Contract for Carson City waste management outlined

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved the request for proposal for Carson City’s next waste management provider.

The current waste management contract expires in a year and the city needs to have a vendor selected and a contract in place by the end of 2018 in order for new service to launch by July 1, 2019.

The RFP outlines the terms of service and includes mandatory pickup with an exemption; bi-weekly, single-stream recycling; on-call bulk waste disposal; green waste pickup service; choice of animal-proof containers; and a requirement for a local service office in Carson City.

Residential customers can be exempted from mandatory pickup if they provide receipts proving they’re using the landfill for waste disposal. In the first year, residents will need to provide six months of receipts, and 12 months thereafter, a change suggested by Supervisor Lori Bagwell.

Bagwell also wanted to ensure there was a dispute resolution mechanism for customers.

“It’s me,” said Rick Cooley, construction manager, Public Works. “I am the contract administrator. This information will get pushed out to all the customers in the initial rollout.”

The franchise fee the operator will pay the city is 8 percent of gross billings net of surcharge fees billed each month. The city will dedicate 3 percent to roads maintenance to mitigate the impact of the trucks.

Public Works plans to issue the RFP next week, assuming all the changes can be incorporated into the final document in time. Proposals will be due Aug. 7, and a final agreement sent to the board for approval at its Dec. 6 meeting.

The other two big items on the board’s agenda were pulled. The supervisors were supposed to consider rezoning and creating a specific plan area for 26.89 acres of Lompa Ranch south of 5th Street at the east end of Railroad Drive.

Residents in the area all spoke out in opposition to the changes at the May meeting of the Planning Commission, which recommended both the rezoning and specific plan to the board.

Residents main concern is traffic because Railroad Drive is currently the only way to access the site. The plan would require a developer to provide emergency secondary access, which would become a full access road if traffic at Railroad Drive and Saliman Road created a problem.

But, the property is an island surrounded by existing ranch land to the north and by land owned by the Nevada Department of Transportation to the south, who may not allow the needed right of way to build a road.

At the board meeting, Michael Railey, partner, Rubicon Design Group, representing Blackstone Development Group, requested the two items be postponed until the developer could hold a neighborhood meeting with residents to see if some of their concerns could be mitigated first.

The board discussed at length a contract between Serenity Mental Health and the Carson City Juvenile Services Department.

In 2017, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill appropriating $98,280 to the First Judicial District for mental health and/or substance abuse services for juveniles. Initially, juvenile services requested a full-time employee to provide the service, but the city’s internal finance committee turned it down and told the department to contract for it so the program could be assessed before the city committed to a new staff position.

At the board meeting, Mayor Bob Crowell advocated for an in-house clinician.

“We ought to be talking about a full-time employee,” said Crowell. “My own view is this is an important issue our community and we need to address it.”

In the end, the supervisors approved a one-year contract with Serenity, which could be extended to two years once the city evaluates the program.

The board also allocated $150,500 in Community Support Services Grant funding for fiscal year 2019 to 16 programs, including Meals on Wheels and Arts in the Park, and approved $1.4 million in redevelopment spending, including on Nevada Day, Epic Rides, and the farmer’s market, and on incentives to Michael Hohl Inc., and Richard Campagni car dealerships.

The board and the Carson City School District Board of Trustees held a joint meeting in the evening.