HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.1.25 Staff ReportOctober 1, 2025
SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING: STAFF UPDATE
Staffing
A report on staffing always leads this report because the success of the solid waste program rests on our
field staff. We are pleased to find ourselves with not just a staffing level that can meet customer
demand after an extended period of staff shortages but also an exceptional group of public service
employees. This is the result of a combination of efforts including:
• the Public Works Director and Human Resources department revising the job classifications and
job descriptions as part of the last labor agreement with the Teamsters Local Union No. 589
• BoCC approval of pay increases, particularly for the bottom end of the wage scale
• staff development made possible with the revision to the self-hour hours freeing up Mondays
for training and cross-training
• flexible employee schedule options
• the Operations Coordinator designing and implementing a training program more akin to an
apprenticeship program that has allowed traditionally underrepresented employees to quickly
advance into heavy equipment operation.
Cross-training efforts paid dividends recently with 3 of the 5 critical pieces of heavy equipment for the
transfer operation being down for repairs at the same time without customer service interruption
where just a year ago this would have required closing the transfer station gates to self-haulers. This is
proof that sometimes the highest mark of success is that customers don’t notice.
Transfer Station Replacement Planning Process
Staff continue to meet with the consultant on a conceptual design. The current version has a separate
entrance outside of the queue for transfer station customers for a reuse (drop and pick) facility and
separate ingress/egress for commercial and residential haulers with no traffic conflicts. There are other
opportunities for landfill diversion ahead of the tipping floor so that the built environment mirrors the
prioritized waste management scheme in the SWMP of Reduction, Reuse and Recycling.
Work on the conceptual design will continue through mid-December with the Solid Waste Facility Task
Force reconvened in early January, 2026 to review and assist with design refinement. Should SWAC
members be so inclined this could be a joint SWAC/SWFTF meeting. Public feedback will be gathered in
February, 2026 at an open house.
Recycled Glass
Tessera (formerly Skookum Contract Services) continues to deliver glass collected in Jefferson County to
Strategic Materials, Inc. in Seattle which in turn is marketing it to buyers in Portland and California – two
states with a bottle bill and a stable glass market. Note that when the material is transported south of
Portland greenhouse gas emission reduction from recycling glass begins to be off-set by the additional
emissions produced in the transport of it such far distances; a decrease in intellectual honesty and
benefit to the atmosphere with every transport mile.
Recycling Program Revisions
Staff has met with the BoCC at several workshops since the joint SWAC/BoCC meeting in April and has
considered public feedback. Public Works has recommended to the BoCC that it retain two staffed
drop-off locations – the Quilcene Drop Box and Transfer Station – for those customers who cannot get
curbside service due to road constraints.
The Transfer Station recycling center would be replaced with a drop-off area behind the scales and the
minimum fee of $20 would apply for a combined garbage and recyclables load of up to 220 lbs. Staff has
informally proposed a fee revision at the Quilcene facility that would increase the fee for two 32. gallon
containers from $15 to $20 and include the recycling option. Staff has also informally proposed to bring
back the popular one 32-gallon fee with a fee of $10 to include recycling. These proposed fee revisions
would be discussed at a BoCC workshop and, if approved, adopted by BoCC Resolution.
Below is a table comparing curbside service fees to self-hauling of garbage and recycling which includes
the proposed 2026 fee revisions for Quilcene:
A Public Hearing Notice was published in the paper of record (Leader) on September 24 for the Public
Hearing on October 13 for the adoption of the Level of Service Agreement for curbside recycling. If the
BoCC adopts the Level of Service Ordinance then an Operations Agreement with Waste Connections for
the operation of the recycling center would follow at the next BoCC meeting.
Attached in your meeting packet is a PDF with all of the Public Hearing materials which include:
• Agenda Request
• Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission Tariff showing the current rates for various
curbside service options for unincorporated Jefferson County
• Hearing Presentation
• LOS Ordinance
SWAC members are welcome to join the Public Hearing on October 13 at 10:30 am and voice your
opinion on the LOS or the revisions to the program that staff and the SWAC have recommended. The
meeting Notice which includes the virtual attendance option is included in your meeting packet.
Transfer Station Capital Improvements
The knuckle-boom crane used to pack tipping floor materials into trailers continues to require frequent
and expensive repairs which creates longer wait times at the transfer station. A feasibility study and
preliminary cost estimate was developed in 2024 by an engineering consultant for a large scale
“remodel” of the tipping floor building which would allow for the crane to be replaced with a standard
mid-size excavator operated from outside the building envelope.
The frequency of crane repairs and escalating maintenance cost has moved this element of the Capital
Facility Plan up a few years and staff will be pursuing funding for this project and for the customer scale
replacement project in combination. Staff will amend the consultant agreement with the engineering
firm to include full design and bid specs and will run a bid process. Both projects are anticipated to
happen in the second half of 2026, staff capacity depending, and may require that the facility be closed
to self-haulers for a 2 to 3-week period. Note that Kitsap County’s transfer station has been closed a
total of +4 weeks this year for major repairs and equipment replacement.
Service Level Frequency of Disposal/Collection Monthly Weight
Equivelent (Lbs.)
Quilcene Drop-box:
$10 per 32 gallon container +
recycling
Transfer Station:
$20 for up to 220 lbs. of garbage +
recycling
Curbside Collection Service
(Garbage + Recycling)
Recycling Only Every other week $10 - $20 after 4/1/26 $20 after 4/1/26 12.26$
35 Gallon Cart + Recycling Weekly 103 40.00$ 80.00$ 41.21$
60 Gallon Cart + Recycling Weekly 176 80.00$ 80.00$ 49.95$
95 Gallon Cart + Recycling Weekly 279 120.00$ 106.00$ 62.32$
35 Gallon Cart + Recycling Every other week 51 20.00$ 40.00$ 28.57$
60 Gallon Cart + Recycling Every other week 88 40.00$ 40.00$ 32.48$
95 Gallon Cart + Recycling Every other week 140 60.00$ 40.00$ 39.72$
35 Gallon Cart + Recycling Monthly 26 10.00$ 20.00$ 21.99$
60 Gallon Cart + Recycling Monthly 44 20.00$ 20.00$ 25.26$
95 Gallon Cart + Recycling Monthly 70 30.00$ 20.00$ 29.82$
Effect of Minimum Fee Increase
The effect after two years of the new minimum fee on reducing small load self-haul customers is shown
below. We have been told that Kitsap County’s $42 min. fee has reduced small load customers to under
10% of all transactions. With this customer mix we cannot reduce wait times at the transfer station
beyond what we have been able to do with additional staffing and operational revisions. Our new
motto is “the line is the line” and staff respond to wait time complaints with the phone number to call to
order curbside service.
Solid Waste Management Plan Update
Public Works has gained some bandwidth to at last engage SWAC on the update of the Solid Waste
Management Plan which we’ll begin in earnest at our first meeting in 2026. Staff from the Department
of Ecology will join us at that meeting to provide an overview of the new SWMP guidelines. These were
created through a participatory process that included solid waste managers from both rural and urban
counties/cities with staff from Public Works providing input as workload allowed. Public Works
appreciates the thoughtful and inclusive process that Ecology used to develop the new guidelines.
Closed Landfill Monitoring
The consultant has recommended ending groundwater monitoring of the closed landfill based on
sampling data that shows full landfill stabilization. The Department of Ecology would prefer a larger
data set from a study of privately owned wells in proximity to the landfill and has generously offered to
finance the study in acknowledgment of the limited financial capacity of the Solid Waste Enterprise
Fund.
Customer Type Count % of Total
Below Min. Fee Weight (less than 220 lbs.)33,432 60%
At Min. Fee Weight (220 lbs.)1,922 3%
Above (220 lbs.)20,627 37%
Total MSW Transactions 55,981 100%
2024 Transfer Station MSW Customer Counts