HomeMy WebLinkAbout072123 FW_ Coming your way soon
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From: Al Cairns
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2023 8:59:50 AM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: Greg Brotherton
Subject: RE: Coming your way soon
Thanks.
I should have mentioned two other things:
* Mr. Thiersch was correct when he mentioned that Public Works has limited data to use in forecasting the effect of the new minimum fee. And the reason for this is because the minimum
fee has only been adjusted once before in the +30 year history of the facility. But when Public Works last did almost 10 yrs. ago it cut the minimum weight customers by 25%.
* The community survey we will be reviewing at the SWFTF meeting next week shows that a leading complaint (25 of 319 respondents) is the increasing wait times at the transfer station.
Along with 78 compliments about how clean the facility is and staffed by courteous County employees.
Our motto is: “Better service than King County at the regional average price.” Level of service comparison attached.
Have a great weekend!
Al
From: Greg Brotherton <GBrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us>
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2023 4:58 PM
To: Al Cairns <ACairns@co.jefferson.wa.us>
Subject: RE: Coming your way soon
Copy, thanks for the heads up. If it comes up, I will read your response, but I hope that he takes this data, as I do, to indicate that this really is an issue that needs addressing,
Greg Brotherton
Jefferson County Commissioner, District 3
1820 Jefferson Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
(360)385-9100
gbrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:gbrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us>
From: Al Cairns <ACairns@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:ACairns@co.jefferson.wa.us> >
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2023 4:29 PM
To: Greg Brotherton <GBrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:GBrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us> >
Subject: Coming your way soon
Hi Greg,
Mr. Thiersch submitted the attached public Records request and we will be sending him the attached data that he requested – the second such request. These requests require that we create
a new set of parameters every time we run such a report to create the requested information.
Mr. Thiersch may be confused about the function of the minimum fee despite my best effort to describe the fee as a demand management tool used by all transfer stations across the state
in this manner. My read of his narrow request is that he will interpret the data to show that customers are being unfairly charged because they are charged a minimum regardless of
whether they hit the threshold weight.
Should this come up during next week’s public comment period at the BoCC meeting I will not be available to respond to it, but if I were, my response would be:
* The facility set a record number of customers in a day three weeks ago and then broke that record the next week
* We have often reached a number of customers per day that exceeds the maximum transaction speed of the software/hardware interface
* We have a limited number of tools to curb the 45% of customers who bring less than 120 lbs to the facility and this is the most obvious one to use
* Many of the customer transactions in the data set requested show a zero weight which means that they brought less than 20 lbs. We hope that the new minimum fee will discourage those
customers from adding to the already overburdened facility
Hope this helps if it comes up.
Best,
Al Cairns
Solid Waste Manager
Jefferson County Department of Public Works
acairns@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:acairns@co.jefferson.wa.us>
(360)385-9213