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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 08-30-2000APPROVED 411712001 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AUGUST 30, 2000 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Wednesday, August 30, 2000 at 6:Q0 p.m. in the Boardroom of the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 6:00 p.m. Meeting COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Margaret W. Brawn, Stephen H. Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Alice M. Gordon COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe 1. CLOSED SESSION A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs, "To consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee," NCGS 143-318.11(a)(6). VOTE: UNANIMOUS 7:35 p.m. MEETING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Stephen H. Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Commissioner Gordon COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Jahn M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser, and Assistant to the Clerk to the Board Nancy Paciga (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below). (Members of the Solid Waste Advisory Board present included: Roger Barr, Jackie Gist, Mr. Jan Sassaman and Ms. Joal Hall-Broun. Members of the C&D Recycling Task Force present included: Mr. Rich Leber) 1. Construction and Demolition (C&D) Recvclina Task Force Report Chair Carey called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. and said that Commissioner Cordon's mother was ill and we wish her and her family the best. Chair Carey said that this meeting was designed to give an overview of where the County is on solid waste issues and also to clearly identify where decisions need to be made and the timeframe for the decisions. He asked that the decision items be identified in the report given tonight. He asked Assistant County Manager Rod Visser to briefly summarize the Task Farce report. Rod Visser said that he was really looking forward to working with the Solid Waste Advisory Board. He said that the Board appointed the Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Task Force last fall, and they met numerous times between late fall and mid spring. The task force has issued a series of recommendations. He turned it aver to Commissioner Jacobs, who chaired the task force. Commissioner Jacobs said that Commissioner Brown also served on the task force and that the group met 10 times in a five and ahalf-month period. He said that the task force tried to stick to the charge. He made reference to the Statement of Principles and the Summary of Recommendations and said that the County had the goal of 61 °lo per capita waste reduction by 2006 with 30 percent of the waste stream from C&D. The task force looked at how to more efficiently address recycling and reuse of that aspect of the waste stream. The recommendations break down essentially to the nation that the County needs to be more aggressive about source separation of C&D wastes, setting up an infrastructure to handle that, and being more creative in creating partnerships with other private and public entities. The task force is recommending a mandate of source separation in major construction projects for C&D waste and that there be a solid waste ordinance that requires certain things of people who are engaged in those projects - requiring a permit and a plan. Another recommendation of the task force is to hire a Recycling Educator, who can start to lay the groundwork for the new initiatives. He made reference to recommendation #3, "Find a location at which to conduct C&D waste management," and said that the task force believes strongly that the County has a responsibility to handle its own waste. The task force feels that the County should handle its waste in a manner that promotes recycling. Commissioner Jacobs said that the task force also talked about looking at abandoned mobile homes in the County. He said that it was expensive to recycle the abandoned mobile homes, especially on apiece-meal basis. The task force also talked about trying to put more emphasis on deconstruction and green building. The task force has discussed deconstructing the old Orange Industries building across from the Whiffed Building on Tryon Street. The Hillsborough Historic District Commission looked unfavorably upon the County even doing anything, so the task force is doing same additional education and conversation before proceeding. He said that deconstruction and green building has the potential to create jobs. Commissioner Jacobs said that the task force was not looking at C&D recycling as a revenue generating option so much as a part of the waste stream that is imminently susceptible to immediate reduction and recycling. He mentioned that the task farce talked about the possibility of co-locating a retail store which mayor may not be a Habitat for Humanity enterprise. There is one in Wake County. Rich Leber reiterated recommendation #3 that Orange County residents should be responsible far their own waste. Tied to this would be the economic benefit of having some side waste streams available for the citizens such as crushed stone, a retail store, continued mulch operation, etc. Commissioner Brown asked what would be suggested in haw to incorporate this into the process. She suggested sending some of these things on to the Solid Waste Advisory Board to develop more fully. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board needed to deal with the Solid Waste Ordinance. He said that the Board should probably not wait for the Solid Waste Advisory Board to get geared up. He said that any of the recommendations that are not acted upon immediately could be sent on to the Solid Waste Advisory Board. The Board should make decisions on the Solid Waste Ordinance, siting, and hiring an educator immediately. He suggested sending a draft ordinance and the C&D Recycling Task Force report to the municipalities. Chair Carey suggested asking the Manager to come back to the Board with a recommendation because there are cost and timing implications. Blair Pollack, Solid Waste Management, noted that UNC was well underway with the analysis of their waste stream. The hope is that by the end of the calendar year there will be a fairly thorough overview of the composition of demolition waste. UNC is also working on some construction specifications. County Manager John Link said that it would take three to five weeks to come back with a recommendation. He said that he would bring a recommendation about the costs and time line for the Solid Waste Ordinance first. Commissioner Brawn made reference to the Solid Waste Ordinance and said that her understanding was that the ordinance was to be developed to deal with burning in the County because the counties did not have the ability to do this. Municipalities do have that authority and regularly monitor and oversee burning or do not allow it at all. She said that several issues have come up about the joint planning area. She thought that the municipalities would be enforcing the burning policies within the joint planning. County Attorney Geoffrey Gledhill said that there were two pieces to the puzzle. The first piece is the Solid Waste Ordinance. He said that the Solid Waste enabling legislation allows the County to regulate burning vegetation that is discarded at development sites as solid waste. The way the ordinance should be implemented is that the County adapts it and then encourages the municipalities to adopt a resolution that allows that ordinance to be in effect in the entirety of Orange County. The Solid Waste staff would enforce that ordinance. The other piece of the puzzle is enabling legislation to allow Orange County, in its planning jurisdiction, to place conditions on development approvals by saying that every development the County approves is conditioned on no burning of vegetation or solid waste. This is a very important part of the implementation of the ordinance because it will cause the development community to plan on how to deal with the waste (mulch it, stockpile it for landscaping, hire someone to haul it, etc.). Regarding the jurisdictional question, the County's planning jurisdiction includes the two transition areas (Chapel Hill and Carrboro). This enabling legislation will allow Carrboro in the Carrboro transition area and Chapel Hill in the Chapel Hill transition area to regulate permits. He said that the hope was that the planning and building inspection staff would be the eyes and ears for the County in enforcing the ordinance. Several other questions were answered satisfactorily by Geoffrey Gledhill and Harmony Whalen. John Link said that the staff would move forward quickly to come back to the Board with a timetable with which to adopt the Solid Waste Ordinance. After that step, the public and the developers could be educated that burning of vegetation would need to cease at a certain time. Chair Carey said that at the same time the timetable is brought back, the staff could ask Chapel Hill and Carrboro to confirm their intent, if any, to implement and enforce the permit part of the ordinance in their jurisdiction. Rod Visser made reference to the issue of a C&D facility and said that based on the approval by the state of the vertical expansion of the existing C&D landfill, they are estimating that there is adequate capacity to last through June 2002. In terms of a time frame for getting a replacement facility in place, they will need a year in terms of permitting processes. He said that some decisions needed to be made in the next couple of months about this facility. Chair Carey said that there was 18 months left an the life of the current C&D site. He asked if all of it could be done on the same site if the expanded functions were pursued. Rod Visser said that there were some limitations. He said that it would all depend on what facilities were sited. Director of Solid Waste Gayle Wilson said that there were three or four different considerations for sites. He said that fairly soon the administrative offices would have to be relocated from where they are on UNC property. He said that once the current C&D landfill reached capacity, it would be a dome and there would not be any room for anything on top. The biggest decision is whether or not to continue C&D disposal. Blair Pollock said that the ability to da anything on the existing C&D site was really limited by the future closure and the very small working space. Gayle Wilson said that the Solid Waste staff was envisioning trying to develop a concrete pad for a dumping area and a loading dock to push the waste into either tractor trailers or roll off containers and prepared for market. He said that the infrastructure would not be mobile and should be considered permanent. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should recognize that the thrust of the C&D Recycling Task Force report and the Solid Waste Ordinance was that the County was going to continue handling C&D waste. Jahn Link said that, in terms of critical decisions, the Board should gravitate toward the work session an December 12t". The recommendations on the ordinance will be brought back in approximately five weeks. 2. Pending Solid Waste Recycling Contracts and Equipment Acquisitions Rod Visser said that there was a real busy agenda coming up next Tuesday night, September 5t", and the staff wanted to give the Board an opportunity to ask questions about the contracts and equipment before the meeting. There are three specific recycling contracts that are ongoing and two equipment acquisition items related to a landfill compactor and a scraper pan for moving dirt out of the landfill. Also, he brought up the issue that was on the agenda for the Quarterly Public Hearing on August 28t" of the recycling pad and the proposal to enclose it and weatherize it and create some additional concrete pad space to handle the increased amount of recyclable material. Commissioner Brown asked about the food waste and how long the contract had been going on. Blair Pollock said that there have been food waste contracts off and on since 1994. The County has contracted with a couple of hog farms in the area. Last fall, the County contracted with an entity that converts the food to compost. Commissioner Brown asked if the University was interested in participating in the food waste recycling. Blair Pollack said that the University was moving forward right now to contract with an agency. Commissioner Brown asked about the advantage of recycling food waste besides the obvious of recycling as much as possible. Blair Pollock said that the more organic substances that can be diverted from the landfill, the more quiet the landfill will be biologically. Gayle Wilson said that food waste was a significant part of our waste stream. He said that collection of food waste was a big issue because of public health issues. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Solid Waste Management Plan (1.7, 1.9, and 2.1}, and said that food waste has gone up in every category since 1995. He said that the C&D Task Force identified food waste as a possibility for further study by the Solid Waste Advisory Board to make food waste separation mandatary for commercial operations. Commissioner Brown asked about the issue with the cooking oils and the problem with the machine that was mentioned a while back. Gayle Wilson said that it was a fire hazard to a certain degree and a collection problem. He said that it would need to be recycled. Commissioner Halkiotis said that both school systems have been recycling cooking ails far about 20 years. He made reference to the Innovation and Efficiency Committee meeting that he and Commissioner Jacobs attended, who said that the County spends too much money on solid waste. He asked how he could convince the I&E Committee that this equipment was needed. Gayle Wilson said that he would welcome the I&E Committee for a tour showing them the conditions in which the staff has to work in at the landfill. He said that there were operational imperatives and rules that govern landfill operations. He said that the machine was used every hour of every day that the landfill was open. The staff has calculated that six years seems to be the useful life of this machine. He said that this particular compactor would be the last one purchased since there will not be any new lined sanitary landfills. He said that it would cost mare in the long run if an old compactor broke down and one had to be rented. The other piece of equipment, the scraper pan, allows earth to be moved, which is also done every day. In order to do without this piece of equipment, the landfill would need dump trucks and back hoe loaders. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if the equipment could be leased. Gayle Wilson said that they did lease equipment periodically for short-term jobs. He said that it was worthwhile to lease equipment for short-term projects, but not permanently. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it would be helpful to have some numbers to give to the I&E Committee on the cost of leasing versus purchasing equipment. John Link said that the volunteers working an the I&E Committee were very committed to looking into how the County can improve innovation and efficiency. He said that it might be helpful to give the committee information on the solid waste needs in the coming years. Chair Carey asked about the current state of affairs an household hazardous waste. Blair Pollock said that there was a contract that was joint with Chatham, Durham, and Wake Counties through Triangle J with Safety Clean to pick up hazardous household waste. He said that this contract runs out next month and a request for aone-month extension will be coming to the Board. This contract will be re-bid in the winter. All four counties are interested in pursuing various paths with this contract. The value of the contract is around $100,000 for disposal services. Commissioner Brown said that she did not understand why everyone would not want to keep the compact for the household hazardous waste disposal contract. Gayle Wilson said that he would characterize the joint effort as highly successful even if everyone pulls out. Commissioner Halkiotis said that there was a significant amount of people in the rural areas who da not understand how the recycling efforts are financed. He hopes that when the web site enhancements are made that it is significantly educational. He said that the citizens needed to know that the costs of recycling are not coming out of the property tax. Chair Carey acknowledged that four of the Solid Waste Advisory Board members were in attendance -Jackie Gist, Jan Sassamon, Joal Hall-Broun, and Roger Barr. 3. Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan _ Approval of State Three-Year Plan Update Rod Visser said that in 1997 the County and the municipalities approved a state mandated solid waste management plan. He said that there was a requirement that every three years the County and its municipalities submit a formal update to that plan. Staff has developed a draft plan, which has been circulated to the state and to the towns. The cornerstones still include the reduction goals of 45% by 2001 and 61 % by 2006, a MRF, expanded commercial recycling, increased number of materials to be recycled, education, etc. The staff is asking the Board to ask any questions and make any changes that are needed before the plan is submitted back to the state. He said that changes could be made more often than three years. Commissioner Jacobs suggested some changes. In Section iii, in the sentence in the next to the last paragraph it says, "However, an elected officials preoccupation with solid waste organizational issues have diverted attention from plan implementation." He said that there was a mare positive way to state this such as: "However, elected officials' attention to solid waste organizational issues have slowed efforts toward plan implementation." He made reference to page 3.3 and enviro-shopping. He said that there have been some efforts to do this. He made reference to the Human Services Advisory Commission Symposium at the Friday Center in two weeks. He said that he met with Economic Development Director Dianne Reid, Cooperative Extension Director Fletcher Barber, Vice Chancellor at UNC, and the head of food services to talk about purchasing locally produced foods and trying to change practices to use recyclable and biodegradable materials in food handling. He asked that when the County was paying for an event at the Friday Center that this be the principle. He said that the County staff would have to be educated as they go out and negotiate with people to know what to ask. Also, on page 3.8, the last sentence under Disposal Diversion Ordinance, there was a typographical error. Also, on page 3.26, about purchasing recycled products, "the town" should be specified as the Town of Chapel Hill. He said that there was some outdated information in this document, and the updated information should be incorporated into this document. Commissioner Brown said that she was not interested in changing this document now, but she does think that the Board should come back to this and plan to revise it at some point. She does not think it reflects what the County wants to do. She said that the 61 % reduction was generated arbitrarily and did not reflect the financial realities of being able to do it. Chair Carey said that, as the staff has indicated, the Board could change this document at any time. He asked if the Board wanted the changes mentioned by Commissioner Jacobs brought back before sending the document to the state. John Link said that this document could be turned around and a Resolution to Adopt could be brought back at the meeting on September Stn Commissioner Brawn asked how many entities actually turned in a plan to the state. Gayle Wilson said that most municipalities did turn in a plan. Commissioner Brown said that every time she reads these plans she feels as though they were written from a driven perspective. She said that it takes away from the achievements of the County. She would like to turn the language around to focus on what the County has done well. Commissioner Halkiotis said that what Orange County was doing with this plan was exemplary. He thinks we should tell the public what the County is doing. Rod Visser said the County was at about a 37°~ reduction in solid waste since 1992. He assured the Board that the staff would take the comments to heart and recognize some of the accomplishments in the County. Gayle Wilson said that the staff did get overwhelmed by deadlines, but the state department, The Department of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance, really touts Orange County all over the state as a real success story. Commissioner Jacobs said that maybe one of the things the Solid Waste Advisory Board could do would be to review this plan once a year and do a report annually to the citizens as to what the County is doing as far as moving toward achieving the goals. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he did not believe the numbers really reflected everything that was going on with recycling, such as the amount of cardboard that is recycled from the two school systems by private companies. He said that he would suspect that 37°~ was a low number. John Link made reference to the background material from the Triangle J Solid Waste Planners Committee that depicted the current status of solid waste generation and management within the region. He said that the Board of Commissioners and the Solid Waste Advisory Board would be interested in seeing this document. 4. Solid Waste Facilities Rod Visser made reference to the relocation of the current solid waste administration facility, which is on University property. He said that the University and the Town of Chapel Hill would probably want that property back in the near future and the search far new property should begin soon. Gayle Wilson said that it was difficult to view each of the issues as an entirely separate, disconnected siting issue from the others. He said that if there was a C&D disposal facility, it was advisable to locate adjacent to that a C&D recycling facility because the two are interactive. He said that it was inevitable that the County would have a transfer station and it will have to go somewhere. He thinks there is going to be a lot of discussion about the possibility of a MRF. He asked the Board to try to think about the facilities as a group of facilities that the solid waste staff would try to locate so that they could compliment each other to the maximum efficiency. Commissioner Brown said that she was not sure that the MRF issue should be sent directly to the Solid Waste Advisory Board. She would like to see a master plan for Eubanks Road. She would like to see the facility as something of great pride in the community. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agreed with Commissioner Brown. He would like to knave what facilities have to go together and what facilities optionally go together. He would also like to see some sort of master plan. He said that he understood that now that there was a new Chancellor, the County might not have to move off the UNC property. Gayle Wilson said that in the event that the University said they would extend the lease for a long period of time, he believes the Town of Chapel Hill would want the County to consider relocating because the County is right in the middle of the Public Works facility, which is short on space. Commissioner Brawn reiterated that she would like the County to have a master plan for solid waste facilities. She was confused about the timeline for the decisions about the solid waste facilities. John Link recommended looking at what was available (i.e., Eubanks Road). Chair Carey said that the County really needed to tie down any additional properties on Eubanks Raad before developing a master plan. Jahn Link said that the County would be pursuing the parcels that have already been identified and discussed. He said that the staff would be glad to come up with a master plan by the December meeting. Commissioner Brown asked if the solid waste staff would need any help from a design firm in developing the master plan. Gayle Wilson said that they could use some help in some areas, primarily appearance, etc. Commissioner Brown clarified that by December the staff would bring back some of the issues of a master plan for review by the Board. Commissioner Halkiotis said that more visual buffers should be created for these solid waste facilities. Gayle Wilson asked if the Board wished to wait until December to talk about acquiring the previously discussed adjacent property on Eubanks Road. Commissioner Jacobs asked if these scenarios were solely for the Eubanks Road site. He would like to see different site scenarios. Commissioner Brown said that she was not interested in waiting several months to look at potential properties. Rod Visser clarified with Gayle Wilson that the staff could come back before December with some concepts that are not necessarily tied to a piece of property. John Link said that the staff was ready to bring the parcels forward to a closed session. He said that it was just a question of time. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested that the Board review the copies of the plan that were paid for by the old LOG. Commissioner Brown also asked for some GIS maps so the Board can see the parcels in context with the neighborhoods around them. 6. Solid Waste Advisory Board SWAB Rod Visser said that the Board of Commissioners considered a charge to the SWAB last November and reiterated what was in the interlocal agreement signed by all local governments. The staff has prepared a memo that suggests some of the items the SWAB ought to consider taking up fairly quickly. Harmony Whalen left at 9:37 p.m. Gayle Wilson spoke about a draft of the first agenda for the meeting an September 14t" of the SWAB and asked for some feedback from the Board. Commissioner Brown asked if the Board was going to suggest how often the SWAB would meet. Chair Carey said that it would be a function of what was on the agenda rather than a specific set number of meetings. Rod Visser said that the assumption was that the SWAB would have monthly meetings. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the issues should not be reinvented. He said that minutes as well as tapes of the meetings were needed. Commissioner Brown said that she was very interested in the SWAB coming up with an annual report for the Commissioners and the citizens. She would also like the SWAB to set up what would be in the report. She would like more information on electronic recycling, food composting, commercial recycling, and pay as you throw. These are things that the SWAB could address. Blair Pollack said that the Tawn of Chapel Hill was not involved in commercial recycling, just solid waste collection. Private companies usually do the recycling. Commissioner Jacobs would like to have the SWAB review the C&D Recycling Task Force report. He made reference to the OWASA representatives and said that they were about to receive the master planning consultant's report an the land application of bio solids and alternative disposal possibilities. He thinks it is the right time to talk about working with OWASA on possible collaborations to develop compost. He thinks the SWAB should also talk about continuing to pursue opportunities for interlocal agreements. He suggested having one or two Commissioners alternating as liaison with this board, especially at the beginning. The Board agreed to have Commissioner Jacobs as the liaison for the SWAB. Commissioner Brawn made reference to page 9, Department Assumption of Multi-Family Collections, and asked if this objective was one of the driving farces behind developing a MRF. Gayle Wilson said that this was specifically referring to the last identifiable significant opportunity to reduce the cost of services for a program that the County oversees. Currently, the Multi-Family program is done under contract and the staff has done a detailed analysis on what would happen if this were taken in-house. The analysis shows that the County could save approximately $450,000 in a six-year period by taking this program in-house. He said that this would not require a MRF, but would use up the remaining capacity of the existing recycling pad at the landfill and make it functional five days a week, eight hours a day. The recommendation is to get rid of the contract, buy a truck, hire a driver, deliver it to the pad, sort it, and get the revenue from the materials. Commissioner Brown asked what would make the MRF necessary. Gayle Wilson said that a MRF would allow a ca-mingle recycling stream and stop sorting at curbside. There would only be two compartments in the truck -paper and container - as opposed to six. The MRF allows for an increased number of collected materials and unlimited quantities of materials from the waste stream. Blair Pollock said that if the University were to get an board with the MRF it would really simplify their collection system and bring the County the kind of volume that would drive the cost per tan down. Chair Carey suggested including something about the open meetings law in the organizational section. 6. Solid Waste Financina Alternatives Rod Visser said that this was an area where the LOG did a substantial amount of work. He said that the committee never actually completed a final report, but there was quite a bit of information available concerning the discussions about the different mechanisms that were examined, including availability fees, district taxes, underwriting with property taxes, etc. John Link proposed that the staff provide the Board with a summary of all of the LOG meetings. He thinks the Board of Commissioners should consider what they believe to be acceptable financing alternatives. The SWAB could also lank at these alternatives after the Board has reviewed them. He suggested bringing this report back to the December meeting. Chair Carey said that the Board would accept the Manager's proposal to summarize the document and bring it back. Commissioner Brown asked about a tour of all the solid waste facilities. The Planning Board would also like to join the tour. The SWAB should also be invited. Commissioner Halkiotis would like more information on the machine that Judy Kincaid has that eats up everything from rocks, sheet rock, roofing shingles, etc. ADJOURNMENT With no further items to discuss, Chair Carey adjourned the meeting at 10:00 p.m. The next meeting an the approved meeting calendar will be held an September 5t" at 7:30 p.m. at the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC