conducted with haulers, HOAs and the Solid Waste Task Force and said the RFP attempt seeks flexibility so smaller firms can propose partnerships or zone-based approaches.

Staff recommended the RFP be advertised as early as late November, open proposals in January and return a recommendation to council by February; contract startup, if approved, would be no earlier than July 2027 and no later than June 30, 2028, in keeping with statutory timing requirements. The committee agreed to forward the RFP package to full council for consideration.

"This gives us the opportunity to evaluate service and cost carefully," Park said. "If the proposals don't provide the value expected, the city retains discretion not to award a contract."