Report to/Rapport au :

Transportation Committee

Comité des transports

and Council/et au Conseil

13 July 2006/le 13 juillet 2006

Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,

Acting Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint par intérim,

Public Works and Services/Services et Travaux publics

Contact Person/Personne ressource :

John Manconi, Director, Surface Operations/Directeur, Opérations de surface

613-580-2424 x 21110, John.Manconi@ottawa.ca

City Wide

Ref N°: ACS2006-PWS-SOP-0002

SUBJECT:	INTEGRATED STREET FURNITURE request for proposal (RFP) FRAMEWORK
OBJET :	CADRE DE DEMANDE DE PROPOSITIONS – programme de mobilier urbain intégré

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

That Transportation Committee recommend and Council approve:

1. The guidelines contained herein for the development of an integrated request for proposal (RFP) framework for the integrated street furniture program, including the associated proposal evaluation criteria and weightings and the make-up of the proposal evaluation team.

2. That a full-time equivalent (FTE) position at an estimated cost of $82,000 be included in the Draft 2007 Operating Budget for consideration subject to the costs being offset by an increase in the on-street litter/recycling revenue stream for the coordination and management of the on-street litter/recycling component of the program.

3. In the event that there is a need to place temporary stand-alone litter/recycling units adjacent to transit shelters during the 16-month transition period created by staggered expiry dates of existing contracts, that the Draft 2007 and 2008 Operating estimates provide for consideration transition impacts in the total amount of $240,000.

4. Delegated authority to the Deputy City Manager of Public Works and Services to award the contract.

RECOMMANDATIONS DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité des transports recommande et que le Conseil approuve:

1. Les lignes directrices énoncées dans le présent rapport en vue de l’élaboration d’un cadre de demandes de propositions pour le programme de mobilier urbain intégré, y compris les critères d’évaluation des propositions et les pondérations connexes ainsi que la composition de l’équipe d’évaluation des propositions.

2. L’inclusion dans le Budget de fonctionnement préliminaire de 2007 d’un ETP (équivalent temps plein), au coût estimatif de 82 000 $, à la condition que ces coûts soient compensés par une augmentation des recettes provenant des installations de dépôt de déchets et d’articles de recyclage sur rue pour la coordination et la gestion du volet collecte des déchets/recyclage sur rue du programme.

3. S’il devient nécessaire de mettre, à côté des abribus, des contenants autonomes temporaires pour la collecte des déchets et des articles recyclables durant la période de transition de 16 mois faisant suite à l’échelonnement des dates d’expiration des contrats actuels, la prise en compte, dans les estimations du Budget de fonctionnement préliminaire de 2007 et de 2008, des répercussions de la transition pour la somme totale de 240 000 $.

4. La délégation du pouvoir d’attribution du contrat au directeur municipal adjoint des Services et Travaux publics.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report provides the results of a staff review of existing street furniture service agreements. The review was initiated at the direction of Council provided on June 22, 2005.

The review assesses the feasibility of adopting an integrated approach for all such street furniture service agreements and explores the potential of a comprehensive and competitive RFP. In addition, the review was to address a number of issues that had developed with respect to the street furniture agreements, specifically:

1. The City’s streetscape can be improved if street furniture has a common look and feel, and that there is a high potential for an increase in visual clutter if services are expanded under the existing or similar agreements.

2. There is a need for additional services in various parts of the City.

3. Advertising on various types of street furniture may compete for the same audience and changes in individual agreements can significantly undermine revenue potential of other agreements.

Based on the research, consultation and analysis conducted through this review, it was found that there would be significant benefit to integrating the agreements for the following street furniture elements that currently contain advertising:

1. Transit shelters,
2. Transit bus benches, and
3. On-street litter/recycling containers.

By integrating the three identified elements of advertising-supported street furniture into one agreement, a number of significant benefits aligned with the following Ottawa 20/20 objectives can be achieved: Fiscal Responsibility, Partnerships, A Focus on Walking, Cycling and Transit, and Clean Air, Water and Earth. Specifically, the benefits would include:

1. Transit shelters, transit bus benches, and on street litter/recycling facilities whose appearance complement each other with a consistent look and feel, making for a more pleasant and less cluttered streetscape;

2. More effective litter and recycling services which service the pedestrian network, the cycling network, and enhanced facilities along the transportation network;

3. Transit shelters, transit bus benches, and on street litter/recycling containers whose appearance and design has flexibility for customization to complement BIA themes and other interest areas;

4. Fully engaging the successful proponent in defining the physical limits for the placement of advertising street furniture and striking a balance between service needs and revenue generating potential in public places, while retaining the City’s final approval for the placement of all three services components;

5. Environmental benefits from waste diversion, increased recycling, and increased infrastructure supporting reduction of on-street litter; and

6. Utilizing an existing City review process (Right-of-Way circulations), ensure that all proposed future placements of the on-street furniture components are screened by Public Works & Services Department to ensure a demonstrated need for service and circulated to Planning and Growth Management Department to ensure harmony of the components with local streetscapes and ensure consistency with the City’s Street Design Policy, Urban Design Guidelines, and future planning directions.

These benefits are captured in the specification guidelines for the RFP that are detailed under the following headings:

· Expansion of service

· Placement locations must have a service requirement

· Placement opt-out by Ward Councillors and BIAs for on-street litter/recycling containers

· Consistent look and feel of on-street furniture

· Type of service

· Level of service

· Waste disposal and diversion tracking

· Term of the agreement

· Strategy to accommodate staggered expiry dates of existing agreements

· Guaranteed revenue projections

· Advertising standards

· Advertising space reserved for City use

· RFP evaluation criteria

· RFP evaluation team membership

· Mechanism for service expansion.

· Asset ownership at expiry of agreement.

Upon the approval of the report’s recommendations, the Department will begin work on an RFP for an integrated agreement utilizing the guidelines contained in this report with the goal to award the tender during the first quarter of 2007.

BACKGROUND

Ottawa has a number of street furniture agreements in place, generally with the intent of providing a public service while transferring associated costs to the private sector in exchange for advertising opportunity. The City’s transit shelters, bus benches, bicycle racks, and some of the on-street litter containers are provided through such agreements. Generally, the City has used the following type of principles in developing these agreements:

· Provide a service. There must be an existing service or an identified and demonstrated need for street furniture. Advertising is secondary to the purpose of the structure.

· Offset capital and operating cost. Costs associated with the initial acquisition, ongoing maintenance, and periodic renewal of street furniture is transferred from the City to the service provider.

· Generate revenue. A portion of the advertising proceeds generated from the street furniture is returned to the City as a revenue stream.

Over the past several years, Council has been approached with a number of requests/proposals related to street furniture contracts. These requests/proposals, which were rejected by Council, highlight a number of issues that have developed with respect to the street furniture agreements:

1. The City’s streetscape could be improved if street furniture had a common look and feel, and that there is a high potential for an increase in visual clutter if services are expanded under the existing agreements.

2. There is a need for additional services in various parts of the City.

3. Advertising on various types of street furniture may compete for the same audience and changes in individual agreements can significantly undermine revenue potential of other agreements.

At its meeting of June 22, 2005, Council directed that staff conduct an integrated review of existing street furniture service agreements and report back to Committee regarding the feasibility of adopting an integrated approach for all such service agreements and explore the potential to issue a comprehensive RFP to obtain best value for the City.

Review of Existing Service Agreements

Currently, as shown in the following table, the city administers six agreements whereby service providers are allowed to support various forms of advertising on city infrastructure or on their own infrastructure but placed on the city right-of-way.

Table 1 - REVIEW OF EXISTING SERVICE AGREEMENTS

Service Description	Firm	Contract Ends	Extension Possible	On what Conditions	Length of Extension	Current Approx. Inventory	Annual Revenue To City $$
Advertising on Transit Shelters	ClearChannel Outdoor	30 June 2008	Yes	Service & mutual agreement	Two years	600 shelters, 1200 Ad panels	$ 600k in year 1 escalating to $ 965k in year 5
Advertising on Transit Buses	Pattison Outdoor	30 June 2008	Yes	Service & mutual agreement	Two years	Over 900 buses. Ad panels on all	$ 1.20 M in year 1 escalating to $ 1.29 M in yr 5
Transit Bus Benches	Creative Outdoor Advertising	31 August 2008	No	N/a	n/a	700 benches; 600 with ad panels & litter bins	$ 170k (in 2004)
Litter Recycling Bins	Eucan (OMG)	29 April 2007	Yes[1]	Service & mutual agreement	Five years	304	$ 14.4 k in 2006 and $ 18 k in 2007
Bike Racks	Velocity Media	30 November 2006	No, but could be negotiated	N/a	N/a	Approx. 835 with ad panel	$2,000 annual encroachment payment
Newspaper Distribution Boxes	Citizen, Sun, DOSE, Metro Express, etc	Annual encroachment sticker	N/a	N/a	N/a	4,330 stickers issued	$68/sticker/year or approx $250k/year

The following sections provide some brief information on each of the existing service agreements.

Transit Buses and Transit Shelters

• Issued as a single tender with two schedules, one for Transit Buses and another for Transit Shelters. Proponents can bid on only shelters, only bus advertising, or both.
• In addition to the revenue stream provided to the City, the transit shelter component includes the requirement for the successful bidder to clean all shelters at no cost to the City, as well as replace 60 of the City’s life-expired shelters each year.
• The Transit Buses component grants exclusive interior and exterior bus advertising rights to the successful bidder.
• The vendor is required to provide general maintenance of and in proximity to the shelters.
• All shelters will be City property at the end of the agreement.

Transit Bus Benches

• Prior to amalgamation, the former Region was approached by a company to supply 1,200 transit bus benches: approximately 600 with advertising and approximately 600 without advertising. This agreement has been extended into its 2^nd 5-year term.
• The 600 benches with advertising include an integrated waste receptacle. These integrated receptacles are emptied of waste once per week (more frequently if required).
• All bench locations are swept and litter picked up within a reasonable distance on the exterior area around the bench at no cost to the City. In the winter season, snow removal is included in the regular scheduled visits for benches left in place at no cost to the City.

• At the expiry of this agreement the benches will remain the property of the service provider and on the termination of the agreement all benches are to be removed within sixty (60) days.

Litter/Recycling Bins

• Through a competitive RFP process, a contract was awarded to a company to supply, install, clean, maintain, repair, empty dispose of the waste material and recycle all recyclable material. This provided enhanced services since there was no program to collect recyclable materials prior to the RFP.
• At the expiry of this agreement the litter/recycle bins will remain the property of the service provider.
• On 22 June 2005, Council approved a motion that declined to extend the contract beyond April 2007, and directed staff to communicate that decision to the firm, which was done.
• The 304 units provided for this contract augment the City’s inventory of litter bines.

Newspaper Vending Boxes

• Currently administered by Traffic & Parking Operations Branch (TPO) under the Encroachment By-law.
• Subject of a current staff review to assess options for limiting the number of newspaper boxes at any one location and balancing the various considerations related to this use of the right-of-way.

Bicycle Racks

• The former City of Ottawa competed the supply, installation, cleaning, maintenance, repair and seasonal removal of bicycle racks at no cost to the City. Velocity Media were successful, and the agreement has been renewed annually since 1997.

DISCUSSION

The general objectives of the integrated street furniture RFP framework are as follows:

1. Integrated design approach. Street furniture components are to have a common “look and feel” to mitigate visual clutter and improve the aesthetic appeal of the streetscape.

2. Responsible management of advertising. Recognizing that there are limits to revenue generating potential in public places and that advertising modes have potential for undermining each other’s revenue potential and the general appearance of public spaces, manage the various agreements in a responsible and sustainable manner.

3. Best value for the City. Treat suppliers equitably and serve the public interest through a fair and competitive procurement process.

The following sections provide details of the proposed street furniture RFP framework resulting from research, consultation and analysis conducted through this review.

Integrated Design Approach

After careful review and consideration, it was found that there would be significant benefit to integrating the agreements for the following street furniture elements that currently contain advertising:

· Transit shelters,

· Transit bus benches, and

· On-street litter/recycling containers.

The basis for grouping these elements together is that transit shelters and bus benches are frequently co-located, while there is considerable duplication of services between the bus benches and litter/recycling container agreements.

Street furniture supported by advertising but not considered in this harmonized framework include:

· Bicycle racks, and

· Publication (newspaper) distribution boxes

Discussions with the administrator of the advertising bicycle rack program did not reveal any dissatisfaction or advertising conflict with their rack placements and their proximity to other on-street advertising mediums. Similarly, the administrators of the transit bus bench agreement and the litter/recycling agreement did not experience any conflicts with the placement of bike racks in close proximity.

Similarly, discussions with staff who administer access to the city rights-of-way for use by newspaper distribution boxes through the Encroachment By-law, indicated no conflicts between newspaper distribution boxes and other on-street advertising mediums. Further, Council has asked Departmental staff to report on limiting the number of newspaper distribution boxes at any one location, balancing the City’s right to rent out its right-of-way with the right of the community to maintain an uncluttered streetscape aesthetic.

Finally, advertising on and in transit buses was also deemed to be out of scope for this framework primarily since it is not considered to contribute to streetscape clutter. Similarly, while there is no existing agreement in place, light rail vehicles and the LRT corridor is also deemed to be out of scope.

By integrating the three identified elements of advertising-supported street furniture into one agreement, a number of significant benefits aligned with the following Ottawa 20/20 objectives can be achieved: Fiscal Responsibility, Partnerships, A Focus on Walking, Cycling and Transit, and Clean Air, Water and Earth. Specifically, the benefits would include:

1. Transit shelters, transit bus benches, and on street litter/recycling facilities whose appearance complement each other with a consistent look and feel, making for a more pleasant and less cluttered streetscape;

2. More effective litter and recycling services which service the pedestrian network, the cycling network, and enhanced facilities along the transportation network;

3. Transit shelters, transit bus benches, and on street litter/recycling containers whose appearance and design has flexibility for customization to complement BIA themes and other interest areas;

1. Fully engaging the successful proponent in defining the physical limits for the placement of advertising street furniture and striking a balance between service needs and revenue generating potential in public places, while retaining the City’s final approval for the placement of all three services components;

2. Environmental benefits from waste diversion, increased recycling, and increased infrastructure supporting reduction of on-street litter; and

3. Utilizing an existing City review process (Right-of-Way circulations), ensure that all proposed future placements of the on-street furniture components are screened by Public Works & Services to ensure a demonstrated need for service and circulated to Planning and Growth Management to ensure harmony of the components with the local streetscape and ensure consistency with the City’s Street Design Policy, Urban Design Guidelines, and future planning directions.

While some elements of advertising supported street furniture have been omitted from the scope of the proposed RFP, it is suggested that the application of the "consistent look and feel" guiding principles and placement criteria proposed here could also be considered to inform policy or contracts for those other street furniture elements. Furthermore, if future review of these issues during the development of the RFP identifies a strong benefit for incorporate the bicycle rack element into the integrated street furniture RFP, staff will work towards modifying the scope of the RFP accordingly.

Responsible Management of Advertising

Advertising on City infrastructure, including street furniture, has significant but limited revenue potential. Advertisers compete for this revenue by attempting to maximize audience share and exposure. As a result, the City’s various advertising-supported street furniture agreements have the potential to undermine each other from the perspective of revenue generation. While the potential impact to revenue has not been quantified, it has been raised as a concern by the private sector.

There are three primary ways that revenue potential can be compromised between agreements:

1. Over-saturation of the market (streetscape) with the proliferation of advertising;

2. Co-location of advertising media from different agreements; and

3. Similar physical geometry (size) of advertising media.

Consultation with the administrators of the various existing agreements, and based on previous communications with a number of the existing service providers, provided the following insights regarding potential for conflict:

· Litter/recycling containers and transit shelters may conflict, particularly if the physical format of the litter/recycling containers is changed to reflect international advertising standards, making them similar in geometry to the shelters.

· Litter/recycling containers and bus benches conflict in their current format where they are co-located.

· Transit shelters (vertical format) and bus benches (horizontal format) serve different markets and do not conflict.

· While it seems that the potential for conflict exists between bike racks and other forms of advertising-supported street furniture, experience has shown that the conflicts are minimal.

· Newspaper boxes and transit shelters have conflicted in the past in locations where there is restricted room in the right-of-way. These conflicts have generally, but not universally, been resolved satisfactorily on a case-by-case basis.

· There is no apparent conflict between bus board advertising and on-street advertising, since the bus board advertising does not occupy a fixed location in the city.

In summary, potential for revenue generation conflict exists between litter/recycling containers and either transit shelters or bus benches or both – depending on the geometry and placement of the litter/recycling containers. No other significant conflict is anticipated. These findings support the integration of the three street furniture elements identified in the “Integrated Design Approach” section of this report.

In order to responsibly manage its advertising-supported agreements, the City could make attempts to limit cross-agreement impacts through contract terms and conditions. A more effective approach is to integrate the agreements that have significant potential for conflict so that the private sector deals with these issues without direct City involvement. This is consistent with the integrated RFP approach being presented.

Best Value for the City

The third objective of the integrated street furniture RFP is, as previously stated, to treat suppliers equitably and serve the public interest through a fair and competitive procurement process. This objective was re-confirmed by Council when it rejected a recent integrated proposal from the three incumbent service providers of transit shelters, bus benches, and litter/recycle containers.

Specification Guidelines for the Integrated Street Furniture RFP

In this section, general guidelines for the development of the integrated RFP are presented. The intent of presenting these guidelines is to confirm the overall direction and strategy associated with the contracting approach. The detailed specifications of the individual tenders/agreements for each, the transit shelters, transit bus benches, and the on-street litter/recycling containers, will remain largely intact (i.e., all servicing/emptying of litter/recycling, timely graffiti removal, damage repairs, etc.) within the framework of the guidelines presented.

Following are the specification guidelines for the RFP:

• Expansion of service. It is proposed that both the proponent and the city have the ability to request to expand the number of units in service of any component on a site-by-site basis with the revenue generation to the city adjusted accordingly.

As the starting point for the RFP, the points of service are proposed to be:

o 600 litter/recycling containers – 80% of which carry advertising

• 700 bus benches – 85% of which carry advertising

o 600 transit shelters – 100% of which carries advertising

The current litter/recycling container agreement contains only 304 points of service, 100% of which carry advertising. Service points and advertising percentages for the other two services (bus benches and transit shelters) remain unchanged from their current level as a starting point for the RFP.

Having some capacity of non-advertising units allows the City flexibility to provide one or all of these services in locations that would not otherwise receive the service based upon an advertising need.

• Placement locations must have a service requirement. There must be an existing service or an identified and demonstrated need for street furniture at a particular location and that advertising is secondary to the purpose of the structure

• Placement opt-out by Ward Councillors and BIAs for stand-alone litter/recycling containers. As with the previous installations of the on-street litter/recycling containers, to ensure that the units are welcome and compatible to the needs of the community, Public Works and Services would provide a listing of the proposed locations for consideration of each Ward Councillor and each BIA. As with the existing agreement, the city would continue to reserve the right to approve each location at which the stand-alone litter/recycling containers will be installed. The actual placement and orientation of the units in the specified location would be under the approval of the Deputy City Manager, PWS. Individual Councillors and BIAs would have the choice to opt out of the expansion and/or overrule any proposed location, should they so desire.

• Consistent look and feel of on-street furniture. To achieve the goal of “complementary and consistent look and feel” between all three on-street components, in each sub-tender the City will include the authority to approve or reject all designs to all tender components. This goal will not only be a consideration when evaluating the proposals but it will also be an on-going consideration when the successful proponent wants to introduce a change is the design of any element contained in the tender after award.

• Type of service. A location may exist whereby the recyclable diversion volumes and the collection costs dictate the need for a single stream waste receptacle. Therefore in the RFP there would be the requirement for both, the future bus bench component of the tender and the future on-street litter/recycle bin component of the tender, to have the ability to supply a single stream waste receptacle in addition to the core recycling units.

• Level of service. With respect to recyclables, minimizing contamination is a key in the success of diversion. Properly labelled containers are essential, as well as it being clean, odourless, and emptied frequently enough as to negate the need for someone to contaminate an adjacent stream in the same bin for their convenience. Failure of the proponent to comply to any part of an agreed upon schedule for the maintenance, cleaning, and operations may result in the City performing the required service and charging any and all costs incurred back to the proponent.

• Waste disposal and diversion tracking. The RFP will require the proponent to track and report gross metrics associated with litter and recyclables (i.e. tonnes collected, tonnes recycled, etc.) in support of the City’s waste diversion strategies. The City will have the right to conduct periodic audits of material tracking to ensure confidence in the data collected.

• Term of the agreement. The term of the contract will be 16 years with an option to extend for one 5-year period with mutual consent. A 15-year period has been determined to be the industry standard for similar service contracts with considerable “up front” capital investment requirements. The extra year in the agreement will allow the City to accommodate the staggered expiry dates of the existing agreements, as described in the next bullet.

In accordance with the Municipal Act, the RFP will include the following language with respect to committing future Council’s to the terms of the agreement: “Since the proposed integrated street furniture contract will extend beyond the term of the current Council, it will be subject to approval by future Council(s), at their discretion”.

• Strategy to accommodate staggered expiry dates of existing agreements. A transition period between existing contracts and the integrated contracts exists since the current agreements do not expire simultaneously. The on-street litter/recycling agreement will expire on April 29, 2007 while the bus bench and transit shelter agreements expire on June 30^th and August 31^st, 2008 respectively.

It is proposed that the entire integrated RFP be issued at a time such that a successful bidder could be awarded in the first quarter of 2007, with services schedule to take effect as existing agreements expire. In effect this will mean that the Term of the Agreement for the on-street litter/recycling containers will be 16 years, whereas the Term of the Agreement for remaining two components, transit shelters and bus benches which both expire in 2008, will be 15 years.

In the event that the proposed design of these components is physically integrated (i.e. a litter/recycling container be physically integral with a transit shelter) then the Department would be unable to pursue this phase-in approach. The Department may be forced to take steps to bridge the sixteen-month gap resulting from the April 2007 expiry of the on-street litter/recycling agreement. This may create a short term operating pressure averaging $15K per month over the interim period, based on historical costs of service.

• Guaranteed revenue projections. The RFP will ask the prospective proponents to provide the City with annual guaranteed revenues and cumulative total revenues for the 15-year term of the contract. It is suggested that the successful proponent make the payments to the City on a quarterly basis. Although one payment will be made, these revenues will be split into three streams representing each of the three components of the RFP and diverted to the appropriate Branch, either Transit or Surface Operations. Should these payments not be made the City would reserve the right to access the Performance Security. Also, if the service associated with any component increased during the year, the proponent would be expected to make the appropriate adjustment in revenues.

• Advertising standards. The city is guided by the general principles embodied in the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, in determining the acceptance of advertising. However, in addition to the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, the City has implemented additional specifications for like tenders. These specifications are contained in Document 1 of the Supporting Documentation.

• Advertising space reserved for City use. All three of the existing agreements provide the City with the right to use up to 10% of total space at any given time to promote city services or partnerships in which the city is involved. This requirement will be maintained in the proposed combined RFP.

• RFP evaluation criteria. The RFP will be formulated in such a way as to enable all aspects of the proposal to be evaluated as a package and weighting of evaluation criteria be such that the design and functionality elements are considered prominently along with financial benefits. The overall criteria recommended for the RFP evaluation are:

• Level of Service – 25%
• Revenues – 25%
• Design and Functionality – 20%
• Maintenance and Servicing – 15%
• Relevant Experience – 15%

Revenues will be split into the three streams representing the three components of the RFP. Design and functionality will address the “consistent and complementary look and feel” of the three street furniture components including the proposed advertising format on each. Maintenance and servicing will consider the type of service, expansion of service and level of service provided in response to the RFP. Relevant experience will look at the proponents proven relationship with on-street advertising markets - both national and local, as well as their experience with the maintenance and servicing of the integrated street furniture components covered by the RFP.

• RFP evaluation team membership. The evaluation criteria for this RFP span a number of areas. It is proposed to engage a staff member from each area and to award the tender using a consensus evaluation approach facilitated by Supply Management Division. Although all team members will score all bids against the overall or macro criteria, the core areas of responsibility are as follows:
• Level of Service – Transit Services and Surface Operations, Public Works and Services
• Revenues – Supply Management Division, Financial Services of Corporate Services
• Design and Functionality – Community Planning and Design Division, Planning and Growth Management and Mobility and Area Traffic Management, Public Works and Services
• Maintenance and Servicing – Transit Services and Surface Operations, Public Works and Services, Real Property Asset Management
• Relevant Experience – all of the above

Also, as the issue of competing interests of street furniture and the visual clutter of the advertising is far more acute in the downtown area, it is proposed to engage a member of the Downtown Design Review Panel to participate as a member of this evaluation team.

• Mechanism for service expansion. To protect the enforcement of the "consistent look and feel" guiding principle contained in the RFP for any future placement of a transit shelter, a bus bench, or a litter/recycling container, the well established right-of-way (ROW) circulation process (administered by Right-of Way By-laws, Permits and Inspections) will be utilized. Utilizing this process will ensure that all proposed future placements of the on-street furniture components are screened by Public Works & Services to ensure a demonstrated need for service and circulated to Planning and Growth Management to ensure harmony of the components with the local streetscape and ensure consistency with the City’s Street Design Policy, Urban Design Guidelines, and future planning directions.). Further, the utility coordination committee and the National Capital Commission will be circulated through the ROW process as required.
  
  For stand-alone litter/recycling containers, individual Councillors and BIA’s would have the choice to opt out of the expansion and/or overrule any proposed location, should they so desire. See “Placement opt-out by Ward Councillors and BIAs for stand-alone litter/recycling containers”, above, for further discussion on this topic.

• Asset ownership at initiation of agreement. At the commencement of the agreement the shelters will be owned by the City and leased to the vendor for the term of the agreement, while the benches and litter/recycle bins will be provided by the vendor.

• Asset ownership at expiry of agreement. The ownership of the assets will be transferred to the City at the expiry of the agreement at no additional cost.

CONSULTATION

Public consultation is not required.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The Surface Operation Branch of Public Works & Services Department has identified the need for an FTE in 2007 to manage and co-ordinate the on-street litter/recycling component of the program of the Integrated Street Furniture Program at an estimated cost of $82,000. This expenditure is to be funded from an anticipated increase in the annual on-street/recycling revenue stream. Therefore the approval of the FTE request is subject to the successful bid demonstrating that the anticipated increase in the annual guaranteed revenue stream is sufficient to offset the increased cost.

The existing EUCAN litter/recycling standalone units provided under the contract are to be removed on April 29, 2007 including those adjacent to transit shelters. Transit shelter locations are currently under a separate contract until August 31, 2008. Should the proposed replacement units for the transit shelter locations that are to be provided under the new contract be physically integrated into the transit shelter, temporary replacement units will be required under this scenario until that date. The estimated cost of this transition initiative is an average of $15,000 per month to a maximum of $240,000 for the 16 months (April 29, 2007 to August 31, 2008).

Subject to Council approval, as part of the 2007 budget, the Surface Operations Branch of Public Works & Services will bring forward a budget pressure identifying the FTE, funding and revenue requirement in accordance with the above.

DISPOSITION

Upon approval of this report, the Public Works and Services Department will proceed with implementation of the recommendations.

Document 1

Advertising Standards for Integrated Street Furniture Contract

1 The City is guided by the general principles embodied in the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, in determining the acceptance of advertising.

2 The City will not accept advertising of questionable taste or which is irritating in its content or method of presentation.

3 Advertising must be free from offensive references to racial matters.

4 Material calling for the advocacy of, or opposition to, a political point of view, policy or action is prohibited. Material advocating the name of any political party is acceptable. Material advocating the candidacy of an individual may be accepted providing the content is in keeping with all guidelines and that the message centres generally on the candidate's name and party affiliation, the office being sought, election date or other such information pertinent to the election. Material which tends to disparage a candidate or party or cause will not be allowed. In addition material informing the public of the specifics relating to a meeting, gathering or event will be permitted if the information is confined to subject, name of speaker, location, date and time of event.

All political advertising will indicate that the advertisement is paid for by a party or candidate so as to avoid giving the impression that the City is supporting a given party or candidate.

5 Religious advertising which promotes a specific ideology, ethic, point of view, policy or action, which in the opinion of the City might be deemed prejudicial to other religious groups or offensive to users of the transit system is not permitted. Religious advertising will be permitted if the information is designed to promote a specific meeting, gathering or event and the location, date and time of said event.

6 The City will only accept advertising that:

6.1 Recognizes the changing roles of men and women in today's society and reflects this in the distribution of labour, the range of occupations shown and the assignment of roles in the workplace and in the home;

6.2 Portrays people as they are - of varying ages, appearances, ethnic and
cultural heritages;

6.3 Portrays people as users, buyers and decision makers, and not as inappropriately dependent upon the product being advertised;

6.4 Uses models for other than solely attention getting purposes, avoiding particularly the display of lightly clothed models whose presence is not relevant to the product being advertised;

6.5 Portrays positive body images of people, avoiding the use of extreme and inappropriate postures that inappropriately accentuate one part of the body, thereby fragmenting that part from the total person.

6.6 Does not, in the opinion of the City representative, disparage any City service or promote a product by drawing a negative comparison with a City service.

7 Although the City is guided by the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, the City is the sole and final arbiter in all matters relating to advertising acceptance. The City may refuse, or order removal of any advertising material at any time in its absolute discretion.

8 The following clarifies the City policy and operating procedure with regard to transit advertising acceptance, which shall be binding on the parties to this Agreement.

8.1 Potential advertisers shall deal with the Company directly, and the Company shall interpret the policy. If there is disagreement between the Company and a potential advertiser on policy interpretation, the matter may be referred to City Communications staff.

8.2 A contract must be signed with the Company before the matter will be considered by the City. In cases where the content of the ad is in dispute, the contract will be signed "subject to approval" by the City.

8.3 City staff charged with the responsibility of interpreting and implementing the City advertising policy may overrule decisions made by the Company.

9 Should a change in policy be requested or a question of policy interpretation be raised by potential advertisers, the City may become involved, at its discretion. The City continues to be the sole and final arbiter in all matters relating to City advertising acceptance.

10 Tobacco Advertisements are not acceptable. Any displays depicting the use of tobacco or consumption of tobacco shall be refused.

11 The Company agrees that advertising is to be accepted based on all current or future policies of acceptable advertising and the City shall not be held responsible for any loss of advertising business as a result of any changes it shall make in its policy regarding the acceptability of certain types of advertising or individual advertisements.

12 Advertisements of alcoholic products may be accepted so long as permitted by law whether Federal, Provincial or Municipal or the Liquor Licensing Board of Ontario. Notwithstanding the above, the City may at any time, by providing the Company with 90 days advance notice, alter its policy on the advertising of alcoholic products.

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[1] Council 22 June 2005 declined to extend and Eucan have been provided with written notification that the contract will expire 29 April 2007.