St John council opens three bids for refuse and recycling, takes them under advisement

The St John Town Council on May 27 opened and read three bids for residential refuse and recycling service and voted to take the proposals under advisement for further review and a future final decision.

Town attorney Joe Spetnoff confirmed the proofs of publication were in order before staff read the bid packages into the public record. Town Manager Wayne Pandinas said the town had received three bids and asked the council to consider them as part of the procurement process. "I think, Joe, we've received three bids and Joe's going to open them up and read through them and make that as a matter of public record," Pandinas said.

One submitting firm, Homewood Disposal Service, filed a letter declining to submit a proposal for the town’s residential collection and disposal service; the letter was read aloud and placed in the record. Republic Services of Indiana submitted a multi‑year price schedule that was read into the record, including per‑unit monthly rates for successive contract years and per‑dumpster and per‑ton charges for additional services; the bid materials were accepted as the company’s binder.

Lakeshore Recycling Systems (represented by Bill Kenny, municipal manager) explained the firm’s bid included a deviation from the town’s single‑day service assumption: "We bid this as a deviation, meaning that we would not service the town of St. John on a one‑day or two‑day. We would bid it as a 4‑day," Kenny said, describing the operational rationale for his company’s price. The council and staff noted the deviation and said they would consider it alongside the other responsive bids when comparing service levels and costs.

After the three bid submissions were read into the record, the council moved and seconded a motion "to take the bids under advisement to further notice." The motion carried 5–0. Council members confirmed the selection will return to the council for final approval after staff and legal review.

The meeting record includes the full bid documents and detailed line items for per‑unit monthly charges, dumpster pricing and per‑ton street‑sweeping special‑waste charges; staff said they will analyze the deviations, service‑day proposals and contract terms before presenting a recommendation.

Next steps: town staff will complete the review of the bid materials, evaluate the Lakeshore deviation and present a recommendation to the council for final approval at a subsequent meeting.