The Finance Committee met 10/07/2024. One of the items on the agenda was the request to approve a contract with KleenMark to provide janitorial services to all City of Appleton facilities/locations for 2025-2029 starting at $463,883 for 2025 and increasing yearly to $522,105 in 2029.
Staff was recommending awarding the contract to KleenMark who was the second lowest bidder. This recommendation was based on a number of factors including the size of the company, the type of equipment used, the ability to easily report when areas have been cleaned and when they are scheduled to be cleaned, and the ability of the company to clean bodily fluids and blood.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the request.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza told the committee that the city was finishing up previous 5 year cleaning contract. So they had to get a new one for 2025-2029. The contract amount for 2024 was $415,863. Based on feedback from their current subcontractor that hourly wages had gone up from $12 in past years to $15 or even higher for floor work and specialty work, they had expected new bids to come in around the $700,000 mark. So Director Gazza was thrilled with the final bids that were well below that.
Of note, there had been some scope increases since the previous contract. The city was requesting full service cleaning of the library for this term as compared to the last contract where library staff took on some of the cleaning responsibilities. Valley Transit also expanded in size.
The city received four bids, and city staff ended up interviewing all four of the companies rather than just the top two or three. They did this so that they could judge all of them on the size of the company and their their ability to deliver services to a customer the size of the city with the diversity of spaces that the city had from industrial sites like the wastewater treatment plan to the police station to the transit center to general office space. They also wanted to see what sort of equipment the companies used because they wanted the contractor to use modern, green equipment that was efficient. The city also wanted a company that could clearly report when things had been cleaned and when they would be cleaned because city staff does not know what the schedule is with the current cleaner they utilize.
KleenMark was the second lowest bid and was roughly $8,000 more expensive than the lowest bidder. The lowest bidder was a smaller company that was more accustomed to cleaning for smaller accounts like bars, restaurants, and small offices. They did not have experience with anything as large as the city. Their equipment was not as green. Additionally, they did not have a way of easily tracking the work and reporting it out.
KleenMark, on the other hand, was $8,000 more expensive but it had more employees, it utilized equipment the city preferred, and it had an app on which the city could easily track the cleaning schedule. Additionally, KleenMark has multiple employees who are trained at cleaning bodily fluids and bloodborne pathogens and would be able to come in in a timely manner when the city needs something like that cleaned. Director Gazza noted that the Police Department usually piggy-backs on the city’s cleaning contract and hires the company to clean cop cars of bodily fluids and blood, so it was a mark in KleenMark’s favor that they had the experience and necessary staffing levels to provide that service to the police department. As an added bonus, KleenMark was based in Appleton.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 3) asked Director Gazza what would happen if KleenMark’s staffing levels fell and they did not have enough employees to do the work they were contracted for. Director Gazza confirmed that the city would not have to pay for services that were not rendered.
The committee voted 5-0 to recommend the contract for approval.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1214270&GUID=7DFED7B8-70C8-4EDE-BAE4-8AC728B483D8
Be the first to reply