HomeMy WebLinkAboutSWAB minutes 060106 Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
for implementation of the solid waste management plan was not budgeted because it
will not be finalized until the fall, assuming it will be adopted . No funds have been
proposed for storm debris / organycli
ics recng or leachate sewer line construction .
Other key issues are : there is over $400, 000 in the budget to do the design and
permitting of the transfer station but the prerequisite for that is to know where it [the
transfer station] is going . There is money for the new phone system, furnishings and
the first installment of debt service payment for the new operations center .
Up until 2002 the landfill fund had never had any debt . Primarily because of failure
to implement some alternative funding for recycling, the reserves were spent down to
zero and we started borrowing money for most of the capital items . Establishing the
3 -R fee helped re -established the equipment reserve fund but one of the reasons that
the budget continues to go up is debt payment services, which were zero in 2002 and
in 2007 will be over $ 1 million/ year .
There are two major pieces of equipment coming up for replacement next year -Track
Hoe - � $250, 000 and an Articulated Truck - less than $400, 000 . We are proposing to
finance those pieces .
An increase in the 3R fee is being recommended . There may be resistance seeing that
the property tax will increase . If the increase is not granted the $411 , 000 undesignated
balance will be gone and about $ 100, 000 of equipment reserve will be used .
Looking down the road at all the things coming — the transfer station, new
convenience centers, landfill closure, construction of the second phase of C &D
landfill, implementation of the solid waste management plan, dealing with
storm/ land clearing debris, etc . there will be $8 million to $12 million worth of
expenses in the next five or six years . It' s not financially responsible to assume it will
all be debt financed . This is one of the reasons the fee increase is recommended . The
fees that we are recommending are [increasing] basic $27 to $34, multi-family $ 14 to
$16, rural $16 to $22 and urban $39 to $41 . Wilson states he has listed some reasons
why the fee is being recommended and the consequence of doing without it . There is
also a summary analysis of the 3R fee which demonstrates where we are .
Kabrick asks when does this go to the Commissioners .
Wilson replies their first discussion with me will be the 13th .
Norwood asks that on the proposed 3R fee increase basic is seven more dollars and
the others are smaller, why aren' t they all the same ?
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Wilson states that each of the four categories has significantly different cost and
significantly different number of units that will be paying . A dollar in basic may
generate $50, 000 but a dollar increase in multifamily may generate $9, 000 .
Clayton asks on page one [of the handout] what is in administration .
Wilson replies it is the overhead paid to the county to do financing, payroll, human
resources, etc . It is [also] most of the advertising, phone, office supplies, etc . budget .
The 3R fee is divided into landfill services and programs and recycling services and
programs and then administration is split in half .
4 . Environmental Responsibility Goals - Action Statements Sassaman states that in
addition to what was sent out he have put together a couple of things we might want
to discuss . He states he has tried to look at what the SWAB was responsible for .
Clayton states that Blair received a grant from the State to do green purchasing
seminars with a follow-up a report was given to the State and nothing was done with
it. He states he doesn t t know if we want to waste the time and effort . A hollow
award rewards poor service .
Pollock states that this time it seems to have more [importance] .
Sassaman states that the BOCC asked us to come up with some action items . At the
last meeting we discussed it and asked for ideas . He states he didri t get any so he
came up with this . We can come up with some ideas tonight or the response to Barry
will be that we didri t come up with any ideas .
Areas of primary interest on the part of the SWAB are :
-to reduce the per capita generation of potentially disposed solid waste within the
county,
-to decrease the per capita proportion of generated solid waste that is disposed of
in the landfill or by any other disposal option,
-promote and facilitate an increased rate of per capita recycling and reuse of waste
material, and -to do so in a manner that is both fiscally sound and appropriate for
the communities in Orange County .
Objectives 2 and 4 relating to Policies and Programs to conserve energy and adopt use of green
building standards .
Action Strategy -Establish as a goal that at least one staff person in each relevant
operational department (i . e . , Public Works, Solid Waste, Engineering, Recreation
and Parks, etc . ) attend a training session on green building certification (i . e . ,
LEEDS) and if appropriate, be so certified .
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Objective 3
Action Strategy -Establish a baseline of per capita staff paper use at present for all
county, and if possible municipal departments, and establish the Annual Solid
Waste Advisory Board Award (plaque, trophy, or whatever) to be awarded on
behalf of the SWAB to whichever entity achieves the largest annual reduction in
use of paper .
Action Strategy - promote the purchase of duplexing laser printers to facilitate
printing on both side of the paper and providing, if necessary, training in the use
of such machines .
Objective 5 relating to vehicles and air quality .
Action Strategy - task the Solid Waste Advisory Board with evaluating waste
handling truck haul routes with respect to efficiency and fuel use .
All Objectives
Action Strategy -Urge BOCC and Municipal elected officials to enact appropriate
regulations that would require a formal assessment of Environmental
Responsibility for all relevant actions that would require BOCC or Municipal
approval . This assessment would answer such questions as - does this require more
energy, and what are the alternatives, does it require lots of paper and what are
the alternatives, can it be conducted so as to reduce overall impacts on the
environment, does it require staff to drive more and / or farther than present, etc . ) ?
Such an evaluation should, at a minimum, be carried out for all new county
government construction projects .
Norwood states that she is very interested in Objective 5 . Is it more important for the
truck drivers to get back to wherever they punch out at to leave the trucks running so
that the driver can make the time or is it more cost effective to shut the truck off, save
the gas and just pay the driver ?
Wilson states that it would obviously be beneficial not to leave the truck running . We
are in the process of evaluating some GPS units to find out if trucks are sitting or
moving . We are aware of the issue [of sitting and idling waiting for the end of a shift]
and will be dealing with it .
Clayton asks Bonnie which trucks are you seeing - County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro,
Waste Industries ? It would be hard to make policy for other departments or entities .
Norwood states that she cant say exactly which trucks they were .
Sassaman states that we are not making policy . We are giving suggestions in
response to the chair of the BOCC . He states that he has put this in as a way to state
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
that having a transfer station in Durham County is not smart in order to reduce travel
and emissions .
Clayton states that in order to accomplish the " All Objectives" action strategy would
require a member from each department to know what they are looking at and meet
regularly so they could analyze the [environmental stewardship] ideas the County' s
looking at .
Pollock states that the Environmental Stewardship Committee met for the first time
and had 23 people there . Two things were apparent to me from that meeting . The
structure is just now being formed and this would be an opportune time to bring
these kinds of notions forward . The other thing they will take what they get from all
individual departments and the various advisory boards and compile it into a
document and send it to the Commissioners .
Pollock suggested that they go slowly before bring it to the Commissioners as Jan
suggested it is a potentially profound impact . There will be a sort of bureaucratic
structure that could take on something this meaty, the form will be there and maybe
that will drive the substance forward .
Wilson asks Blair wasn' t there a sustainable committee about five or six years ago that
we attended several meetings, there were private citizens involved and they produced
this big thick book . We talked about a lot of these issues and everybody had great
ideas and produced this book, where is it .
Clayton states that he agrees with Bonnie that in many instances that people shouldn t
sit around . If you drive onto the landfill you will see the guys sitting in a compactor
idling his vehicle . He has to because the compactor is either hot or cold and he has to
stay in there . So every department can have a rationale for why they don' t do some
of this . With the routing, if you [re] routed Public Works you would have massive
savings .
Sassaman states that I am sure that now with the cost of gasoline everyone thinks a
little bit about combining trips .
Vickers states that I have a letter going to Carrboro that points out that one of the
biggest financial issues will be the [cost of transporting waste to the] transfer station if
it gets located farther away from Carrboro .
Smith suggests that we move ahead with what we are talking about . The statement
you are making in the opening paragraph is solid . That is the best we can do in all
these statements . We are in the solid waste department; the idling truck is not my
problem .
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Sassaman states that the way the request was written was to say what is an action that
can be taken to accomplish the goal .
Smith states that he is agreeing with you that your opening to reduce, to increase, to
promote is a bonafide statement from this committee and that is about as good as we
can do .
Sassaman states that that is a goal . What are the actions to be taken to achieve that?
Smith states make it worth my while to recycle . Why should I recycle ?
Sassaman states that these are the things the government agency can do to save . How
can you get some government employees to save paper ? He states that what he is
trying to say is one way is to give them some kind award for saving paper .
Vickers states that on the green building item is it appropriate for each department to
have a green building expert . Isn' t there a building department within the county that
reviews everything ?
Sassaman states that the only reason that he wrote this that way was because that was
what BJ said they were doing at the University and it made sense to me .
Pollock states that it is worthwhile for the County to build some kind of capacity for
understanding the green building stuff . He thinks it is less important which
department or how many but just the notion that we are going to build some kind of
capacity .
Sassaman states that what he is trying to do is tell the County that if you want to be
environmentally responsible you have to put your money where your mouth is . It' s
not cheap; you have to do things differently .
Kabrick states that there is general consensus for objectives 2 and 4 the action strategy
of at least getting the County aware of adhering to the principles of green building .
He thinks there is consensus that; he states he would reword that to promote the reuse
of recycle paper and printing all documents on two sides . He thinks that we' re all in
agreement with having the staff evaluate waste hauling . Where he thinks people are
not in agreement is the use of the award for the department that uses less paper .
Clayton states that it would be hard to measure .
Pollock states that there is a supply budget but no line item for paper .
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Kabrick asks is there a budget for fuel .
Sassaman states that fuel is a tough one to deal with because it can be measured but
there are certain factors beyond anyone' s control in how much fuel they have to use .
Vickers suggests restating it to say reduce paper use by using double sided paper and
encourage purchasing to only purchase duplex printers and copiers .
Sassaman states that to use the words as to encourage isn t as strong . You want to
encourage but what is something you can do to encourage them .
Vickers states that the employees are trying to do their job, but it doesnt help them by
imposing rules on their job and you don t know what their job is .
Sassaman states that it is not imposing any rules at all . What he is proposing here is
to say if you find a way in your job to reduce the paper you use we will give a pat on
the back . We are not telling you how to do it.
Clayton asks are you going to do a baseline .
Pollock states that the base line could be the FY05-06 paper budget and normalize that
for price increases .
Norwood states that from the mentality that I' ve seen, it' s ok as long as it ends up in
the recycling bin and does not matter what she does to that piece of paper .
Sassaman states that the objective that the county is saying to address is to implement
programs and monitor local and regional air quality by promoting public
transportation options and incentives in the county that increase connectivity and
decrease dependence on personal vehicles and by selecting alternative fuel and low
emission fuel vehicles for the county vehicle fleet . We are being asked what are your
ideas to achieve that goal . What is an action item? To say to promote carpooling is
not an action item because it' s wishy -washy .
Clayton states that an example would be that Gayle could say no one could drive to
Hillsborough solo from Chapel Hill .
Sassaman states that he is trying to get you to think in terms of what is it that you can
do to achieve those goals .
Kabrick suggests overall trip miles for the county, implement mandatory carpooling
to certain functions . Increase maintenance on all county owned vehicles to increase
fuel efficiency .
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Pollock states that not to derail you all from reaching a consensus, my instinct about
the message of the meeting yesterday, because each department or most departments
have an advisory board, the feeling he got was they will be looking for some specific
recommendations that pertain to that advisory board' s purview as opposed to the
general, so if you want to hit the general, I would also make sure to mix in something
that specifically pertains to solid waste .
Sassaman states that according to this action item it is to look at how we drive our
trucks and our haul routes and make sure we are doing it the most efficient way
possible .
Vickers asks Gayle, isn t that one of your highest cost options ? Looking at how you
can effectively collect garbage .
Wilson states that we are looking at it right now . He doesn' t' know what they are
going want us to look at . For a simple thing like the transfer station, it is commonly
understood that a transfer station is better for economic reasons, meaning using less
fuel etc . , located as near as possible to the center of waste generation. We have moved
beyond the notion of a local landfill, but just the notion of transferring waste to a
distant facility is obviously not environmentally efficient .
We are not examining the convenience centers . Is it more efficient for 10, 000 people a
week to run to the convenience centers to get rid of their recyclables and garbage
when a recycling truck goes down their road and could pick it up ? We have already
burned the gas to get in front of their house, yet they are not using the service . The
same thing would apply for garbage collection . If you are serious, that is were the
real juice is .
Kabrick states that while it makes sense to have a statement that expresses the small
ideas that we' ve talked about we believe that there are bigger items where the savings
are currently and articulate those, as Gayle pointed out .
Sassaman states that my goal tonight to come to a decision . A lack of a decision is a
decision within itself . He will give Barry a response tomorrow .
Kabrick states that he would add another bullet to the first paragraph to site and
permit a new landfill in Orange County . Jim Ward and he and another Council
member are interested and I' ve heard there is one County Commissioner interested .
He will not let that die .
Wilson states that the point you make is a good one . Do they really want to know
how to do it or do they want to know how to do it that doesn' t upset anyone ?
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Kabrick states that he could make a statement in the cover letter that says what is
environmentally responsible and what is being a leader have to do with moving our
solid waste out of county . That is irresponsible and it is a non-leadership position .
Vickers states that it is a political issue that has never been resolved, Who are you
going to dump on? Former Mayor Lee refers to sustainable development . What is
sustainable development? Do you have a landfill in your County or not? T hey fought
over a landfill for, what, ten years ?
Wilson corrects, " About seven . "
Vickers says he doesri t t think it is politically viable to do it until they feel the pain of
the cost of shipping it hurting the county budget large enough to take on the pain of
locating one . We' re not at the stage where the cost is great enough to take on this
issue .
Tipton states that she doesn' t think this board is going to tackle the issue of a landfill
without formal request to do so .
Wilson states that there has been sort of a formal request in the context of how can we
make major strides towards improving the environment and doing environmentally
responsible things . It [a new landfill in Orange County] has been taken off the table,
but the fact is that it would be a major step toward reducing emissions, reducing fuel
usage, reducing hazardous of road miles and safety issues, wear and tear on the
roads, cost, etc .
Tipton asks : Do you want this board to make a recommendation? Is that what we are
leaning towards ?
Wilson states that we are trying to identify how you can make major impacts in the
direction that they are saying they want advice in .
Sassaman states that what you do is a backsided approach and say since the BOCC
has decreed that there will be no new landfill in Orange County we can do x, y and z .
However were they to change their mind and have a landfill in Orange County we
could do these other things and have a much greater impact .
Tipton asks what we are going to do . . . get consensus on the statement you just made ?
Sassaman replies that he doesri t know . Sassaman continues, he just wanted to get
this off the table tonight .
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
Wilson states that we could do the general thing as you said to provide solid waste
services and locate solid waste facilities in a manner that reduces fuel usage,
emissions, etc . and let them talk about it.
Clayton states that that is fairly broad . Having a single person to collect the garbage
instead of five companies driving by the same house -- huge savings there .
Sassaman states that what they are asking you for is what is it the county government
can do .
Vickers replies consider franchising waste collection to minimize the amount of
collection units operating in the same area .
Norwood states that she doesn' t have a problem with any of this .
Sassaman states that he is looking for more action items .
Vickers states that if they really wanted environmental responsibility they would
develop waste management alternatives that handle the waste in the county .
Norwood states that she would like to remind them that the grey area about any
number of trucks can service any area so we have all that traffic instead of us
controlling the [waste truck] traffic in the County . Not that we could do anything
about it, but we could make them aware of it .
Pollock sates that you can if you recommend all private waste hauling be done by
franchising that minimize the number of vehicles that travel down any road .
Sassaman states that that is the goal, what is the action.
Wilson states that he would turn that into the action because if that is the goal it
becomes fairly complicated and there are a number of options of how to do it .
Kabrick states that the award idea should be removed .
Vickers states that we direct the purchasing department to only buy duplex printers
and copiers .
Sassaman states that he will take out the award idea . He will add to the primary
interest on part of the SWAB it is the consensus of the SWAB that along the lines to
support any reasonable environmental goal the County should look to waste disposal
options within the county rather than outside and then maybe some reasons for that .
Then with respect to the specific objectives, the action strategies for 2 and 4 will stay
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Minutes - Regular Meeting
Solid Waste Advisory Board
June 1 , 2006
Approved August 3, 2006
the same . For objective 3, which should state something about promoting the
purchase of duplexing laser printers, [strike the first action strategy] all new network
machines should be duplexing . On objective 5 related to vehicles and air quality
pretty much what we have and then minimize the number of vehicles that service
waste and recycling in any geographic area . Is there anything else ?
Kabrick states that the first part of the action strategy [Task the Solid Waste Advisory
Board with] , he would just say ' evaluate waste hauling' , He states that he is not going
to do any hauling evaluation.
Sassaman states that it was intended to be done by a consultant . It needs some
cleaning up . What about the global action strategy of environmental . It can be
spelled out with things that should be looked at . This needs to be reworded to
emphasize alternatives .
Kabrick states that it is not clear where to draw the line . Would this apply to
everything that the county purchases ?
Sassaman states that it would be up to the environmental group to decide . What we
are saying is that this is a good thing to do . Does anyone have anything else to add ?
Bowerman asks is there anything else that we can think of that there' s lots of thrown
away
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