Property sale for Frito-Lay facility, refuse contract on tap for Port Huron council

Renewing a contract for refuse collection, including leaf collection, and a property sale supporting a future Frito-Lay facility are on tap for Port Huron City Council members on Monday.

In an email on Wednesday, City Manager James Freed gave elected officials a preview of the purchase agreement in the city’s industrial park to a separate Nebraska-based company that plans to build a small distribution center for Frito-Lay, a snack food subsidiary of PepsiCo, later this year.

“This type of development is what we hoped for when assembling this site,” Freed wrote, crediting local real estate broker Korissa Kramer and Kristy Jones, of the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County, “for working to attract this project.” He also applauded David Haynes, the city’s planning director for “siting the development in the best location to allow for additional development on that site.”

According to the purchase agreement, the $91,340 sale is for a 4.6-acre site along Nern Street between 32nd and 31st streets.

Charlie Nelson, of Nelson Family Enterprises, LLC, which is buying the property, confirmed the Frito-Lay plans, said they’re building a facility for the snack distributor primarily as a landlord, adding, “We’ll plan to start in the spring and finish by fall to build a small warehouse for them.”

However, a request for comment on further plans to Frito-Lay’s media contact was not returned as of early Friday.

Under the agreement, Nelson Family Enterprises commits to the construction of a building at least 10,000 square feet in size with a claw-back provision to its deed giving the property back to the city if construction doesn’t start within a year.

City to address new refuse contract following leaf pickup concerns

City Council members will also consider a bid for another refuse collection agreement that includes leaf collection with Emterra Environmental USA — a few months after city officials said they’d rethink future arrangements in response to public outcry over a leaf pickup season fell short of expectations.

Emterra is the service provider for multiple municipalities in the area.

In November, Freed called Emterra’s weeks-long delay last fall “woefully inadequate,” citing a worker shortage with the trash collector’s challenges with leaf pickup. At the time, officials left multiple options in finding “more capable and qualified folks” for the service on the table.

But Freed said on Thursday, Emterra was the only bid for services in advance of its current contract expiration in June.

In contrast to a separate entity running the service, the administrator said the city may be unable to “buy the equipment to get it operational” if it were to take on refuse and leaf collection itself.

“Right now, the issue is the worker shortage every business is facing is in the refuse industry, as well,” Freed said. “We can’t get workers and the lead time on equipment is almost unimaginable. We can’t even obtain new patrol cars, let alone a customized leaf sucker or trash track. So, we’ve seen this across the country. Our bid results came back on par with what’s going on around the state and around the country if not a little bit lower. But they can’t get the workers to do the work, and so, the costs go up.”

The Emterra contract proposal shows a $14 million bid for unlimited solid waste collection services over a five-year period. And that’s a sharp spike from the last two contract periods.

According to a memo from Freed to the mayor and City Council, the total cost from 2013 to 2018 and from 2018 to 2023 were $7.5 million and more than $9.6 million, respectively.

Solid waste collection services, in addition to fall leaf pickup, include other yard waste and curbside recycling collection.

Currently, refuse collection is paid for through a 3-mill city tax.

Because the next contract “Exceeds what our millage brings in,” Freed said he expected to address “looking at some creative financing for the next year” with council sometime in March.

“We’ll figure out the financing, but they’re the single bidder …” Freed said of Emterra. “I’ll take about it in-depth on Monday.”

City Council meets at  7 p.m. on Monday at the Municipal Office Center, 100 McMorran Blvd. Agenda materials can be found online at http://porthuroncitymi.iqm2.com/Citizens/calendar.aspx.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Property sale for Frito-Lay facility, refuse contract on tap for Port Huron council