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73 Regular Meeting November 4, 1996 Page 7 optimize, not try to create a perfect world, and as Ms. Hughson pointed out if there is one, we cannot afford it. We can streamline the services we contract and use and the services we ask the citizens to pay for. Mayor Moore stated even if the citizens received more comprehensive treatment, there are a lot who are not willing to invest more money in this particular service., Mr. Cox stated that is part of the educational process, and thought the City could extend the contract for another year with whatever modifications we want if we need to have something in place by February, but that this is a long-term issue. He likes the idea of a Citizens Committee possibly chaired by a couple of Council Members to work on long-term issues, and Ms. Hughson stated this is an evolving matter and every three to five years there will be new issues to address, and Mayor Moore added new technology to look at. Mayor Moore agreed with Mr. Cox and Ms. Hughson and asked if Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Hughson were willing to select a committee and work with Staff to bring to Council a report in January. Mr. Hernandez stated Mr. Gilley has provided comprehensive information he wants to completely review. He wants to work with Staff and our contractor to see what we are doing and how we might maximize this more. We can have a Citizens Committee but it will get down to dollars as far as what the citizens are interested in. He thinks everyone wants to maximize our solid waste recycingiand does not need a Committee to tell him that. He believes hard decisions need to be addressed by the Council after studying the information Staff and the contractor can provide, or if we decide to go through an RFP process. He stated if the City wants to provide a chipper, it will cost $100,000.00 and will not get cheaper tomorrow. This comes down to dollars and what we want to be able to do with that. A Committee would be useful down the road, but now Staff and the contractor need to come up with numbers for the Council to look at. Mayor Moore stated one area of concern is the apartment, commercial and industrial. Mayor Moore stated some of the commercial and industrial have contracts and some industrial use Green Guy and the apartments have whatever they can get or nothing. Ms. Hughson stated if the City has recycling, maybe it can be made available and they could choose to go with-who the City contracts with as opposed to everyone going out and doing their own deal, but it would be optional. Ms. Hughson stated now is the time for Council to decide what we want to look at in a contract - amending the current one or looking for a new one. Mr. Mihalkanin likes Mr. Cox's idea because it deals with a range of issues, and as Mr. Hernandez stated, it is going to deal with costs and flow. It makes sense to have a Committee to focus on the information, and Mr. Cox stated for the long term. Mr. Mihalkanin stated it would be difficult to have closure on this by February. It should not be rushed because there is a deadline of February, but it would be better to construct this now to have the Committee start its investigation. There is expertise in the community that could be used. Ms. Hughson stated a major consideration is what the contractors can and are willing to do, and at what cost. Ms. Hughson likes the idea of the Committee to determine what citizens want, but it will depend on what we can find the contractor to do and at what cost. Ralph Weller of Texas Disposal Systems encouraged the Council to go with an RFP. He stated you know which services you want, such as trash disposal containerized, and if you know you want yard waste recycling, include that in the RFP as the items that must be bid on to be considered for the contract. He stated separately add a list of concerned items, such as household hazardous wastes, and let the service providers who are experts in the field create ways to take care of the problems you are dealing with. Ms. Hughson stated the Council needs to determine the minimum list and secondary list and that is what she wants to do. Mr. Hart stated he wants domestic garbage, curbside recycling, someone to run a drop-off center to be paid by all that will encompass the vast majority of what has previously been discussed tonight. Ms. Hughson asked what should be included in the curbside recycling and stated it needs to be defined. Mr. Webber stated if the RFP states the City wants curbside household recycling, the service provider will tell you what they can pick up, and the City can then decide from the RFPs received which plan is best. Ms. Hughson stated the City will need to look at once or twice a week, the size container, and