CITY OF BRENHAM BEGINS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS TO OUTSOURCE SANITATION OPERATIONS
The Brenham City Council has begun the process of outsourcing the city’s sanitation services.
The council at its meeting today (Thursday) authorized city staff to enter into formal contract negotiations with Brannon Industrial Group, for the outsourcing of residential collection, curbside recycling, and operation of the collection and transfer stations.
City Manager James Fisher said the city received response from several different companies when it began seeking proposals in the fall, which gave staff the opportunity to select the best one for the community. He said staff are working on a draft contract for services, but it is taking longer to finalize than anticipated.
Fisher said the agreement will provide “a higher level” of services for residents.
Public Works Director Dane Rau echoed Fisher, saying he wants to bring in as many resources to the city as possible, and be able to offer what other towns are offering.
Councilmember Keith Herring asked Fisher what would happen with the Brenham Recycling Center, to which he replied the next step would be to determine how to phase the center out and what to do with the property.
In regards to the city’s sanitation employees, Fisher said the city and Brannon Industrial Group have held meetings with them, in order to place them in other locations. Rau said discussions have been held with sanitation staff over the past six months, in order to prevent any sort of surprises for employees.
Before the council’s vote on the item, Jay Howard of Texas Disposal Systems, one of the bidders for sanitation services, requested the council consider negotiating with more than one company. Fisher said all proposals have been reviewed by staff, who felt the best move for the city was to move forward with formal negotiations with Brannon Industrial Group.
A final contract proposal will come before city councilmembers at their meeting on January 16th.
Also in session today, a proposal was presented to the council, asking it to consider exempting Brenham ISD and Washington County from the city’s new Drainage Utility Charge. The proposal argued that it would be unfair to charge other governmental entities for utility services. However, Councilmember Susan Cantey replied that the City of Brenham will pay the charge. Fisher said the only entities that will be exempt will be Blinn College and the Brenham State School, as state provisions. The council voted to approve the Drainage Utility Charge rate tariff schedules in the second reading of the ordinance, without any changes.
The council also:
- Approved a $185,000 service agreement with Strand Associates, Inc., for Salem Road improvements.
- Approved a 50-year lease agreement between the city and Brenham Heritage Museum, Inc., for the lease of real property located at 105 South Market Street. Fisher said the city has been in negotiations regarding the lease agreement for over two years. According to Fisher, the new lease has placed some performance measures that will help with the opening of the museum on or before October 1, 2022. The agreement runs through December 31, 2070.
- Awarded contracts for storm damage repairs at Jackson Street Park, and for the stream restoration project at Hohlt Park. Both bids went to Solid Bridge Construction; the Jackson Street Park project for $153,735, and the Hohlt Park project for $371,459.
- Held executive session discussion on the appointment, employment, evaluation and duties of the city’s police chief.
- Received notice from the Brenham Housing Authority of its intent to apply for federal tax credits.
- Re-adopted guidelines and criteria for granting tax phase-in in a reinvestment zone.
- Approved a resolution in support of the establishment of a Commercial Property Assess Clean Energy (C-PACE) Program in Washington County.
- Approved an ordinance authorizing the placing of stop signs on Cantey Street at the intersection with Gun and Rod Road.
- Accepted a $73,885 bid from Progressive Commercial Aquatics, Inc., for the resurfacing of the Blue Bell Aquatic Center leisure deck.
- Approved an amendment to the city’s non-consent tow contract, for participation in the city’s rotation log for non-consent tows.
The only reason to outsource anything is to reduce cost and or improve quality. As far as the quality goes, it is just fine. So will we be getting a cost reduction in our utility bill? I THINK NOT. This is because of our do nothing rubber stamp city council. The new city council members are no better than before. All of them should be voted out! They support city management and not city tax payers.
I drove to dump trash collection on Monday. car line was all the way to the road. I could not bring my garbage to the recycle center. City public works has already made a mistake by closing trash drop off at recycle center. City manager needs to fix what he has broke before making more mistakes again.
If the citizens have more burden applied to their efforts in helping our town put trash and recycling in it’s proper place, it may hurt our community.
I Love this small college town and can see most of the residence do as well.
Don’t fix it if it isn’t broke and burden Brenham residence with more taxes.
There are federal grants and bonds to help raise money for needed modifications to better serve our community.
Regarding recycling . . . maybe the County can make an arrangement with Brannon Industrial Group to provide a drop-off location for out-of-city county residents’ recyclables.
We can vent on this forum, BUT , the citizens of Brenham need to start showing up at the city council meetings and voicing our concerns !!! STOP letting the council make the decisions without proper notification, explanation, and most importantly, citizen input.
My primary concern is that our current sanitation employees be given the opportunity to transfer to other city jobs, and not be forced to move from current residence to keep full time jobs with this company. Love the curbside recycling, but only if they provide container as many other small cities have. County residents cannot expect the same level of service as city residents who pay considerable CITY property taxes. Refuse issues are one of the cons of the country life which so many enjoy. They should be content with the opportunity to use collection station.
We need answers. This is something The Spectator needs to get into because I’ve met nobody who wants this other than the city administration.
Everybody needs to question Brenham Government. This new drainage fee is government corruption based on this city manager and now the elected officials not having the expertise to budget the city. Private business would fire them all for running a business in the dirt. The city manager and elected officials have ruined our small town with their weaknesses in government business. The hole our local government is digging for the citizens will soon be beyond repair.
I think this is a terrible idea. Our garbage service has worked well for years and the prices are reasonable and the service is good. When you bring a private company in, their goal will be to reduce costs and raise prices to maximize profit. Service will suffer and costs will go up I believe in the private sector, but seems like they are trying to fix something that is not broken,
The closing of the recycling center is and even worse idea. Many local people here in this area of all political persuasions use this place faithfully to recycle. I am beginning to have serious doubts about the direction our city government is going.
This is terrible news!! I am an avid recycler and have been for many years. I live outside of the city limits, so I am very concerned about what I will do with my cardboard, No. 1 and No. 2 plastic, paper, glass, aluminum cans, cans and batteries. It goes against the very grain of my being to think of not recycling. I sure hope the county comes up with a solution for the residents that don’t live in the city limits of Brenham.
So do anyone else think one of the main pushers of these changes is big friends with company getting these jobs?????
If you close the recycle center, where can residents in the county take their recycling?
It would be up to the county where they would want to put their collection station.
If it’s for 100% non-city customers, you can’t expect the city to run it, right?
Athena, I’m sure you would use Brazos Valley Recycling under Brannon Industrial Group depending on how that contract is worked out with fee schedules. Only a guess.
I am interested in the answer to that question.
I have been a recycler from a very early age. It hurts me to throwaway items that can be kept out of landfills and repurposed.
Looks to me like maybe the private group would provide residential curbside recycling. Like in the big cities. Possibly?, hopefully?