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Chair Wozniak noted carts usually last ten years and are probably nearing the end <br />of their useful life. He indicated the City needs to ask what Eureka's price is for <br />selling the carts to the City now. He also wondered if Ramsey County would be <br />willing to pay the City for half the price of a used cart. <br />Mr. Culver explained from the City's perspective the whole conversation of cart <br />ownership is the recycling fund has a near zero balance as far as Capital purchase <br />of the carts and would have to borrow the capital or something whether it is <br />$330,000 or some pro -rated price of the carts out there now. That will be the first <br />hurdle. The second part is the handling, the ownership, the risk of the cart <br />ownership then falls on the City. The City previously had a lower price from <br />Eureka to go with the contractor owned carts versus the City owned carts at that <br />point. The advantage of going with City owned carts at that point would have been <br />the carts would have already been on the street and the City would not have to <br />worry about extending Eureka's contract in order to work out a swap, etc. The City <br />would still have some risks with cart ownership such as where would the carts be <br />warehoused. The City would also have to build capital to replace the carts at some <br />point. That is the disadvantage side of the City owning the carts. <br />Member Spencer would like to see what the total cost of ownership would be for <br />the City for the carts and what it would cost annually to maintain the carts. <br />Member Misra agreed that the total cost is important to look at. She thought that <br />the recycling carts look a lot better as she travels through the City then the garbage <br />carts. The whole purpose of the recycling is waste reduction and wanted to make <br />sure the City was not creating more waste by getting rid of the carts in order to <br />replace them. She wanted to make sure that the carts would be reused by Eureka if <br />taken back otherwise the City is defeating the whole purpose. <br />Member Misra asked if the Eureka was able to track where the recyclable materials <br />go and if the Commission could find that out. <br />Mr. Johnson indicated staff would check with Eureka and bring it back to the <br />Commission. <br />Member Spencer asked if during the RFP process was staff going to ask what the <br />costs would look like with and without a revenue share. <br />Mr. Culver explained there have been some conversations regarding both and have <br />been told that Eureka would not be real excited to give the City a non -cost share <br />number because the market is so volatile and Eureka does not know what to set as <br />a fixed price and it could change as the market changes. <br />Chair Wozniak noted there are some industry trends that the Commission and City <br />will need to keep an eye on and maybe learn more about. One being glass which <br />is a big cost item for the City and in some cities around the country some recyclers <br />Page 6 of 8 <br />