Okaloosa County BOCC — September 6, 2016 — ISP Report Solid Waste — reading text

operations and inspect WM trucks after tipping o The County, by contract, has the right to spot check trucks and to view and measure any and all operations at the transfer stations • Establish a credit card payment procedure and discourage the cash payment option. Over time look to eliminate cash payment o Provide a wired internet connection or a "hot spot", as needed o Include any charges from the credit card company in the tipping fee o Eliminates the hassle of haulers having to go to an A TM o Reduces exposure of handling cash and decreases the effort to receive, handle, verify and deposit the cash • Conduct a review of minimum tipping fees and, if appropriate, raise them to better reflect the cost of handling. Minimum tip fees and total bills for all tip weights should be rounded to the nearest dollar o Raising the minimum fee would better align the County's revenue with its costs o Rounding to the nearest dollar will make it easier to make change and keep accounts for haulers paying in cash • Install camera coverage at the Baker scales, transfer station and the landfill to record operations o Provides a teaching opportunity to improve effectiveness and efficiency o Reduces the potential for abuse o Offers another layer of security, with the appropriate signage, for the scale operator and other employees Landfill Yard Waste Operations The County operates scales at the Wright landfill to accept yard waste from WM, private haulers, and individuals. At the Baker landfill, the transfer station scales are used to weigh yard waste. The DOA checks scale accuracy at Wright two times per year. The County uses Systems Scales Corporation to check the Wright scales twice a year and make any necessary adjustments. The Systems Scales calibrations are done soon after the DOA tests. Yard waste is mulched and distributed on the landfills. Recyclables can be dropped off as well, but they are hauled to the South Okaloosa transfer station. All yard waste and recyclable operations are performed by County personnel. Areas of concern: • As is the risk at Baker, the scales at Wright could be adjusted in WM's favor between the twice yearly periods when the DOA and the Systems Scales accuracy tests arc done 5  o Any adjustments would require the cooperation of county employees • The procedures used at the two landfills are not exactly the same and the tickets and reports produced are not the same as those used at the South Okaloosa transfer station, even though they all are produced by the same software system o The maintained balance in the cash boxes at Wright and Baker are different and the Weigh.master at Wright uses an Excel spreadsheet to help balance the box while the operator at Baker does not o Baker and Wright issue a two- part receipt while the South Okaloosa transfer station issues a three-part receipt; the hauler does not sign the County's copy of the ticket at Baker and Wright • As at the transfer stations, tipping fees at the Wright landfill must be paid by cash or check. No credit cards are accepted and the Wright Weighmaster rep011s that they have no internet connection so credit cards cannot be verified o Cash handling is validated with matching receipts, but it still presents a fraud risk and an inconvenience to the haulers and the operator o As mentioned earlier, these operations would be subject to the County's spot checking of cash handling procedures • Also, as at the transfer stations, the minimum tipping fee at the Wright landfill is low and tipping fees and total bills are carried out to the nearest cent o Minimum tipping fees may not be in line with costs o Coins are required to make change for haulers that pay in cash • Occasionally, haulers do not have sufficient cash or a check to pay the tipping fee, so they complete an Acknowledgement of Balance Due form which obligates them to pay the outstanding balance by the end of the business day o In practice, haulers with an outstanding balance wil1 settle their account by the end of the next day o There are no procedures for collection in the rare case when a hauler does not settle an outstanding balance. • Scale operators may take it on themselves to not let a hauler, with an outstanding balance, drop off another load • There are no cameras recording operations at the Wright landfill and, as is the case at Baker, there arc no other county employees around the scale site o Without cameras and other employees in the vicinity, safety concerns are raised and the potential for abuse is increased • Residents and commercial establishments are allowed to use plastic bags to bag their yard waste. A recent contract amendment released WM from the requirement to remove the yard waste from the bags before taking it to the landfill. County employees will accept yard waste in plastic bags from private haulers and individuals o As a result, the plastic bags are ground into the mulch making the mulch unacceptable for resale Recommendations: 6  • Consolidate scale verification/adjustment contracts into one and go through a bidding process to select one contractor to calibrate scales at Baker, Wright and the South Okaloosa transfer station o Rebid the contract every three to five years o The Transfer Station Operation Agreement RFP should include reference to this recommendation • Include the Wright scales in the program to conduct random spot checks of scale accuracy between the DOA tests o Schedule the scales calibration contractor tests to be done away from the DOA tests, on a more random basis o Respond, as needed, to make any adjustments indicated by the DOA tests • Conduct a review of procedures at the landfills and transfer stations and develop a package of best practice procedures that can be uniformly adopted by all operations • Install a credit card option at the Wright landfill as was recommended for the transfer stations. Discourage the use of cash and look to eliminate cash handling over time o Provide a wired link to an internet service provider or install a "hot spot" o Include any charge by the credit card company in the tipping fee o Increases convenience for haulers and scale operators o Reduces the potential for abuse o Also reduces the number of delinquent accounts from haulers that received an Acknowledgement of Balance Due form • Include the Wright landfill scale operations in the minimum tipping fee review and raise minimum fees, if appropriate o All tipping fees and total weight charges should be rounded to the nearest dollar • Install cameras at the Wright landfill to provide procedural teaching opportunities, increase security for the operators and to deter fraud • Require that all yard waste be collected in biodegradable bags or gathered in acceptable sized bundles o The salable mulch could provide the County with additional revenue • Establish a procedure for dealing with haulers that receive an Acknowledgement of Balance Due form, but do not settle their outstanding balances o Given the rarity of these occurrences and the likely low balances, a practice of not allowing these haulers to drop off loads until their bill is paid in full may be the best solution Recyclables Chapter 403, Florida Statutes, requires each county to establish a recycling plan with a goal of meeting certain statewide recycling targets for various solid waste materials by specified dates, concluding with a figure of 70% by December 31, 2020. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has requested and Okaloosa County has submitted a recycling plan. Attachment 4 is DEP's request and Attachment 5 is the County's response letter containing 7 its plan. On May 24, 2016, a representative of the DEP's Waste Reduction/Recycling Section confirmed that Okaloosa County's plan was acceptable. Areas of concern: • With the contract amendment of April 1, 2016, WM is no longer required to pay the County a minimum revenue per ton for recyclables delivered to the recycling facility. The low value of recyclable materials was cited as the reason for the amendment o Under the original contract, each month an Average Market Value (AMV) was calculated for the composition of the recyclable materials collected and used to determine the per revenue ton due to be paid to the County. A minimum of $25 per ton revenue needed to be paid regardless of the AMV o In the months before the amendment was inforce, the revenue paid the County was in the range of$16,000 to $19,000 per month • Once WM receives the recyclables at the South Okaloosa transfer station, there are no contract provisions requiring how the recyclables are to be disposed o Reportedly, WM trucks the recyclables to a recycling station north of Atlanta and spends approximately $500,000 per year handling recyclables o But if WM were to deem it more cost effective, recyclables could be trucked to the landfill o The Department of Environmental Protection makes a record of recyclables tipped at recycling stations and provides the County with a report of the tonnage of its recyclables that have been received • Therefore, the County would be aware of any big drop in tonnage delivered to the recycling station • Further, there is no attempt to separate recyclables from solid waste in the nonnal trash collection. As a result, these recyclables are trucked to the landfill and a recycling opportunity is lost o Attempts by other public entities to separate recyclables from solid waste (mixed waste processing) have been ineffective because of high contamination rates Recomrnendati ons: • Reinstate the use of the Average Monthly Value calculation in the contract and modify Table 2 Per Ton Revenue to COUNTY Based on AMV (page 24 of the current transfer station operation contract) to accept AMV values from $0 to $80. Determine per ton revenue payments for the new ranges of AMV values that are acceptable to both parties o This approach provides the County an income stream from recyclables that is consistent with their market value o It also eliminates the need for the current contract amendment cancelling any revenue payment to the County for recyclables • The County's effort to seek an Inter - Local Agreement with Escambia County to direct Okaloosa recyclables to the new Escambia recycling plant is an excellent one and should be pursued.