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City staff recommends hybrid Republic billing, proposes $14.94 base rate and voluntary recycling option
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Summary
City staff recommended a four‑year renewal with Republic for solid‑waste services that would keep base billing with the city ($14.94/month) while moving voluntary recycling and extra containers to Republic billing ($6.85 and $5/month respectively); commissioners raised concerns about transition, enforcement and service capacity.
City staff recommended the commission approve a hybrid contract model for solid‑waste billing that would keep the city responsible for a base service while Republic Services would bill customers directly for voluntary recycling and any additional containers.
Josh, a city staff member leading negotiations, told commissioners the recommended base service would be $14.94 per month per customer and that recycling — if a household opts in — would be $6.85 per month with pickup every two weeks. He added additional containers would cost $5 per container per month and staff were proposing a four‑year contract extension, through June 30, 2030, to secure pricing and align the city’s terms with the county contract.
Why it matters: city staff said the hybrid model would reduce administrative burden on codes enforcement and clean up billing issues that have arisen with past attempts to fully transfer billing to the vendor. Josh said the approach “would clean up a lot of our billing issues” and allow Republic to bill directly for optional services while the city retained the base account relationship.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about customer impact and service capacity. One commissioner noted residents currently pay $16.67 for a base package that includes one garbage and one recycling container; staff said the proposed base would be lower but that households wanting more capacity would either add another garbage can or contract separately with Republic. Commissioners also asked how the transition would be handled and how data would be transferred; staff warned other jurisdictions experienced a two‑to‑three month transition period with notable issues during data migration.
What’s next: staff said they would draft contract amendment language with Republic and return to the commission with the final document for approval. No final contract vote was recorded at this meeting; the discussion produced a clear staff recommendation that the commission can act on at a future session.
