Doug Grow Article on Recycling Contract, Thank you Doug Grow for your great story on the choice of the recycling processing contractor for Minneapolis (see below). I enthusiastically agree with Doug's points (see article below) and have one correction.
I believe that the City has more flexibility to choose Eureka recycling than stated in his story. Please see the Request for Proposals: Recyclable Materials Processing - http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/2003-meetings/20031010/docs/04_Recyc ling_RFP.pdf " The City of Minneapolis reserves the right to reject any or all of the proposals or parts of proposals, to negotiate modifications to proposals submitted, to accept all or part of the proposals on the basis of consideration other than proceeds or cost and to negotiate specific work elements with a repondent into a project of lesser or greater expense and reimbursement than described in this RFP or the respondent's reply." Sean Gosiewski, Corcoran Neighborhood [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Doug Grow: City Council hasn't arrived at its Eureka moment" http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4657058.html "This doesn't seem as if it should be so hard. The Minneapolis City Council is supposed to choose a company to process recycled materials picked up at curbsides throughout the city. The choices: Recycle America Alliance, a subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc., a $15 billion corporation with a checkered integrity history and headquarters in Houston. BFI, a $5 billion corporation with a checkered integrity history and headquarters in Arizona. Eureka, a $4 million nonprofit organization that has served St. Paul for 17 years, has a history of treating its employees with dignity and has its headquarters in the Twin Cities. All three have submitted proposals that seem to offer similar benefits to the city, though Eureka's deal seems to offer the greatest potential return. Given Eureka's hometown address, all revenues involved in the deal would stay close to home. Waste Management and BFI would be shipping profits to corporate headquarters. What we've got, then, is good vs. not-so-good. So why has this contract hassle been dragging on for months at City Hall? Why isn't Eureka given a big embrace and the contract? That, of course, would be too clear-cut. City Hall is a place that echoes with righteous words. But the actions seldom match the words. At this point, it appears that Waste Management will end up with the contract because city staff members keep recommending the giant corporation over the valiant little guy. Despite Waste Management's less-than-honorable history, professionals from the city's finance and public works departments lean toward Waste Management. Susan Young is known as the Trash Lady of Minneapolis. She heads the city's solid-waste and recycling program and she is not defensive about the recommendation of Waste Management to succeed BFI to process recycled materials. Both garbage giants "get tarred" with their pasts, Young said. "The people I deal with are honorable people," she said of dealings with BFI and Waste Management. She said that Minneapolis residents have high expectations for garbage and recycling services and that her department has delivered, efficiently and effectively. Waste Management's company, Recycle America Alliance, is the best deal for the city from both a business and service perspective. But what frosts Susan Hubbard, chief executive officer of Eureka Recycling, is that the process seemed to keep getting juggled until Waste Management was finally able to make a competitive bid. It also troubles her that the recycling business is founded in the spirit of environmentalism and sustainability. Waste Management has a track record of showing it will take care of its bottom line above all else. Understand, Hubbard is not just a tree hugger. She knows that recycling ultimately must become self-sustaining to survive in the long term. And it is coming closer to hitting that goal. The world market for those recycled newspapers and soda cans is soaring -- at least for the time being. What the city will receive for recycling materials, slightly more than $1 million a year for the next five years no matter which company wins the contract, is approaching what it costs to collect those recycled products. (Collection costs are paid as fees by Minneapolis residents.) But Hubbard says Eureka won't just deliver the check to City Hall, it will give the city back things that Waste Management never would consider. For example, it pays livable wages and full benefits for its entire workforce. It believes in enticing more participation in recycling through community education programs. According to a couple of sources, the City Council put itself -- and Eureka -- in a bad place by failing to create bidding criteria that would have underscored Eureka's strengths. Local ownership, nonprofit status, enlightened and green were not part of the parameters in the request for proposal (RFP in the acronym-laced language of government) that was created last summer. Neither did the bidding criteria call for the bidders to have a record of "A's" for citizenship. The sources said these "oversights" were caused by the fact that the council was laden with first-termers. Council members say that now they're wiser, but sadder. Because neither Eureka's strengths nor the weaknesses of BFI and Waste Management are listed in the bidding criteria, they can't be part of council debate. To bring Waste Management's troubled past or Eureka's position as a local nonprofit into the discussion of who should receive the bid would be to invite a lawsuit. So, the council's debate, which will be played out in the next few weeks, will be stilted. Council members won't be saying what they really think because corporate lawyers will be watching closely. When the dust settles, expect Waste Management to get the contract. And then, the pols will go back to righteous speeches about the splendors of local control, affirmative action, environmentalism. Blah, blah, blah." 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