• Current yard debris and leaves receiving contracts with four vendors, three are set to expire on May 31, 2024 and one was approved for extension on November 6, 2023 through Staff Report 199-23.

• Four new proposed contracts would replace the three expiring contracts (C-100336, C-100337, C-100338), which shall no longer have any effect, and bring on one additional vendor with an effective date of January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2028.
• The City’s Public Works Solid Waste and Operations programs and services rely on contracts with multiple vendors to provide disposal options and support the City’s climate and diversion goals. These contracts also enable the City to deliver cleanup programs to neighborhoods and residents, such as the fall leaves coupons.
• Contracting with multiple vendors assures convenient and accessible local sites to all residents of the City and to crews regardless of where they may be working.
• In any given year, City Operations crews and residents must address between 34,000 and 44,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris in the form of pruning, mowing, gardening, weeding, and storm related debris.
• Diverting organic material from the landfill for composting helps moderate disposal costs and provides a valuable feedstock.  This creates beneficial compost for yards and gardens and aligns with Council’s Climate Action Framework and the state Organics Management Law.

Economic Opportunity - a place where a wide variety of businesses of all sizes grow and thrive.

Climate and Natural Systems – environmental stewardship and efforts to address climate change to ensure a sustainable future.

High Performing Government – a government that is reliable, fiscally responsible, equitable, and open to compromise.

Since 2002, the City of Vancouver has maintained contracts with local processors of yard debris to provide services for the neighborhood cleanup programs and for regular City maintenance and operations. Under the contracts, local facilities accept clean yard debris, leaves, woody debris and other organic materials collected at neighborhood cleanup events, through coupon programs funded by the City’s Solid Waste program or in part by Clark County Public Works, and by City Operations crews as a regular part of maintaining parks, medians and rights-of-ways for diverting to composting or other beneficial uses.

The City’s Spring Cleanup coupons, Fall Neighborhood Leaf Box program, and the Saturday Cleanup and Chipper events offered to all active City neighborhoods are effective in collecting segregated organics, diverting this material from landfill disposal in a cost-effective manner, while also managing seasonal leaves that burden the storm water system. In addition, City Solid Waste manages the regional Fall Leaves Coupon program that relies on these contracted sites to benefit both city and county residents in disposing of seasonal leafy debris at local yard debris disposal sites.

This year, four prospective vendors/processors - Columbia Resource Company, City Bark, H&H Wood Recyclers Inc. and Triangle Resources - responded to a request for proposals (RFP #54-23) to provide these services. All of the processors have experience with providing environmentally appropriate yard debris and leaves disposal and processing, at a reasonable cost, for loads delivered from residents and businesses. The RFP solicitation and formal evaluation of proposals helped ensure a competitive opportunity for securing these services and allow for prospective new vendors to propose. Contracted disposal rates will allow for price stability in City budget planning for these programs.

These processors are located in areas that can be easily accessed by all residents of Vancouver and City crews and fall within an acceptable price range per unit (per cubic yard or per ton depending on whether the facility has scales to weigh incoming loads). Therefore, City staff recommends awarding contracts to all four who responded to the RFP.

The value of these proposed contracts is driven by users, comprising mostly of community members from Vancouver, Clark County and some City staff. Users typically dispose of their leaves and debris based on the proximity to their residence. These are based on reasonable estimates at the time of evaluating proposals and prior three years of actual disposal expenditures with existing contracted vendors.   Also, the contract amount for each prospective vendor is dependent upon the volume of processed leaves and debris delivered by the community or City crews.

Over the past four years or less, these are the solid waste expenditures for the three current and proposed new vendors:

 Columbia Resource Company: $132,979

 The figure above reflects costs over the current contract period, 2020 to current.

City Bark: $228,496

The figure above reflects costs while participating under contract prior to 2018.

H&H Wood Recyclers, Inc.: $311,872

 The figure above reflects costs over the current contract period, 2020 to current.

Triangle Resources: $105,630

 The figure above reflects costs over the current contract period, 2020 to current.

Detailed below in the Action Requested section, are the projected expenditures by each proposed contracted vendor over the full 5-year contract term based upon the above history and the newly proposed contract rates, factoring in potential for increases in disposal cost and/or increases volumes of material delivered to the vendor.

In summary, City staff recommend approving the four contracts.

1. Maintaining the contracts with these existing vendors provides continuity for efficient and convenient, local drop off option for residents and City crews.
2. The availability of multiple sites helps reduce congestion that would result from offering fewer vendors and may reduce travel time and distance for users.
3. A provision in each of the contracts will allow for other government agencies to piggyback on the City’s RFP solicitation and contract rates, benefiting regional cities and counties if they choose to enter into their own agreements using these terms.