When Bobby Stewart, a third-generation trash hauler, saw the list of items the city of St. Paul expects collected alongside residential garbage, his eyes almost crossed.

If the city gets its way, Christmas trees would be picked up from residential homes every January. A barrel full of lawn waste and up to eight additional bags of leaves and grass clippings would be carted off throughout the year for an extra fee. And collection of three big and bulky items annually, such as sofas, refrigerators and tires, would come standard.

Meanwhile, a contract for residential citywide trash collection would also include a labor peace agreement, allowing employees of the trash haulers to unionize.

“On the one hand, they want unions,” said Stewart, 31, whose maternal grandparents launched Highland Sanitation in 1950. “On the other hand, they want a cheaper price than the current market. And the current market doesn’t have unions. … They want us to do a lot more (for less).”

The St. Paul City Council voted last July to move toward organized trash collection, but discussions — which have produced three proposals to date from a consortium of 15 haulers — have bogged down over four key issues.

As a result, the council on Wednesday will vote on whether to assemble a committee of city officials to consider putting collection out to bid or issuing a separate request for proposals, even as negotiations with the haulers continue. The goal remains to launch organized trash collection in 2018 or 2019.

“The resolution would direct us to set a dual track,” said Ellen Biales, administrative programs manager for St. Paul Public Works. “The council members are feeling this keeps the city’s options open. We’re still hoping we can come to an agreement with the haulers, but if we can’t, this keeps us on track.”

FOUR STICKING POINTS

Negotiations between the city and the coalition of haulers have hit an impasse over four key areas: pricing; labor peace agreements; centralized billing; and the possible creation of a single legal entity made up of all the residential haulers in the city.

As a result of a decentralized system adopted in the 1970s, 11 local, independent haulers and four regional or national chains roll down St. Paul alleys, with costs and services that can vary dramatically from house to house. Related Articles Coronavirus Thursday update: Nine more Minnesota deaths and 931 new infections

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In St. Paul, picking a garbage plan can be almost as confusing as choosing a cellphone or cable package.

“We’re trying to standardize the prices,” Biales said. “It’s a tough conversation because it’s a big systems change. New residents to the city are just mystified that they have to figure this out on their own.”

Under state law, before trash collection can be put out to bid like any other major contract, the city must first attempt to negotiate a citywide collection system with a consortium of haulers. Since August, negotiations have spanned 11 meetings and resulted in three proposals to the city.

“We’ve made significant movement from the first proposal to the third proposal,” said Anne Hunt, the city’s environmental policy director. Hunt has led negotiations for the city alongside recycling and solid waste program manager Kristin Hageman, with research help from Deputy City Attorney Rachel Tierney and Foth consultants.

The haulers say they’re frustrated.

Jim Berquist, 66, of Ken Berquist and Son Disposal, said 90 percent of his business is based in St. Paul, and has been since the 1930s. Putting citywide residential garbage collection out to bid could force him and 11 employees — several of them family members — out of business.

“If we lose the contract, my company is over,” Berquist said.

Meanwhile, the rough rollout of a citywide alleyway recycling program that began in January has provided fresh ammunition to critics.

The haulers recently launched a Facebook page — “1st Choice St. Paul” — where they ask residents to “tell City Hall that they should be focusing on solving the current budget … and fixing their failed recycling program before digging into our garbage.”

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WHAT ARE THE CITY’S PRIORITIES?

The resolution approved by the city council last year lists 16 “must achieve” priorities, followed by five items the city “would like to achieve,” based in part on feedback from public surveys and social-media outreach to residents.

Among the requisites, the city expects to have no more than one hauler service residences on any given block, support living-wage jobs and provide stable, uniform rates throughout the city.

“For the city, we’re looking at hopefully a big reduction in illegal dumping and trash burns, which are costing the city more than $300,000 per year,” said Biales.

She also noted that resident surveys uncovered dramatic differences in billing rates.

“Clearly, we want to get the best price for the residents of St. Paul. We know what the residents are paying,” Biales said.

There’s also the expectation that services would be designed so organics collection can be added in the future and that routes would minimize wear and tear on city streets.

HAVE OTHER CITIES ADOPTED ORGANIZED TRASH COLLECTION?

In recent years, Maplewood, Bloomington and St. Anthony Village have opted for organized trash collection.

Since 1971, Minneapolis has split trash collection between its own public works department and a consortium of private haulers.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST STICKING POINTS?

Pricing is a big one. Trash haulers say they are being asked to provide more services than they currently do, at lower cost. That includes annual Christmas tree collection, an optional 64-gallon barrel of lawn waste and eight additional bags, and up to one cart switch per year.

The haulers say each of their three proposals to the city has slashed prices compared with the one before. “The haulers have made some movement on prices,” Biales acknowledged, “but I think what we’re asking for is very competitive with the marketplace right now.”

Meanwhile, other costs are rising for trash haulers. Berquist noted that Ramsey and Washington counties have bought a garbage processing plant in Newport, which will likely raise fees once the plant’s contract with haulers expires at the end of the year.

In addition, the city is requiring the haulers to sign labor peace agreements guaranteeing they will not interfere with workers’ attempts to unionize, which could add to costs.

On the other hand, some city officials predict that large national players such as Waste Management and Republic Services will refuse to unionize and simply stop servicing residential accounts, opening up more opportunity for smaller, independent haulers to grow.

Hunt said the city would purchase carts for residents citywide at a bulk rate, saving the haulers money on equipment.

WHAT ELSE IS HOLDING THINGS UP?

As in Minneapolis and Bloomington, the city of St. Paul has asked the haulers to form a single legal business entity with its own checking account, insurance and board of governors.

Some haulers are resistant, noting that several of them do business outside of the city, which could put them in the unusual position of bidding against a consortium they’re a member of for those outside contracts.

“Having 15 separate contracts would be unwieldy for the city,” Hunt said. “We want consistent service throughout the city.”

Billing is another concern. The haulers say a centralized billing and customer service system run by the city could leave them shorted funds when customers don’t pay their bills. St. Paul has refused to guarantee them payment upfront. Related Articles St. Paul council approves mayor’s basic-income project for poor families

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Under the existing system, trash haulers simply stop collecting trash from a property owner who doesn’t pay his trash bills, which are typically charged in advance and quarterly.

The haulers say that in response to concerns about illegal dumping, city officials have been insistent that under a new contract no service be suspended for nonpayment. Instead, if the city handles billing, St. Paul likely will assess noncompliant property owners through their property taxes — a process that could take more than a year to resolve.

St. Paul is still studying billing options, but officials note they already have some billing infrastructure in place through partner utilities such as St. Paul Regional Water Services.

HOW WOULD BIG, BULKY ITEMS BE HANDLED?

The approach under consideration for large, bulky items, or “bulkies,” would be to charge every account in the city for the annual removal of three items such as sofas, refrigerators and tires. Additional items would incur added charges.

By incorporating bulkies as a standard service, the goal is to cut down on illegal dumping. Critics say residents who don’t generate bulk waste would be footing part of the bill for those who do.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The St. Paul City Council could make a decision as soon as Wednesday as to whether to form a committee of city officials that would explore a request for proposals or simply put the entire citywide collection system out to bid.