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Cargill, Inc. has agreed to the exercise of the first option year, thereby extending the term of the contract for rock salt by one year for the period July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, participating municipalities have the opportunity to review their annual rock salt usage and adjust, if necessary, its estimated tonnage requirements for this upcoming winter season. The terms of the contract allow the estimated requirements to be updated no later than the commencement of the new contract year. Accordingly, an assessment of those needs is to be made at this time and reported to the SHACOG office by completing the Estimated Requirements survey for the 2023-2024 winter season. This Estimated Requirements survey is accessed through the SHACOG website at www.shacog.com. If you need assistance in accessing or completing the survey, please call Sue Dawson (412-429-1130) at the SHACOG office. This survey is similar in form and scope to the standard estimated requirements survey. It is merely gathering pertinent data as well as establishing your estimated rock salt tonnage requirements for the forthcoming winter season. The intent to maintain your municipal commitment to the terms and conditions of the bid is again embodied in a declaration which is in electronic form and which must be agreed to for your estimated requirements information to be saved. As was the case with the original commitment prior to the bid, agreeing to the listed conditions binds your municipality, regardless of who completes the survey. In addition, please be reminded that minimum/maximum purchasing percentages for the upcoming winter season will be based on the estimate you provide in this survey. Please note that even if there is no change in your needs, you must still complete and submit your information. Failure to respond will result in your tonnage and purchasing requirements remaining the same as submitted last year for the upcoming winter season. Participating communities must complete the survey and submit their information by Friday, June 23, 2023.  The QVCOG is happy to announce that the 2023 Annual Dinner will be returning to the Edgeworth Club (511 East Dr, Sewickley, PA 15143). The event will take place on Thursday, October 5th. Additional details regarding the event will be announced in the coming months. Stay tuned!  During the week of May 22nd the QVCOG was notified by Allegheny County Economic Development (ACED) who announced all CDBG Year 49 project awards. The QVCOG received funding totaling $361,092 for four projects. Each project along with a brief description can be found below. MSW027 - Sewickley Borough Water Authority - Center-South Waterline Replacement Project - $185,000.00 Replacement of 1800 LF of aged waterline with new 6" C-900 PVC line that will service 39 households in both Glen Osborne and Haysville Boroughs. MPD016 - Leetsdale Borough - 189 & 300 Beaver Street Blight Remediation Project - $36,000.00 This project consists of demolishing two houses within an area designated with slum/blight. The project involves removing the dilapidated houses, building materials, and organic matter and restoring the sites to their pre-developed condition. The proposed houses to be demolished are 189 and 300 Beaver Street in Leetsdale Borough, Allegheny County, PA. MRB024 - Sewickley Borough ADA Sidewalk Ramp Project - $110,670.00 This project will further enhance Sewickley's neighborhood walkability by providing 10 new ADA accessible ramps at the intersections of Linden Pl and Grant St, Beaver St and Boundary St, Peebles St and Beaver St, Walnut St and Elwick St and three crossings along Bank St. This will provide increased safety and an improved living environment for all of the residents of Sewickley Borough. MRB022 - Leetsdale Borough Building ADA Parking Pad Project - $29,422.00 This will provide two ADA parking spots for the Borough Building. One ADA parking space will be constructed on the Beaver Street side and one ADA parking space will be constructed on the Broad Street side of the Borough Building.  The meeting details for the Quaker Valley Council of Governments Board of Delegates May Meeting can be found below. Date & Time: May 17, 2023 – 7:00 p.m. Location: Big Sewickley Creek Volunteer Fire Hall - 1850 Big Sewickley Creek Rd, Sewickley, PA 15143 Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86342284087?pwd=SU5Jalo3MWtLcThEdlN1OGt2bXlmdz09 
Beginning May 15, 2023 municipalities may begin to submit applications for the 2023 Act 152 Allegheny County Blight Removal Program. This program provides funding for demolition and blight remediation planning. Allegheny County Economic Development encourages communities to utilize their COGs for the submission of an Act 152 application(s). These applications and associated paperwork are identical to CDBG and GEDTF projects for which COGs are uniquely qualified to process and facilitate. The Act 152 program uses established blight conditions and focuses on the demolition of hazardous structures, site preparation for development projects, and multi-phase planning efforts. Applications are evaluated on several criteria including inclusion on existing demolition lists, community impact, and potential re-use of the property. While no local match is required for the program, it is encouraged. Individual awards will be capped at $250,000. All applications should be submitted by June 16, 2023 The program continues to enforce lead safe demolitions. Applications will be evaluated on several criteria:
Those communities considering the submission of an Act 152 application are encouraged to reach out to the QVCOG as soon as possible in order to prepare a gameplan with municipal staff and their engineer(s). Attached you will find several documents including the following: - Blight conditions (how to identify, etc.); - Emergency Demolition Requirements; - General Program Guidelines; - Lead Requirements; and - Legal Clearance Requirements
All interested parties are invited to attend a tour of WM’s Greenstar Recycling Facility (4100 Grand Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15225). The tour will take place on Wednesday, June 7th at 10:00 a.m. This site visit will provide an in-person visual demonstration of the recycling separation and consolidation process and will serve to highlight proper recycling techniques specific to the curbside recycling program. Those who are interested in attending the tour are asked to rsvp via email (pconners@qvcog.org)  The Turtle Creek Valley COG (TCVCOG) is seeking to develop a marketing and business strategy for the introduction of code enforcement software for Allegheny County municipalities. The software, CodeNForce, has been used by code enforcement officers that are employed by the TCVCOG to deliver code enforcement services for municipalities. It has also been beta tested by several municipalities. Once the software is completely tested and introduced it will be available for all municipalities for an annual fee. In order to assist the TCVCOG in developing their software solution for local governments, interested parties are asked to take a short 3-minute survey about code enforcement services. The responses will be extremely helpful for advancing the introduction of the CodeNForce software. Just click on the link below: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3QBFXFX  Date & Time: April 19, 2023 – 7:00 p.m. Location: Bellevue Borough 537 Bayne Avenue, Bellevue, PA 15202 Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88533566357?pwd=MnhvZUZkSHMyWUxXSFVDdVZid2Q0QT09
Under the current terms of the SHACOG Rock Salt Contract, unless the municipality has terminated its individual agreement with Cargill, Inc. the participating municipality may give notice of its intent to extend the term of the contract from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. This notice must be communicated in writing to the vendor by May 1, 2023. Cargill, Inc. then has until May 10, 2023 to notify the participating municipality in writing if it wants to continue the contractual relationship. If it agrees, then the contract continues under the same terms and conditions, with only the price subject to an adjustment. That price may be adjusted by the CPI formula in the contract. Only the original bid price, unchanged by fuel adjustments, is used in that calculation. By way of example, the formula would accommodate a 1.5% increase so if that percentage was to prevail, the price would from $88.96 (the initial bid price not altered by fuel price adjustments) per ton to $90.15 per ton. The option to extend is exercised by giving written notice to the vendor by May 1, 2023 that your municipality is exercising that option. Because the municipality is the official party to the contract with the vendor, only the municipality can exercise the option. Consequently, each municipality must send its own letter. For your convenience, a sample letter is attached below. (This letter should be transferred to your municipal letterhead.) It is unknown if Cargill will grant exceptions for communications received late, so if you are going to invoke the option year, it is imperative that your letter is sent so that it arrives before the May 1, 2023 deadline. You should email your letter exercising the first option year to Salt_CustomerCareRoadSafety@cargill.com. Receipt is to be acknowledged by Cargill. You are requested to copy both SHACOG and the QVCOG on your email. If Cargill, Inc. agrees to the option, those participating municipalities that invoked the first option year will receive subsequent communication concerning estimated requirements for the forthcoming winter season. If the vendor declines, you will receive pertinent information for the next bid. Please note that you do not have to commit to an estimated tonnage requirement at this time. Your letter is intended only to secure the option year. Considerations concerning the balance of the current year purchase obligations and estimated requirements for the first option year, if successfully secured, will be addressed later in subsequent communications. Should you have any questions or require additional information concerning the above, please contact the SHACOG office by phone at 412-429-1130 or by email at Sue.Dawson@shacog.com.  
On March 16, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. bids for SHACOG 2023 Spring Commodities were opened. The bid tabulation is available here. Bids for the following products were solicited:
The SHACOG Purchasing Alliance website allows member municipalities of participating COG's to record and view their estimated commodity requirements. Interested parties may access the Purchasing Alliance page here. By using this site, the municipalities have instant access to previous years' survey estimates and the ability to enter data for the new year as well as view all posted bid tabulations. Please remember that municipalities must formally accept the bids to secure the prices offered by the vendors. The joint purchasing format employed to secure these bids does not result in a master contract. Therefore, formal notice of bid acceptance must be issued to the vendors by your community in order to secure the quoted prices. This should be done by May 25, 2023. Please be reminded that absent notice by this date the vendors are not obligated to honor these prices. Participants are encouraged not to delay the issuance of these notices. Please send copies of these letters to the SHACOG office (2600 Old Greentree Road, Carnegie, PA 15106). For any questions please contact the SHACOG office by phone at 412-429-1130. |
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