By a 5-0 vote the Council authorized Acting City Manager Brad Miyake or his designee to execute a seven-year agreement for comprehensive garbage, recyclables and organic waste collection. The decision is a follow-up to the Sept. 9 council meeting when staff was directed to work with Republic Services to finalize terms of the contract. The current contract expires next June.

Negotiations with the city and Republic Services are ongoing and expected to conclude later this week. The proposed 2014 contract includes a total annual pricing for the first year not to exceed $19.78 million.

Additionally, the city over the past month has negotiated new services valued at $610,000 at no additional cost for city residents and businesses. The new services include an in-city customer service center, unlimited recycling for commercial customers (embedded in garbage rate), and commercial and multi-family organics collection (96 gallons weekly).