Aurora grant app narrative recycling 2014

Grant Application—Rising Sun Regional Foundation The grant request is to assist with costs to implement a city-wide curbside recycling program within the City of Aurora. The proposed program will implement a dual-stream curbside recycling program whereby Aurora City residents will be able to place recycled materials at the curbside one day per week to be picked up by the City of Aurora Streets Department. The program is a joint effort with the Dearborn County Recycling Center (Dearborn County Solid Waste District). Once recycled materials are picked up, they will be taken to the Dearborn County Recycling Center for proper recycling. The grant request includes assistance with purchasing a recycling bin trailer to assist with curbside pickup, to assist with purchase of containers for residents to use to place their recycling at the curbside, and to assist with other educational materials to properly implement the program. The total cost to implement the program for the first twelve months is estimated at $43,130, of which the City of Aurora (along with the Dearborn County Recycling Center) is committing a $15,000 match of funds or in-kind service to start the program.

Grant Amount Requested = $28,130.

This application is being submitted on behalf of the City of Aurora Streets Department, the City of Aurora Municipal Utility Department, and the program is a joint effort with the Dearborn County Recycling Center. The City of Aurora was founded in 1820 and has been providing utility and municipal services to its citizens for almost the entire time it has existed.

The primary priority/goal of the City of Aurora Municipal Utility Department and Streets Department is to provide quality and cost-effective utility services and transportation routes within the City of Aurora. The City of Aurora Municipal Utility Department currently services approximately 1,625 customers for solid waste collection within the City of Aurora.

The City of Aurora and the Aurora Municipal Utility Board has been discussing the possibility of providing curbside recycling to its residents for the past several years. When soliciting bids for the current solid waste removal contract two years ago, the Utility Board requested proposals that included curbside recycling. However, upon receiving bids, it was determined to be cost-prohibitive to begin curbside recycling at that time. Since then, the City of Aurora has been working diligently with the Dearborn County Recycling Center to create and implement a cost-effective curbside recycling program to improve the participation of residents who want to recycle.

Project Need 1.

What are the specific needs or problems in your community that you are directly trying to solve?

This proposed project involves the collection of recycling materials curbside at each residence that wants to participate. Several years ago the Dearborn County Recycling Center began a recycling program within the City of Aurora by placing recycling collection trailers in the historic downtown area.

Those trailers have been well received and are filled, removed, and replaced daily. However, the trailers are not meeting the current demand for recycling, and often times are too full for residents to place their recycled materials within the trailers. In addition, the trailers are not a convenient means of recycling for residents who don’t live near the downtown area, who are now required to put their recycled materials in their vehicle and bring them to town for placement in the trailers. This is not a convenient means for recycling for many residents and discourages participation. Studies show that curbside recycling significantly increases resident participation in recycling because of its convenience to the resident.

The City also experiences some problems with solid waste collection, where trash is left outside of enclosed containers in some areas within the city because of densities of multi-unit housing and a 1

limited number of trash receptacles to handle the amount of solid waste put out for collection each week.

The City is hopeful that increased participation in recycling will eliminate some of these issues by reducing the amount of solid waste left for trash collection by increasing the amount left, instead, for recycling.

From a larger perspective, the City of Aurora should be doing its part in the global issue of overuse of landfills and the importance of the three R’s that are now taught to our younger generations, Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. As leaders within our community, it is important to implement programs with everlasting positive impacts on younger generations that will follow in our footsteps. A wellimplemented curbside recycling program will substantially impact future residents of the City of Aurora.

2. What are the top three priorities/goals of your organization and how does the proposed project relate to one or more of them.

The primary priority/goal of the City of Aurora Municipal Utility Department is to provide costeffective utility service to the City’s residents. The City of Aurora is also responsible for solid waste removal within the City of Aurora. This proposed project directly relates to the goal and responsibility of removing solid waste from the City of Aurora, by recycling of some of what is now collected and removed as solid waste. Indirectly, the City hopes that participation in this program is significant enough to negotiate a cheaper cost of solid waste removal in future years, by reducing the amount of solid waste that is collected to be hauled away and placed in landfills. Last, this program is designed as one way to improve “quality of life” within the City of Aurora by offering convenient recycling to residents who want to participate in recycling. The number of residents who want to recycle grows every year as people become more aware of the positive benefits of recycling, and as younger generations demand their parents and grandparents to participate.

3. How does the proposed project benefit low and moderate income persons (if applicable) or unique population conditions (especially those geographic areas comprised of smaller population bases)?

If the grant is awarded, the City of Aurora intends to implement this program at no cost to the residents of the City. Depending upon participation in future years, a graduated rate may be implement, but those costs will be significantly defrayed because much of the initial capital for equipment is being requested as part of this grant. Also, as argued above, the City is hopeful that increased participation in recycling with decrease the need for solid waste removal to landfills, and might ultimately reduce the cost of hauling and placing solid waste in landfills. That will benefit low income and all residents within the city.

The median income in the City of Aurora is approximately $41,000, so there are a significant number of low income residents in Aurora. This program will benefit all residents within the City who choose to participate in the program.

Project Impact 1. What do you ultimately plan to accomplish through your proposed project? How will it solve or reduce the needs or problems described above or take advantage of unique opportunities?

The ultimate goal is to significantly increase residents participation in recycling, which will reduce the amount of solid waste that the City needs to have collected, hauled and placed in landfills.

This will improve the quality of life in Aurora, and helps with the larger, more global, efforts for all

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communities to do their “fair share� to encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle.

2. Describe the project activities or steps that you will take to carry out your project. Include a timeline, description of staff, volunteers, or consultants to be involved, other organizations with whom you will work, etc. If other organizations will be involved, what will they do?

The project proposal is to purchase the initial equipment and containers to begin implementation of a curbside recycling program within the City of Aurora. The grant proposal is to purchase a recycling collection trailer that will be pulled behind a standarad ž-ton pickup truck during collection days. A City Streets Department will drive the truck, pull the trailer and pick up the recycled materials the same day that solid waste is collected within the City.

Residents who choose to participate in the program will be provided two 18-gallon recycling containers to collect their recycled materials to be placed curbside one day per week. Residents will be asked to sort their recycled materials into a dual stream (wet and dry) and will be provided educational materials regarding what can be collected as recyclable, and how to properly sort the recycled materials.

The City of Aurora is partnering with the Dearborn County Recycling Center to implement this program. The Recycling Center will ultimately receive the recycled materials that are collected. In addition, the Recycling Center has committed to providing all education and training to city workers and city residents regarding the recycling program.

There are approximately 1,625 utility customers within the City of Aurora. The City anticipates initial recycling participation to be approximately 10% (163 residents), and to eventually grow to approximately 30% (490 residents) within the first couple of years of program implementation. The grant proposal includes in the budget the purchase of 1,000 18-gallon recycling containers to be provided to residents who elect to participate in the program, which allows for two containers of dual-stream recycling for up to 500 customers (approximately 30% participation in the program).

If the grant is awarded, the City, with assistance from the Recycling Center, plans to start educating the public immediately, with recycling collection starting the first Wednesday of August 2014.

The program is intended to continue on an ongoing basis indefinitely. This grant request is to provide the initial purchase of needed equipment to implement the program. The ongoing operational costs of the program will be supported by a combination of City funding, in-kind donations from the Recycling Center, and potentially implementing an increase in solid waste collection fees among Aurora City residents, or a combination of all of these.

The City of Aurora currently supplements solid waste collection fees within the City of Aurora. The City is billed approximately $9.50 per residential pickup, yet only charges the resident $5. The balance is paid for out of Riverboat gaming revenue the City of Aurora receives from Dearborn and Ohio Counties.

There is discussion of implementation of a gradual increase over the next 3-5 years, so that the City will no longer subsidize solid waste collection for residents in Aurora. This recycling program is one means to try to defray the costs of solid waste collection and removal for residents in Aurora.

3. How do you plan to evaluate the progress and success of your project?

The City will know the number of residents who choose to participate in the program and can easily calculate the percentage of participation of all utility customers. In addition, the Dearborn County Recycling Center will collect ongoing data regarding the tonnage of recycled materials that are collected

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and recycled within the City of Aurora. This participation and tonnage data will allow the City to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Organizational Capacity 1.

Briefly describe the history and expertise of your organization. For instance, when did you incorporate, what does your organization do, who have you traditionally served and targeted?

As mentioned above, the primary priority/goal of the City of Aurora Municipal Utility Department is to provide cost-effective utility services to its residents and customers. In addition, the Utility Department is responsible for solid waste collection and removal within the City of Aurora. The Utility Department serves approximately 1,625 customers within the City of Aurora.

The City of Aurora was founded in 1820 and has been providing municipal utility services to its citizens for almost the entire time it has existed. Currently, solid waste removal in the City of Aurora is billed partially to the resident customer, but is also subsidized by the City of Aurora through riverboat gaming revenues. The proposed recycling program will benefit all residents and utility customers within the City of Aurora.

2. What other organizations or services are addressing the same problems and how are they doing so? How does your approach differ from or augment these services?

Many neighboring municipalities are either implementing, or have implemented, curbside recycling programs. Nationally, this is a trend in most municipal governments. Our program differs slightly in that we are implementing a program through our own efforts in an attempt to defray costs to the resident customer, rather than contracting with a larger waste management company, such as Rumpke, Best Way, or Waste Management services.

3. Does your organization have the current capacity, and is it ready to proceed and complete the project in the projected grant period?

If the grant is awarded, the equipment needed to implement the program will be purchased immediately, with a program start date of August 2014. This program will be ongoing. The intention would be to close the grant after purchase of the equipment and implementation of the program. The Aurora Municipal Utility Department and Streets Department has the capacity to implement this program immediately once the necessary equipment is purchased.

Financial Implications 1. What is the proposed budget for this project?

The requested grant funds will allow for purchase of a recycling collection trailer to be pulled behind a standard 他-ton pickup truck on collection days. When recycled materials are taken to the Recycling Center, a forklift will remove bins from the trailer and replace empty bins for the next collection cycle, so the grant request also includes the extra set of bins that will be swapped on the trailer each week on collection day. In addition, the grant request budget includes purchase of enough 18-gallon resident containers to implement dual-stream recycling for 500 customers (1,000 containers). The budget also includes the labor cost for the City of Aurora to provide one employee, a pickup truck, and fuel necessary to collect recycling one day per week for 52 weeks. In addition, the budget includes the labor, printing, postage and distribution expenses for the City and the Recycling Center to educate city residents about the

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program before implementation, and to educate city employees about collection and delivery of the recycled products.

Due to the simplicity of the proposed budget, a more specific itemized budget is not included. The proposed budget is as follows: Purchase of Pro-Bin Recycling Trailer Purchase of Extra Bins to Rotate Upon Delivery Purchase of 1,000 18-gallon Recycling Containers ($7.63 each) Man Hours, Fuel, Truck (12-month costs) Educational Materials Labor, Printing, Postage and Distribution 12-Month Implementation Total Project Estimate Less Matching Funds and In-Kind

$15,900 $ 4,600 $ 7,630 $12,000 $ 3,000 $43,130 - $15,000

TOTAL GRANT REQUEST $28,130 2. Please fully explain what documented efforts you have made in seeking or securing any other appropriate sources of funding for this proposed project and what was the outcome.

The City has solicited bids and engaged in negotiations with companies such as Best Way and Rumpke to provide this service. However, the City has not been able to come to terms that make the program cost-effective if provided through these other agencies. This is primarily due to the uncertainty of the percentage of participation within the City of Aurora. Therefore, to implement the program in a cost-effective manner, the equipment requested in this grant is necessary so that the City can self-provide an adequate recycling program that is cost-effective to its resident customers. The City does not have enough money in its current budget to fully fund this proposed project, in particular, the initial capital costs for the necessary equipment. As stated above, the City (along with the Recycling Center) is providing a match of $15,000, as direct funding or in-kind services.

3. If you plan to continue this project beyond the period for which you have requested funds, how to plan to continue paying for it?

The program is intended to continue on an ongoing basis indefinitely. This grant request is to provide the initial purchase of needed equipment to implement the program. The ongoing operational costs of the program will be supported by a combination of City funding, in-kind donations from the Recycling Center, and potentially implementing an increase in solid waste collection fees among Aurora City residents, or a combination of all of these.

The City of Aurora currently supplements solid waste collection fees within the City of Aurora. The City is billed approximately $9.50 per residential pickup, yet only charges the resident $5. The balance is paid for out of Riverboat gaming revenue the City of Aurora receives from Dearborn and Ohio Counties.

There is discussion of implementation of a gradual increase over the next 3-5 years, so that the City will no longer subsidize solid waste collection for residents in Aurora. This recycling program is one means to try to defray the costs of solid waste collection and removal for residents in Aurora.

Explanation of Quotes The City is providing quotes for the purchased equipment to begin implementation of the recycling program. The City is relying upon the expertise of the Dearborn County Recycling Center, who has assisted with obtaining quotes for this project. The Dearborn County Recycling Center has been 5

involved with recycling programs for several years and has recommended that the City purchase the collection trailer from Pro-Tainer, and has recommended that the City purchase the 18-gallon residential containers from Busch Systems. If additional quotes are needed or required, the City can obtain and provide additional quotes to the Rising Sun Regional Foundation to supplement this grant application.

In addition, please notice that the quote from Busch Systems is for 400 18-gallon containers at a price of $7.63 per unit. To properly implement the program, the City anticipates a need of 1,000 containers, so the budget above uses the $7.63 unit price multiplied by 1,000 containers. It is possible that a slightly cheaper unit price will be provided with the purchase of 1,000 containers versus 400. If so, the City would account for this reduced cost when closing the grant.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jeffrey E. Stratman City Attorney/City Management Consultant On Behalf of the Aurora Municipal Utility Department

Aurora Municipal Utility Department City Councilman John Borgman, Chairman City Councilman Mike Crider City Councilman Joe Milish City Councilman Benny Turner City Councilman Kevin Gerke Mayor Donnie Hastings, Jr. (non-voting) Utility Superintendent Randy Turner (non-voting)

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