EAST PROVIDENCE — A proposed new deal between the city and its trash collection vendor originally presented to the council in March was formally and unanimously passed by the body at its meeting May 1.
At the time of the initial submission, then-City Manager Tim Chapman told the council the contract extension would render a three percent savings to East Providence over the life of the agreement. Last week, acting manager Malcolm Moore echoed those same themes.
Some of the details of the contract extension with existing provider MTG Disposal-MEGA Transportation include extending the pact for an additional five years. The city would pay $2.97 million for its rubbish and recycling collection for the first year, then see that number reduced to $2.138 million in the second year followed by fees of $2.181 million, $2.225 million and $2.269 million.
The initial payment would be an increase over the current figure by $144,000, but the total would be reduced by some $700,000 over the ensuing years. As part of the contract, the city would also increase its liability insurance to $5 million up from $1 million.
East Providence originally signed with MTG-MEGA in a consortium with Pawtucket and Central Falls back in 2012 when the city was under the oversight of the state-appointed Budget Commission. It was an attempt to regionalize some services and reduce expenses. It also marked East Providence’s switch from weekly to bi-weekly collection of recyclables in another attempt to save on costs.
Late last year, Pawtucket extended its deal with MTG-MEGA for similar terms: five years at $2.15 million in 2018, $2.2 million in 2019, $2.24 million in 2020, $2.28 million in 2021 and $2.33 million in 2022.
Said Mr. Moore last week, the results of the original regional contract with Mega/MTG, based on economies of scale with Pawtucket and C.F., “went very smoothly. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them.”
He added East Providence will continue to receive a “very favorable rate,” saying there was little possibility of getting an agreement at a lower figure “because in the regional contract we’re already getting a discount there.”
East Providence Department of Public Works Director Steve Coutu initially called the proposed extension a “very favorable contract.” He highlighted the sum of $2.181 million, which is what the city currently pays MTG-MEGA and what it will pay the company in year three of the extension proposal.
“The service has been really good. Of all the Public Works issues, this is the least of my headaches,” Mr. Coutu said in March, adding any issues his department has had with MTG-MEGA have been “addressed right away.”
He also said, “Looking at what we pay now, next year and subsequent years, we’re actually paying less than what we pay now.”
Water system update
Water Division Supervisor Jim Marvel updated the council on the proposed addition of an aeration system to the Kent Heights water tank, which is expected to reduce the amount of certain bacteria by upwards of 50 percent and alleviate the need to issue repeated cautions about water quality to residents of the city.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints and changes in design, Mr. Marvel said the project will not be completed by the initially proposed summer 2018 deadline. Instead, work will likely need to continue into the fall.
Road repairs
The council approved the bid of $2.875 million by J. H. Lynch & Sons, Inc. to perform repairs to what will be slightly over seven miles of roads during the 2018 construction season.
A tentative list of roads in each of the city’s four wards has been submitted and is being evaluated by DPW, Director Coutu and Manager Moore said. The list was not made available to the public at the meeting.
Seven credentialed firms were approved during the process. The bid of East Providence-based Lynch was the lowest of the submissions and below the roughly $3 million the city earmarked for road work during the current fiscal year.