Solid Waste Advisory Commission

Athens-Clarke County Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting of the Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Committee Wednesday, February 19, 2020 Location of Meeting: Solid Waste Administrative Office 725 Hancock Industrial Way Athens, GA 30605 Present at Meeting: Commissioner Andy Herod, Commissioner Patrick Davenport, Larry Dendy, Michael Brugger, Jere Bowden, Abigail West, Suki Janssen, Abbie Dillion, and Susan Lyon (minutes). I. Welcome Commissioner Herod called the meeting to order at 5:38 pm. II. Approval of Minutes: November 6, 2019 Larry made a motion to approve minutes with amendments to show Michael Brugger present at meeting and correct Suki (reported as Suku) name; seconded by Abigail West, approved unanimously. III. Public Comments - None IV. Division Reports (ATTACHMENT I & II) Suki reviewed Division reports in Attachments I and II. Additional Divisional information: -A proposal will be presented to M&C for Corrections Department to have a contract with GDOT to employee a Detail Corrections Officer with inmates picking up litter for 40 hours per week on State routes. -Look at the possibility of enforcing tarp usage for the landfill. Staff does have the option to reinstate the tarp fee of $10. Commissioner Davenport requested the tarp fee be brought to the M&C when Solid Waste presents at the April M&C Work Session. -Attachment II – MRFF – tonnage is down for the second year. SW is on track to pay $200,000 in processing fees during this year. For comparison, during the best year of operations we made $350,000 in revenues over processing fees. Commissioner Herod suggest the M&C report include how much we would go into the red because we are not selling recyclables vs. how much time/money/landfill space we would lose if all the recyclables were dumped into the landfill. It might be an incentive to show people why it is necessary to continue to recycle. Commissioner Davenport would like to know if ACC is seeing an increase or decrease in recyclables at the drop-off sites. Suki to run the numbers. Commissioner Herod suggested an educational campaign targeting no plastic bags in the recycling roll-offs by showing the cost to machinery and time when a plastic bag is placed in the roll-off. -CHaRM has started to accept plate/auto glass for recycling. Fees are currently being charged at CHaRM, but a proposal on the current fees will be going in front of M&C soon. -Commissioner Herod suggested a conversation between ACCSW staff and UGA Athletics regarding UGA contributing to the cost of cleaning the CBD during home football games. Currently, UGA Athletics pays us for a set amount of hours and containers for certain corridors (i.e. Baxter St.). Currently, ACC receives approximately $5,000-$8,000 per season. Approximately $25,000 of our fiscal year overtime budget goes toward football weekends. The other $5,000 goes for all the downtown festivals (i.e. Twilight, AthFest, etc.) -SW has requested an additional staff position in FY21 to grow the compost program. Currently we have a waiting list for commercial compost collection.  -Abbie requested the tonnage numbers for the residential compost drop-off sites. -ACC will partner with the Master Gardeners and the Farmer’s Market to be a compost drop-off site when market opens next month. -UGA has a composting pilot with 2 bins at the Tate Center. V. Other Business -Update on Bag ban & fee – Attorney’s Office would like to meet with the Mayor and potentially Commissioner Davenport and Herod about concerns. Sherrie Hines asked Suki to set up a meeting. -The biggest issue facing SW currently is the Landfill Enterprise fund budget. It currently has $1.4 million that covers KACCB, CHaRM, MRF, Roll-off collections, Educators, and the Waste Minimization Fee. Covering these programs has become a burden on the landfill budget with the new expansion and the landfill needs their own budget. Staff will be asking M&C for options on funding. It is time to raise our collection rates. ACCSW has not raised rates since 2011. The private haulers have had regular rate increases over the years. Oglethorpe County does not pay for upkeep or maintenance to the landfill but does receive host fees per agreement (10% of tip fees of incoming tonnage). Suki to request a conversation with Blaine and Oglethorpe County Commission Chairman Billy Pittard, on behalf of the committee and Commissioner Herod, to discuss a possibility of Oglethorpe County assisting with maintenance fees. Landfill will propose a small tip fee increase by approximately $2.00-$3.00 per ton. Commissioner Herod requested staff research the possibility of installing a camera to look at car tags. Check with Attorney’s Office about the legality of cameras. Another option is to explore charging a premium for out of county residents. -ACC Finance Dept. has our RFI (Request for Information) to send out to potential bidders for operating the new MRF. The responses will be used to draft a RFB (Request for Bids). -Abbie W. is now writing an article every other week in the Flagpole entitled “The Greensplainer.” -Larry – This year is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. A series of events are scheduled for March through Aldo in Athens. Susan will send out calendar once completed. -The scheduled May meeting is the same day as GA SWANA Rode-E-O. Due to conflicts, the committee agreed to keep the same day and have Joe Dunlop conduct the meeting in Suki’s absence. VI. Next meeting is scheduled for August 19, 2020. Commissioner Davenport made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Jere seconded; and the meeting was adjourned at 6:45 pm. Respectfully submitted by Susan Lyon: 05.20.20 Approved by committee: 05.20.20