TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Kristoff Bauer, Deputy City Manager, ICMA-CM
FROM: Brook M. Redding, Management Analyst
DATE: April 6, 2020
RE:
Title
Memorandum of Agreement - Shopping Cart
end
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
ALL
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal 4: Desirable Place to Live, Work, and Recreate - Be a highly desirable place to live, work, and recreate with thriving neighborhoods and high quality of life for all residents.
Executive Summary:
The purpose of this memo is to present the research, analysis, and a Memorandum of Agreement with the North Carolina Retail Merchant Association (NCRMA), its merchants in the municipality, and the City of Fayetteville, regarding shopping carts that have been abandoned in the City’s right-of-way. The following link provided depicts the process, actions, and implementation following the adoption of the MOA.
<https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/86140264614446b2977973c322bfd1f5>
The MOA increases awareness and has established new communication channels between the City and vendors with shopping carts. Throughout the implementation process, the City will contact the retailer within the 72-hour window of notification/collection. This communication will facilitate the efficient removal of errant shopping carts from the sides of streets.
Background:
5 August 2019 - Mayor Colvin presented a Council Member Agenda Request to discuss errant shopping carts across the City of Fayetteville.
26 August 2019 - Staff submitted a CCAM and white paper discussing ordinance options and methods used by sister municipalities to reduce errant shopping carts.
September 2019 - Staff briefed Council at the work session to discuss options of the ordinance. The staff requested to conduct research and analysis on the number of errant shopping cart occurrences across the City through September 2019. The Council instructed staff to begin the research.
November 2019 - CMO reached out to NCRMA to re-establish communication and push for a draft MOA.
December 2019- February 2020 - The project team developed an implementation strategy focused on public engagement and internal processes to identify, report, or dispose of errant carts.
26 February 2020 - Staff made adjustments based on input from stakeholders and executives to the MOA. NCRMA is in a review of the document and working with retailers to agree on the compromise.
30 March 2020 - Retailers and the NCRMA agreed to the revisions of the MOA. The City staff developed the implementation plan and is now poised to implement the necessary steps pending the adoption of the MOA.
Issues/Analysis:
The best practices listed on the MOA for Fayetteville to follow are the following:
1. Educate the public through signage, public meetings, and media.
a. Signage: The team and the Traffic sign division have developed a template for sings at bus stops. The analysis has provided high concentration areas to place signage. The total requested is 50 signs around the municipality.
b. Public forums: The team has built three products for discussion and distribution. Corporate Communications will provide feedback/adjustments. Following adjustment, they will go to the public at community watch meetings, public meetings, and Council meetings.
c. Media: The products will be posted on Facebook and Instagram through Corporate Communications, Fayetteville PD, and Solid Waste Division.
2. Report the location of carts to merchants:
a. Shopping carts not recovered in 72 hours of retailer notification will be collected and disposed of by the City.
b. The project team has established a process of identification, notification, and recovery or disposal of errant carts. This process uses the FayFixIt app, call center, and the work order process in City Works.
3. CoF requests FAY PD to inform citizens that removing carts is illegal.
a. The team is working with FAY PD to engage police officers about cart issues. FAY PD is working on a soft campaign of “see it, inform the citizen.” FAY PD has also agreed to post media on their Facebook.
b. These engagements and training sessions would occur following the current COVID-19 crisis.
4. Regularly inform and engage citizens: The project team will continue to engage the public periodically about the legality of removing carts.
Budget Impact:
The collections/recovery made by the Solid Waste Division will be monitored through City Works. Following the 2nd study in the fall a report of the errant carts, and expenses to the city for disposal will be generated. The new process eliminates collecting and returning carts to vendors. Solid Waste will only collect carts to dispose of them along with their normal Bulky item collections.
Options:
This is for information only - no action required
Recommended Action:
No Council action required.
Attachments:
Fayetteville Shopping Cart MOA_Final