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Home My WebLink About05.25.2023 SWAC Minutes JEFFERSON COUNTY Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) Minutes Regular Meeting, Thursday, May 25, 2023, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Public Works Office, 623 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA Hybrid Meeting Audio and video recordings posted under Meeting Recordings on this website https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/483/Solid-Waste -Advisory-Committee Opening Business Meeting agenda posted on website on May 22, 2023. Call to Order and Roll Call – Lisa Crosby, Chair Committee Members Present: Heidi, County Commissioner Lisa Crosby, Chair & District #1 Bart Kale, Citizen at Large Tracy Grisman, Vice-Chair & District #1 Tim Deverin, District #3 Glenn Gately, Conservation District Joey Deese, Waste Connections Committee Members Absent Alysa Thomas, Skookum Steve King, City of Port Townsend Staff Present Al Cairns, Solid Waste Manager Chris Spall, Public Works Support Staff Guests/Visitors: Louise Mann, Waste Reduction Resources, Nick Lawlor, Jefferson Co. Public Health (JCPH,) and Becca, JCPH. There is a quorum. Public Comment: Tom Thiersch commented on the proposed fee revisions at the Transfer Station, specifically doubling the minimum fee to $20. If you make it so expensive that people who haul small loads can’t afford to go there they will dump it in the woods. A more reasonable amount would be $13 and would be in line with the average of the four counties on the Olympic Peninsula. Doubling of fees is completely unjustifiable and will increase trash all over the county. He is encouraging everyone to object to it, and encourage SWAC to have Solid Waste staff take a much more careful look at what they are proposing. Approval/Correction of 3/23/2023 Meeting minutes. Tracy moved, Heidi seconded, and motion carried to approve minutes as written. Committee Reports – No sub committees at this time Staff report Al answered questions about the report: • Are the dates for the Hazardous Waste Collection events in the report the anticipated frequency of these events? On advice of other counties and the contractor, hold two events in the spring and 2 events in the fall. In terms of customer counts, a collection event services the same number of people that the MRW facility served over a 2-3-month period. Positive feedback from south County residents about the events. For those who can’t wait until the next event, we now have an interlocal agreement (ILA) with Kitsap County for our residents to be able to schedule an appointment to dispose of household hazardous waste at the Bremerton facility. • Can people take any of the paint collected at the collection events? No, that is not possible at the events. But an exchange program with adequate staffing could be part of the design criteria for a new facility. Exchange element was a beloved element of the program at the MRW facility. • Is the ILA with Kitsap County good for businesses as well? No, it is for residential only. The next business hazardous waste collection event will be in January. Old Business: None New Business a. Guest Speaker – Louise Mann, Waste Reduction Resources. Louise referred to photos of the Signal Mountain, Tennessee drop-off facility that are on this webpage https://wastereductionresources.com/drop-off-centers/. Louise was part of a group of concerned citizens who designed a program to manage waste via an infrastructure that required continual serious citizen engagement and continuing education for all ages. In the late 1980s Signal Mountain was a small community with twice a week garbage collection. Recycling wasn’t even on the radar. Before starting the program, the group rolled out education program: monthly meetings, wrote columns in the newspaper, and developed an intensive K-4 education program. Components of the K-4 education program included a contact teacher in each elementary school, a localized curriculum, and 30 adults who trained twice a year and went into classrooms every month during school year and volunteered at the Signal Mountain facility. Southern Living did an article about the facility. The facility and program worked because of continuing education, community engagement, and community connections that were developed. Louise would like to see more community building in the area of solid waste management. UN treaties talks about plastics won’t do any good if there are plans for 120 Cracker plants along the Texas and Louisiana coast. Louise is grateful to people like former NYC Mayor Bloomberg for the $85 million donation to help stop those plants https://www.bloomberg.org/press/michael-r-bloomberg-launches-new-85-million- campaign-to-stop-rapid-rise-of-pollution-from-the-petrochemical-industry-in-the-united-states/. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2022-3-fall/feature/these-are-new-titans-plastic-shell-pennsylvania- fracking Al said that three elements of the Signal Mountain program are being considered in the planning process for a new Solid Waste facility: drop off exchange, education site, and repair café. b. Review of Solid Waste Fee Revisions – Al Cairns Al said congestion is one issue. Tools to manage congestion are: • Set minimum fee to discourage low weight frequent visits. • Limit the hours of operation. For instance, yard debris could have limited hours such as Kitsap County which takes yard waste only one day a week. We have already adjusted down hours for self-haul garbage customer to five days a week, but are looking at adding additional morning hours for customers in the fall. Al said King County and Seattle have been used in the past to compare levels of service which includes the types of materials collected, drive times between facilities and other program elements. When comparing fees it is important to consider what the fees pay for (level of service). cities and counties because we’ve used those counties for comparing our level of service being delivered. The other issue is the what the Jefferson County Code says about how to manage fund balances. The cash fund balance is important when planning for a facility replacement. The other fund balance, equipment reserves, may look large but equipment is very expensive. • Propose setting the fund balance be 25% of cost of replacement facility. It would take five to seven years to build the fund balance up to this. The fund balance is maintained through the per ton fee. • Increase tipping fee by 2.5% per year until fund balance is at 25%. 2.5% does not come close to CPI. Lisa asked if raising minimum fee is revenue generating. Al said it may generate revenue but it is not the intent of doing it. In regards to a possible increase in illegal dumping, Al said that in 2014 when the fee doubled illegal dumping did not significantly increase. The tipping fee is currently $164 and would go to $167. Min fee is for loads of 120 lbs. or less. Tracy asked if we are seeing residents from other counties coming to the transfer station because of our lower tipping fee? Al said yes, which adds to the congestion. Contractors are especially impacted by the congestion because it contributes to lost hours of productivity. City is favorable in raising the minimum fee for yard waste to $20. Not sure when that will happen. Heidi getting calls about raising the minimum fee. How do we accommodate those on fixed incomes who can’t afford curbside collection? Al said he would look into it and present information at a June 5 BoCC workshop. Nick asked if the Recycling Center at Transfer Station be left open on Mondays? Al said no, because it would be a nightmare for staff because there would be customers who would try to cross the scales to dump garbage. Joey added that the minimum at Long Beach was raised to $25 and people made fewer trips and there was no increase in illegal dumping. Bart likes the small incremental increases instead of a huge increase at once. How did you arrive at 25% for the reserve fund? Al said that hitting 25% could happen in a 5-year time frame based on current tonnages. Staff felt a higher % would be an undue burden on the customers. Lisa doesn’t know people who are bringing in the small loads. Just because a load is small does not mean it’s less important than large loads. Al said a large retirement community where time has a different meaning than for those still in the workforce may be a contributing factor. These conversations have been good to dispel misinformation and are an opportunity to educate. How to deter out of county dumping? Can we ask where people are coming from? We did that at the start of the pandemic because other counties had closed their facilities. Is there data on an increase in illegal dumping after a fee increase? Al said that after the last minimum fee increase in 2014 there was no noticeable increase in illegal dumping. Public Health handles illegal dumping and receives $1 per ton of fees collected to help pay for illegal dumping clean-ups. Public Health could present information about the level of illegal dumping after a fee increase. Partner Updates: a. Skookum (Alysa Thomas) – Absent b. Waste Connections/Olympic Disposal (Joey Dees) –No updates. c. City of Port Townsend solid waste/recycling/composting (Bliss Morris) – Absent d. Jefferson County Public Health (Laura Tucker) - Absent on vacation e. Artist in Residency (AIRE) program (Tracy Grisman) – Carol Roshanna Williams will start in June. Future Agenda Items – No suggestions given: Meeting adjourned at 4:40 PM Next Meeting Date: July 27. 2023 Regular Meetings Thursday, January 26 March 23 May 25 July 27 September 28 December 7