The North Royalton City Council approved a new contract with Rumpke Waste & Recycling Services, opting to continue with the same type of service that is currently in place.
The current contract with Rumpke Waste and Recycling Services will conclude on May 1. Under that contract, Rumpke has been manually collecting the solid waste rubbish, with the recyclable material being collected in an automated method. That contract started in 2017 as a five year contract with a two year option, which brings it up to April 30, 2024. The total annual cost of the previous five year contract was $7,700,927.00.
Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz and Council have been discussing the options for rubbish/recycling removal since the bid openings on February 28. The bids included the following options: Automated Collection of Solid Waste and Recyclable Materials Weekly; Automated Collection of Solid Waste Weekly and Recyclable Materials Bi-Weekly; Manual Collection of Solid Waste and Automated Collection of Recyclable Materials Weekly; and Manual Collection of Solid Waste Weekly and Automated Collection of Recyclable Materials Bi-Weekly. Council then narrowed the options down to the two weekly options. Two ordinances proposing the five-year contracts were introduced at the March 20 City Council Meeting. One ordinance accepted the Rumpke Bid for Automated Collection of Solid Waste and Recyclable Materials Weekly for an amount not to exceed $12,416,357.26. The second piece of legislation was an ordinance accepting the bid of Rumpke for Manual Collection of Solid Waste and Automated Collection of Recyclable Materials Weekly at a cost not to exceed $12,676,397.26.
Both measures were placed on second reading for further discussion, which took place at the April 2 meeting. Council members said that the residents’ reactions were mixed, with some wanting the service to remain as is, while others liked the fully automated option. Several Council members said that residents expressed concern over the cost of the service. Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz and Council discussed the problem with having only one bidder. He said that one reason could be that it could take a new company almost a year in order to convert the city to a fully automated option. He speculated that if the service continued in its current state, that the city could find itself in the same position at the end of the new contract. He did say, however, that if that was the case, then the city might go to bid a year prior to the end of that contract.
City Council approved an ordinance 6-0 that accepted the bid of Rumpke Waste & Recycling Services for solid waste collection, disposal and automated recycling services at the April 2 City Council Meeting. Ward 6 Council Rep Mike Wos was absent. The new contract will cover a period of five years with a two year option. The ordinance approved an amount not to exceed $12,416,357.26.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer