Mayor of Boulder supports Eureka in their fight in Minneapolis Hello Everyone,
Here is a insightful letter from the Mayor of Boulder to our Mayor on the City Council's pending decision on a contractor for recycling processing. Sean Gosiewski, Corcoran Neighborhood (Letter from Mayor of Boulder, Colorado) Dear Mayor Rybak: I have been following the debate on the recycling contract for the City of Minneapolis from afar. Boulder went through a similar debate 5 years ago, when we needed to choose a vendor to operate the new facilities for the Boulder County Recycling and Composting Authority. While I am sure there are many differences in detail, the overall context seems similar, so I'd like to offer you some observations from our experience. We had bids from Ecocycle, a local nonprofit recycler which is quite similar to Eureka Recycling; Western Disposal, our large local trash hauler, and a couple of proposals involving national trash haulers. The evaluation of the bids, and their consideration by the Authority, was very controversial. Ecocycle had the lowest cost bid for building and operating the facility. However, the staff analysis favored Western Disposal, as staff believed that the Western bid included a better facility, and believed that Western would be more able to back up their bid financially. Ultimately, the Authority made the decision to do a design/build contract for construction of the facility, and to contract with Ecocycle for the operation. We have been very pleased with the results. Ecocycle has been able to operate the facility at a very competitive cost; perhaps even more important, they are plowing all of the margin they make into expanded recycling and waste diversion opportunities for our citizens. I am sure that the private haulers could have done a competent job running the facility; I am equally sure that they would not be pushing the envelope to bring us a center for hard to recycle materials, new food waste composting initiatives, the zero waste institute, or other innovations which help meet city environmental goals, and are warmly embraced by our residents. Instead, their profit margin would go into the pockets of their shareholders. I would urge you to consider this decision very carefully, and to recognize all of the value that a community based nonprofit recycler can provide to your community. Sincerely Yours, Will Toor Mayor, Boulder, Colorado Eric Lombardi Executive Director Eco-Cycle, Inc Boulder, CO 303-444-6634 www.ecocycle.org "Recycling may not save the world, but the recycling spirit might." REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
