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

8  o This agreement would significantly reduce WM's recycling disposal costs and the savings should be shared with the County through the rates set in the Per Ton Revenue to COUNTY Based on AMV formula o It would help eliminate the concern of what the commercial contactor does with the recyclables • Longer tem1, track the development of technology to separate recyclables from weekly solid waste trash to determine if mixed waste separation is feasible and cost effective o There would be significant environmental benefits and perhaps an opportunity to generate recyclable revenue o It would further eliminate the concern of what the commercial contractor does with the recyclables Waste Collection Current individual residential collection is 2 times per week for solid waste trash, 1 time per week for yard waste and 1 time per week for recyclables (2-1-1). Bulk waste is also collected weekly and large items are picked up upon request. The multi-family residential collection schedule is the same, except solid waste trash is only collected 1 time per week. Large residential complexes negotiate their own collection schedules Areas of Concern: • This system works well for all parties with two exceptions: o Twice weekly solid waste collection is costly • In the past, the County tried to go to one time per week for solid waste, but complaints from a few customers caused the BCC to not approve the change o Bulk collection is not working for the residents; there are frequent complaints that bulk items are left for weeks before being picked up • The use of boom trucks needed for large bulk items is expensive and, reportedly, the County is considering charging for this service when it has been free in the past Recommendation: • Negotiate a tradeoff change to the collection procedures that would: o Provide residents a weekly bulk waste collection using boom trucks, as needed, at no additional cost • Pick up all bulk items along the curb every week • This would eliminate the unsightly problems residents complain about and do it without extra charges o For this better bulk service, individual residential solid waste collection would be reduced from 2 times per week to 1 time per week and all yard waste would need to be in biodegradable bags or in acceptable bundles 9  • Offsets increased cost of boom truck use by eliminating one weekly trash collection (for the County) • Eliminates environmental concern of plastic bags in yard waste and permits wider use of the mulch and even potential sale of yard waste • If mulch sales prove feasible, revenue could be used to hold down collection fees o Other public entities in Okaloosa County have demonstrated that reducing trash collection from twice weekly to once a week is feasible • The City of Niceville went from a 2 - l - l schedule to a l - 1 - 1 schedule without any problems • The County's six month 1 - 1 - 1 trial conducted in the Shalimar area in 2012 received favorable reviews Landfill Environmental Monitoring All four landfills owned by the County require environmental monitoring, primarily to prevent the pollution of ground water. Monitoring is done every three months by scientific contractors. There were leeching problems at the landfills in the past, but currently there are no pressing problems. Areas of concern: • The natural iron level in the landfill ground water is higher than permitted by regulatory requirements. Even though the iron content can never meet standards, the County must continually monitor the ground water • The cost of the contractors to conduct the monitoring is approximately $70,000 per landfill per year or about $280,000 per year for the County o Each quarterly monitoring session, reportedly, takes 2 to 4 days per landfill Recommendations: • Seek an exemption to meeting the iron content standard, which should considerably reduce monitoring costs • Even though using qualified resources on contract is a significant expenditure, it is a better alternative than attempting to build similar capabilities in - house o It would be prudent to put the contract out to bid every three to five years Billing Billing for solid waste services for most county residential customers is done on the monthly water and sewer bill. County residents who do not receive county water arc billed for solid waste services by WM. County commercial customers are free to negotiate a solid waste services contract with any hauler. WM has about 95% of these commercial contracts. 10 The County has contracts with two private haulers, other than WM, that use the Baker transfer station. Trash Can Co. pays the full amount due by check each time its trucks cross the scale. Adams Sanitation has a charge account that is debited when its trucks cross the scale Areas of concern: • For the 4,000 to 5,000 residential customers not on the County's water system, WM bills and collects the collection and disposal fees and sends the County a p01iion of the collection fee and all of the disposal fee o All multi-family residences with containers are billed the same way and WM sends the County 4 Yi % of the collected revenue o The County relies on reports from WM to verify how many customers are handled in this fashion and how much revenue is collected o No audits of these billing procedures are conducted. • Adams Sanitation pays extra on its account each month, but still has an outstanding balance of approximately $40,000 (as of May 26, 2016). This account payable has evidently been on the books for several years. Recommendations: • The County should seek a contractual change to bring the billing and collection function for all county residential customers in - house o These are the County's customers o Reduces the concern of billing abuse o Eliminates complications if the County seeks a different vendor o At a minimum, the County should conduct random audits of Waste Management's billing operation o The county should establish a definite plan to get the Adams Sanitation account current and more closely monitor all private accounts in the future to ensure that no account becomes so far in arrears again o The County should establish a list of pre-qualified contractors from which those county residents not on the county water system could select Organization The Solid Waste and Recycling Section of the Public Works Department is an enterprise fund with a FY2016 budget of $8,976,000. The Section's operations are conducted by 14 full-time employees. The vast majority of the budget is devoted to paying the prime contractor, presently WM ($6,036,000). Areas of concern: • The Section's 14 employees are stretched thin to oversee and run such an extensive operation 11  o Eleven of the 14 employees focus on landfill, recycling and hazardous waste operations; leaving only three employees to monitor the Waste Management contracts and operations o Employee time is spent running day - to -day operations with little time for planning, quality control, or developing contract strategy o Employees in key positions have extensive experience, but do not have backup • Scale operators rely on their extensive knowledge of frequent haulers and the content of their trucks to run their operations efficiently • Other employees can fill in, but they do not have the same level of expenence • The Solid Waste & Recycling Coordinator is the "go to" depository of operational and contractual knowledge, but he is retiring in July 2017 • The two Program Technicians responsible for monitoring the prime contractor's transactions and contract compliance have years of experience, but no trained backups o There is no documentation of required procedures to guide new employees or help current employees fill a sudden loss of experienced personnel o There is no staff time available to conduct audits or spot checks of the prime contractor's operations or billing practices • WM billing, scale operations, and truck tare weights have never been audited or spot checked • Contracts worth over $6 million require greater oversight • Solid Waste operations report to multiple positions and there is not a single position dedicated to the management of all operations o The Solid Waste & Recycling Coordinator and the Environmental Regulatory Manager report to the County Engineer • The County Engineer has other engineering duties and has little experience with solid waste operations o The two Program Technicians report to the Public Works Administrative Manager o The Public Works Director is the only position that has oversight of all solid waste operations • The County Engineer and the Public Works Administrative Manager report to the Public Works Director Recommendations: • Create a single, dedicated organizational unit (Solid Waste and Recycling Section) that contains all the functions needed to conduct solid waste operations and oversee the prime contractor's contracts o Organize all solid waste and recycling tasks into three functional areas within the designated unit; see Exhibit 1 • Contract Management would contain those tasks required to administer the prime contractor's contracts and ensure that it is in compliance with those contacts 12  • See Exhibit 1 for list of major tasks • Transfer Station, Landfill and Recycling Operations would contain those tasks required to operate the Baker Transfer Station, the Baker and Wright Landfills, and handle recyclables at those locations • See Exhibit 1 for a list of major tasks • Environmental Regulation would contain those tasks required to monitor the quality of ground water in the County's four landfills and to dispose of hazardous materials • See Exhibit 1 for a list of major tasks • Take advantage of the Solid Waste & Recycling