South County Job Fair coming Sept. 28

Tampa Bay Business Journal

Date: Monday, September 24, 2012, 2:54pm EDT

Still time for businesses to register for Hillsborough Commissioner Sandra Murman’s South County Job Fair

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman will be hosting a special South County Job Fair on Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the SouthShore Regional Service Center, 410 30th Street, S.E. in Ruskin. The event is being held in association with the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance and Hillsborough County. There is still time for employers to participate.  

“With the challenges that we are all facing with the downturn in the economy, the most important thing that we can do in County Government is to help our unemployed or under employed citizens to find jobs. When more people are working, more people are saving and spending money at local businesses, and the economy improves,” said Commissioner Murman.

There is no area that has been hit harder in Commissioner Murman’s district than South County.

“It’s critical that we get people back to work,” Murman added.

The South County Job Fair is free and open to the public. For more information call 813-272-5470.

To learn more about Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra L. Murman, go to www.hillsboroughcounty.org .

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Times article on trash haulers contracts:

 By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer

Published Thursday, September 13, 2012

TAMPA — Hillsborough commissioners decided Thursday to seek new bids on residential garbage pickup, signaling the end of a 17-year monopoly by three haulers as well as lower prices and possible service changes for nearly 250,000 customers.

Big money is at stake: Contracts could total $50 million a year, a price tag that had existing haulers lobbying hard to maintain the current setup and prospective companies fighting just as hard for a piece of the action.

And few things will hit home for residents as much as garbage service that stinks.

“If we do not deliver the same service, (at) less cost, people will be picketing County Center,” said Commissioner Sandy Murman.

The vote at Thursday’s workshop was unanimous, 6-0, with Chairman Ken Hagan absent. Under the county’s bid proposal, haulers would compete to offer services to as many as two of five new franchise districts, each of which would have around 50,000 customers.

Most significant for customers: Haulers would submit prices for four different service options.

One would keep service the same: twice-weekly pickup for garbage and weekly recyclable and yard waste services. That option would continue using resident-provided trash cans.

Another option would keep the twice weekly pickup frequency but provide customers with standardized garbage cans.

The third option would provide customers with the standardized garbage cans but reduce pickup to once a week. Another option, the cheapest for customers, would reduce recycling pick-up to every other week.

Bids will come back to commissioners, who will decide how to proceed.

Under the current setup, three haulers — Waste Management, Waste Services and Republic Services — pick up residential garbage in defined areas at negotiated rates. In return, the trio gets exclusive rights to compete for most commercial garbage pickup throughout the county, setting their own rates.

That commercial pickup is a moneymaker, with the county’s consultant estimating the haulers make a total of roughly $30 million to $40 million annually. The new proposal would maintain the open market for commercial pickup but impose new reporting requirements on haulers.

At least half a dozen haulers are expected to submit bids. The contracts for the three existing haulers do not expire until late 2013.

Current rates for households top out at $11.18 a month for the twice-weekly pickup and weekly recycling and yard waste service, officials said.

Commissioners spent most of Thursday’s meeting tweaking some portions of the proposal, such as specifying the geographic region (Gulf states plus Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina) from which bidders may be based. The idea was to make sure the haulers’ workers are used to working in hot summers and stormy weather.

Commissioner Victor Crist, who last year said he was leaning toward renegotiating with existing haulers, added a requirement that bidders provide five years of financial and service performance records. He also asked that the county allow residents a choice in the size of their standardized garbage can. He said deed-restricted communities in his district fine homeowners who leave cans in the driveway, and he didn’t want the huge cans that he’s seen in St. Petersburg.

“You can’t fit your car in the garage with that can,” he said.

Taking a formal vote at workshops is not prohibited under the commission’s rules, but it is unusual, prompting Crist to attempt, unsuccessfully, to delay the vote until next week’s regular board meeting.

Because Thursday’s meeting was a workshop, it did not include any time for public comment.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe, one of the leading voices for putting the services out to competitive bid, said the discussion had been going on since December. Any delay, he said, “would be a back-door way of not going out to bid.”

Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3374.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on trash hauler contracts:

 Contracts handle same trash for less cash

 By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

September 14, 2012

Hillsborough County residents will get the same or better garbage collection at a lower price by putting trash pickup out for bid.

At least that’s what county officials are promising after eight months of working on the new bid documents that will be published late next week.

Companies will be asked to bid on a range of garbage collection options, including keeping the current twice-a-week manual pickup or changing to once-a-week automated collection that uses 95-gallon rolling bins for garbage and 65-gallon bins for recyclables.

Commissioners approved the bid documents on a 6-0 vote, with Chairman Ken Hagan absent.

County Administrator Mike Merrill said the contracts were developed to achieve goals commissioners set in December when they voted to put garbage collection out to bid: lower prices, quality service and control over the solid waste stream.

Commissioner Sandy Murman, who tried and failed to delay the vote until next week, warned Merrill that he and the county staff would be on the hook if the bid process resulted in worse service than residents have now.

“You’re taking a big risk, staff, because the onus will be on you,” Murman said. “If we don’t deliver the same service at less cost, people will be picketing the county center.”

Three to five vendors will be awarded contracts to begin service starting Oct. 1, 2013, but they won’t necessarily be the companies that now pick up garbage in Hillsborough’s unincorporated areas. Those haulers — Waste Management, Republic Services and Waste Services Inc. — will have to bid along with up to eight others on the new contracts commissioners approved Thursday.

All of the vendors have to prove their qualifications, including length of time in business, ability to handle sizable contracts, senior management experience and guarantees of financial stability.

“It ensures the government that we get the lowest possible rates offered by qualified service providers,” said Mitch Kessler, a private consultant who worked with the county on the bid specification.

Here’s how the new process will work: The companies will bid on five collection zones, each with about 50,000 households. No company can get more than two zones, and they will be chosen on a complicated rotational process that Kessler said will ensure the best value for county taxpayers.

The companies also will bid on four service options:

Keeping the model of twice-a-week manual garbage pickup and once-a-week manual collection of recyclables and yard trash.

Twice-a-week automated garbage pickup and once-a-week recyclables collection, using rolling bins provided by the county, and once-a-week yard waste collection.

Once-a-week automated garbage and recycling collection and once-a-week yard waste pickup.

Once-a-week automated garbage pickup, every-other-week recyclables collection and once-a-week manual trash pickup.

If an automated service option is chosen, all waste receptacles will be fitted with radio transmitters. That way, haulers will be able to keep track of when and where garbage is collected to better manage the service and avoid missing houses.

Commercial receptacles also will have transmitters so the county can make sure the waste goes either to the waste-to-energy plant or a recycling center.

Controlling the amount of waste is important because the county must pay a penalty to Covanta, the company that runs the waste-to-energy plant, if waste collections dumped at the incinerator don’t total 546,000 tons a year.

John Lyons, Hillsborough’s director of utilities, said the county doesn’t know whether haulers who pick up commercial waste are taking it to the incinerator. They could be taking the waste out of county or to processers who remove recyclables.

The county makes no money off recycling, but that will change under whatever system is adopted. A separate bid will go out for companies that want to process recyclables. They would pay the county a percentage of the money they make selling the recyclables, based on commodity prices.

“Under recycling right now, the hauler picks it up and it goes away; they retain the money from selling it,” Lyons said.

Kessler said under current commodity prices, the county could make $1.5 million a year off recycling under the new system.

Merrill promised that after the bids go out, a massive outreach will be used to educate residents on the changes. The program will use online surveys, social media and video town hall meetings.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this WMNF article on trash debate:

Hillsborough County is one step closer to new trash pick-up service

September 14, 2012

Janelle Irwin, WMNF 88.5 FM

 Hillsborough County is one step closer to revamping its longstanding trash hauling monopoly. At a workshop yesterday, County Commissioners voted to move forward with a competitive bidding process that will force the existing companies to compete with others from other states for county contracts. After more than 8-months of conversation, Commissioner Mark Sharpe said the next step needed to be taken immediately.

“Any delay would potentially put at risk all of this work. Any delay for any reason could put at risk to the tax payer who are ultimately look to us to make the hard decision, put at risk the ability to, I think get perhaps even better service at a better rate.”

Three companies, WSI, Waste Management and Republic Services have had a stronghold over Hillsborough’s trash pick-up for 17-years. Their contract is up next September. Mitch Kessler, the consultant hired to oversee the request for bid process helped the county come up with a plan to allow companies from the Southeastern United States to bid for Hillsborough’s business.

“So, right now we have twice a week garbage, once a week yard waste, once a week recycling. It would stay exactly the same as what we’re proposing here so we could have a price to compare to what you’re getting today.”

It also lays out three other service options for residents. Kessler said that includes the same service, but instead of having workers dumping the trash into trucks a mechanical arm would to it. Another option would be to reduce trash pick up service to once a week.

“What would be the least expensive way to do this? Well, you would have that once a week garbage, but you’d have every other week recycling instead of weekly. Every other week, you’d probably use a larger cart like this for recycling. That’s really up there in the dollar signs reflect – the marketplace will determine what the pricing is, but the dollar signs going from three to two and a half to two to one is what logic would tell you would be the high to low end of the cost of those services.”

The process would also re-write outdated district lines. Kessler said right now, they are disproportionate because of changes in population since the last contract started in 1996.

“We’re suggesting five districts where you’d end up with three to five vendors and remember, not today, but in the future you’ll select the number of vendors and I’m going to show you how we’re proposing that to work. So there’s five districts, they all now have about 50,000 households in it. So that’s how they’re divided up, the five districts. The concept is, that the vendor could be awarded up to two districts. The upside of that is it creates competitions. Those that want to provide more residential service will bid more aggressively.”

During previous meetings, public comment had suggested overwhelming support for a competitive bid. There were a few county residents and some commissioners who were concerned that looking for the lowest bidder would compromise service. But Kessler’s plan alleviates that concern.

“We want to know how long you’ve been in business. If you haven’t been in business for a significant period of time, we can’t be assured you could do the job.”

And he also wants to make sure companies have the resources to do what they’re contracted to do.

“A financial guarantee that the company is financially sound, sufficient resources to provide the required equipment, the skills, the personnel to perform the job and lastly, a performance bond – these vendor qualifications are serious, important and need to be met to ensure that you get the quality of service that you want.”

But Kessler’s competitive bidding plan didn’t come out completely unscathed. Commissioner Victor Crist moved a series of amendments including making sure residents could choose the size of their trash cans to fit their homes and making sure companies kept their fleets in good working order without the county being too regulatory. All of his ideas were adopted except for one. That would have changed language to only allow bids from states who border the Gulf of Mexico.

“I just want to make sure we’re working with companies that are used to working in hurricane environments.”

Instead, commissioners, including Kevin Beckner, voted to keep the “Southeastern United States” language, but add Texas to it.

“If this is a large enough business, we talk about wanting to have companies relocate here. We talk about open market and fair competition and wanting to let the free markets determine and get the best service for the best price for our constituents. I don’t think you achieve that when you limit it and you limit the competition. I think you let the competition bear everything out, you review the qualifications of the companies, their abilities to handle a storm and then you make your decision that way but not exclude them to begin with.”

Beckner said the proposed bidding guidelines are stringent enough to weed out the bad seeds.

“That with the qualifications, the minimum qualifications that our County Administrator has put forward, I think that should ensure that we have some people that know what they’re doing and that can put out the quality service.”

Board chair Ken Hagan wasn’t present for the meeting. Commissioner Sandra Murman wanted to delay a vote until the commission’s regular meeting next week, but that measure failed with a three vote split. Staff hopes to award contracts to companies by January to allow time for a transition. Companies who will haul trash in Hillsborough will most likely have to provide automated service. The current bidding process would allow nine months to make the change.

Hillsborough County News

Aug. 23, 2012

For more information, contact Hillsborough County Communications Department at 813-272-5314

Statement from the Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center on Tropical Storm Isaac

Hillsborough County has been planning and preparing with our partner agencies for well over a year for the possibility of a storm that coincides with the RNC.  In June, the statewide hurricane exercise focused on just this scenario so that we could refine our emergency decision making and response.  Residents and visitors can rest assured that we are even more prepared than usual with many public safety resources available.

Hillsborough County is actively monitoring all aspects of Tropical Storm Isaac in coordination with the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management, the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, as we would with any other storm.  Coordination efforts include many partners: the City of Tampa, State and Federal agencies, along with the RNC Host Committee and the Committee on Arrangements. 

Tropical Storm Isaac is still a great distance from the United States and remains a moderate tropical storm with a track that is anything but certain.  With the significant distance from Florida, there are many variables that can and will impact a developing storm and cause a change in its path.  As with any storm, our citizens need to be prepared to take emergency actions if needed, and we want to remind citizens that they should also be prepared with their own emergency plans.  You can check your evacuation zone by address, in the event an evacuation is ordered.  Sandbags are currently available at these locations.  Make sure you have your disaster kit at the ready with these recommended items.

Conference calls are being conducted among all emergency operations on a regular basis.  Information will be provided timely as it is made available.  Decisions concerning the RNC will be made through collaborative efforts.  The Emergency Policy Group – which includes mayors of all three cities, two county commissioners and the sheriff – will be convened if necessary for emergency action that would have countywide implications.  All steps will be taken to keep our citizens and visitors informed and safe.

County Storm Information

Commissioner Murman quoted in WUSF News regarding the MetroRapid groundbreaking: 

Groundbreaking Held for Tampa’s First Bus Rapid Transit Line

By Steve Newborn

Groundbreaking was held today for the newest improvement in Tampa’s mass transportation. It’s called Bus Rapid Transit, and it should mean a significant improvement in getting across town.

We won’t be seeing any light rail in the foreseeable future, so Bus Rapid Transit will be the nearest thing commuters will see to a new way to traverse Tampa. “MetroRapid” will have fewer stops than regular buses, run every 15 minutes and be able to get automatic green lights at major intersections. Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit estimates the 17.5-mile ride between downtown Tampa and Fletcher Avenue and I-75 should be 15 percent quicker.

County Commissioner Sandy Murman is a member of HART’s board of directors.

“We’ll really send a message that riding the bus is a cool thing to do,” Murman says. “And I think it just sends a message to our community that we are really solving our transportation issues.”

Most of the $34 million cost will come from the Hillsborough County Community Investment Tax.  Of that, $31 million went for design, land acquisition and construction; $1.75 million for the Fletcher Avenue park-and-ride facility; and $2 million for transit signal priority, which reduces time spent at red lights.

It’s expected to open in the spring, and eventually connect with another MetroRapid line running east-to-west.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Times article on HART rates:

 HART board approves fare increases

Neil Johnson, Times Correspondent
In Print: Tuesday, August 7, 2012

TAMPA — Bus riders in Hillsborough County will pay more starting in November with the majority of passengers seeing a fare increase of about 6 percent.

Fares for riders who use cash for one-way trips will pay an average of 12.6 percent more.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit board approved the new charges Monday, and riders will begin paying the higher fares Nov. 11. This is the first fare increase since 2008.

HART officials expect the fare increase to produce $886,000 in additional revenue that is intended to cover rising fuel costs, new services and inflation. The board reviews fares every two years.

The increase passed unanimously, but Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman unsuccessfully tried to persuade fellow HART board members to exempt the specialized paratransit service used by seniors and people with disabilities.

Exempting those riders would have reduced the revenue boost by about $50,000.

“I’m just trying to give the people a break,” she said. “The difference in revenue would not make a huge impact.”

Other members disagreed.

“Every $50,000 has consequences,” said member Steven Polzin. The lost money would have to come from elsewhere in the agency budget, he said, and HART should not begin exempting different groups from fare increases.

Increases for riders who buy passes that range from a single day’s travel to 31 days will run from 6.7 percent more for a single-day pass to 5.6 percent more for a 31-day pass.

The one-way fare for riders without any discounts will go up from $1.75 to $2. A one-way ride on an express bus will rise from $2.75 to $3.

The cost of a one-day pass without discounts will go from $3.75 to $4, and a 31-day pass increase from $60 to $65. A three-day pass will rise from $11 to $11.75, HART officials said.

Fares for the paratransit service will go up 14.3 percent from $3.50 to $4, HART officials said.

The fare increase comes as more people are boarding HART’s buses with ridership for local and express routes up 4.4 percent from the last fiscal year. Ridership dropped 3.5 percent in June compared to June 2011, HART officials said, partly because of Tropical Storm Debby.

HART also shaved some of its bus routes that did not have enough riders, a move projected to save the agency $175,000 in the next fiscal year. The changes will affect about 11,000 riders.

Among the route changes are:

• Combine routes 50X and 61LX that run from the Citrus Park and Sheldon Road areas to the Marion Transit Center into one route

• Reduce the east county express route 28X to one morning and one evening trip

• Eliminate Saturday service for the Brandon Flex route but add a scheduled weekday route in the same area

• Change bus schedules for Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day to match service for all other holidays

The HART board also agreed to allow its street cars to accept advertising for cigars and alcohol to inject more revenue into the TECO Line Streetcar System. The authority’s ban on accepting ads for guns, tobacco and alcohol on buses will remain in place.

Advertising provides most of the street car system’s revenue, said Tampa City Council member Mike Suarez, secretary of the HART board. Also, the street car line serves two main entertainment areas, he said.

Board member Wallace Bowers said HART should not advertise alcohol on street cars that run through inner city areas with a lot of homeless people.

“To approve alcohol advertising would be a detriment to the system,” he said.

HART staff members would approve each advertisement.

HART’s current policy allows restaurants and bars to advertise on street cars but the ads cannot make references to alcohol, said agency spokeswoman Marcia Mejia.

The relaxed policy will be in effect in time for vendors to advertise during the Republican National Convention later this month.

Separately, the board agreed to buy about 4 acres near E Fletcher Avenue and Interstate 75. The authority plans to use the land as a park-and-ride lot for more than 300 cars as a hub in a planned bus rapid transit service — called MetroRapid — that will run from the area near I-75, west along Fletcher to Nebraska, then south to downtown Tampa. The site is in the Hidden River Corporate Park just west of the Fletcher and I-75 interchange.

The deal calls for HART to pay $1.5 million to AGI Acquisitions II LLC for the site, about $250,000 under the original estimate of $1.75 million. The money is part of $40 million in transportation money Hillsborough County gave HART in 2008 from the county’s Capital Improvement Tax.

The board on Monday held a ground-breaking ceremony for a station along the MetroRapid route on Nebraska Avenue. The authority expects the service to be in place early next year.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this WMNF story on MetroRapid groundbreaking:

Ground broken on MetroRapid stops along Nebraska Avenue – next year those buses will get traffic light priority

08/06/12 Janelle Irwin

Hillsborough County officials broke ground today on what will soon be the county’s version of bus rapid transit. MetroRapid will run along Nebraska Avenue from the USF area to downtown Tampa quicker than other bus lines. Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman hopes the route will be a boost for ridership when it is completed next year.

“We are taking a very big step with bus rapid transit to really get it moving forward and really send the message that riding the bus is a really cool thing to do.”

A GPS device called Transit Signal Priority makes MetroRapid buses different from others owned and operated by the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, or HART. It sends a signal to approaching light that changes the signal to green. Beginning at Fletcher Avenue, the route runs 17 and a half miles to the Marion Transit Center in downtown. Murman, who is also on the HART board of directors, said the connection along Nebraska Avenue was a good place to start.

“It’s going to be connecting two huge employment centers and that’s really what matters to Hillsborough County – it’s economic development, it’s jobs, getting people to work.”

When the concept for MetroRapid was first batted around, officials considered offering wireless hotspots at stations or even WiFi in the buses. Those plans have been scrapped because a study showed the demand didn’t warrant the cost. But according to HART, stations will be built with infrastructure to eventually add signs showing when the next bus might arrive. Hillsborough County devoted more than $30 million to HART to complete the project after voters rejected a tax to fund it. But HART CEO Philip Hale said after some re-evaluation, the county will likely get 7 or 8 million of that back.

“To be blunt, I went in and we hired a new CFO just recently, about six months ago, we set down, we went through a detailed analysis, we started scrubbing it and we realized that by tweaking some of the things that we’re doing, we could probably get this done and save the county some money.”

The county could use the refund to help pay for the next phase of the project – another MetroRapid route that would run along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. That decision hasn’t been made yet. Hale said the East/West line is still a ways off.

“We’re doing thirty percent design now. We’d have to demonstrate that we have funding to complete the project – speaking with Commissioner Murman today, our intent is to probably try to submit a needs assessment for the East/West to see if we can carry it to the next step. Until we get the needs assessment done and the ridership numbers finalized, right now it’s basically a study.”

But the ground breaking ceremony was held at the intersection of Nebraska and MLK because HART chair Fran Davin said, someday, it will be a huge public transit hub.

“This intersection will be the connection point to make East/West and North/South – and the East/West is the second phase – work together to provide an integrated system.”

The station being built on the southeast corner of that intersection sits on an easement that belongs to Walgreen’s. HART is using what’s called eminent domain to take over the land to build the station. It will be complete with restrooms, shelter and ticket sales. But transit authority CEO Hale said they’re trying not to take over private land when possible.

“As we were selecting our stations and locations – we are trying to develop it in such a way that we don’t have to utilize eminent domain as least as we possibly can. There are a couple of occasions we might have to, but we’re working very hard with the land owners to make sure that we don’t have a negative impact on their property, at the same time meet the demands of the transit system and make it successful.”

Essie Sims Junior is chair of the East Tampa partnership. He’s been an integral part of making MetroRapid a reality. Sims said all he really did was make sure the community had the ability to tell officials what they needed in public transportation.

“We’ve invited the HART employees and directors to come out and give us input as to what was going to be happening in our community in the near future. So, I’ve been facilitating meetings where the HART representatives have been out and have been really informative as to giving our community information as to what they see coming down the road.”

Sims said the project will improve aesthetics along the Nebraska Avenue corridor which he hopes will have a positive trickle effect on communities.

“Second, it will get our residents to work a little bit faster. For those that may travel north on this particular corridor, the bus service itself will be able to get people to jobs faster and also cause people to be able to be employed hopefully.”

Both HART and Hillsborough County officials praised Sims for his work on the project. But Sims said the work isn’t over yet.

“I have a ad hoc committee from our partnership that I instructed about several months ago to kind of follow along with this process as it’s going through the different phases and that way we’re continuing to report back to our community. And also, I’ll be a hands on individual as well.”

The route won’t have a dedicated lane which differentiates it from the narrowest definition of Bus Rapid Transit. Regardless, the Transit Signal Priority technology paired with fewer bus stops will make the commute along the Nebraska corridor 10-15 percent shorter. Park and ride lots will be built at both ends of the north/south route and bike racks available at all other stops along the corridor.