Bellevue to stick with current garbage hauler

The City Council on Monday selected Republic Services to continue to pick up garbage, recyclable material and organic waste, once a contract is hammered out next month.

Two companies – Republic and CleanScapes – were competing for a seven-year contract, with an option to extend another seven years, worth up to $20 million annually. The current contract expires next June. While the council and city staff acknowledged that both companies were capable of providing the services to Bellevue residents and businesses, it came down to Republic’s past performance and reputation for providing Bellevue customers with reliable and dependable service for more than 30 years. The vote was 5-0; councilmembers John Chelminiak and Kevin Wallace recused themselves.

City staff will now work with Republic to finalize the contract, then bring it back to the council in October for approval. In addition to selecting the vendor of choice, the council decided to maintain the same rate structure in the new contract in order to minimize rate changes for customers.

Also approved were a number of service enhancements and new service options, including a limited amount of commercial and multifamily organics collection. The council hopes that including this level of organics service into the base rate will promote participation in the organics recycling program and ultimately reduce this type of material from ending up in the landfill.

Customers can expect improvements including the on-call curbside collection of small electronics and appliances from multifamily customers, and online account management and electronic billing upon request.

Neighborhood concerns on new housing model addressed

As part of a review of Planning Commission and city staff work program priorities, the Bellevue City Council on Monday discussed the growing practice of multi-room rentals in single-family homes. The issue was first brought to the attention of council and city staff this past summer when residents in the Spiritwood neighborhood raised concerns that investors planned to rent out individual rooms in single-family homes. Existing city code does not provide the tools to address this emerging business model.

Over the past few months, several councilmembers toured the neighborhood to learn more about the issue and city staff met with both the neighbors and representatives of the investors.

Recognizing the urgency of the issue, the council unanimously supported a motion to bring back an emergency interim ordinance in two weeks for council review and approval. The council also reinforced the need for a long-term approach to look at the policy issues surrounding occupancy of single-family homes and the growing need for student housing in neighborhoods close to Bellevue College.

Bellevue city manager search continues

The Bellevue City Council on Monday finalized the materials that will be used to recruit candidates for the position of city manager. The position will be formally posted this week and will close in early October, after which the council will review a list of final candidates.

On-site interviews with the final candidates are planned for November. At that time, the public will be invited to a reception to meet the candidates. The council could appoint a new city manager by the end of the year.

In other council news

• Smart phone app: The council approved a three-year, $92,000 contract with PublicStuff Inc. to implement and maintain a new software application that will allow the public to use any smart devices to report issues, request information and learn more about city services, programs and initiatives. City staff expects to publicly launch this new, innovative application early next year.
• Reducing commute trips: An agreement with King County Metro was finalized to continue providing support to employers to implement the city’s successful Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) plan. In the last 10 years the rate of people driving alone to CTR-affected worksites in Bellevue has declined by 6.5 percentage points, removing approximately 2,000 vehicle roundtrips each day from streets and highways. The CTR plan, consistent with state law, requires employers with more than 100 employees to develop plans and take steps to reduce drive-alone commute trips. The state Department of Transportation will pay for $205,000 of the total contract cost of $235,000.
• The Bellevue City Council appointed Hugo Ludena to fill a vacated position on the Bellevue Arts Commission and will be eligible for reappointment in May 2015; Philip Malkin was appointed to fill an expired term and will be eligible for reappointment in May 2017.