2006-04-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Bell stated that she was unclear on what the COGC's "process" was and asked how big a picture it was going to look at, i.e., state -wide or county -wide, and whether the COGC makes recommendations for the Council to adopt. Ms. Garson explained that the COGC looks at the various County departments and boards and generates a report for the Mayor and Council. Ms. Nicholson told Ms. Bell that the COGC was there to help her. Ms. Bell stated that the DEM is the newest County department and that she sometimes sees it as "the little birds begging for worms." She passed out a handout which she explained was originally for a power -point demonstration, but that it gave a good overview of the department. She said the DEM is a spin -off of the Department of Public Works and that it includes a Solid Waste Division and Wastewater Division. She is the first director of the DEM and started in August, 2002, and it took about one and a half years to get to the point where they were functioning as intended. The DEM consists of the Solid Waste Division/Fund, the Wastewater Division/Sewer Fund, the Abandoned Vehicle Program /Disposal Fund, as well as a Technical Services Section and Business Services Section. Ms. Bell introduced Robin Bauman as the "top fiscal person" and Nelson Ho, the deputy director. She said that Mr. Ho handles the Wastewater Division and personnel issues, and she handles the Solid Waste Division and the budget. She stated that in the Solid Waste Division, there are two landfills that are open, 365 days a year, and three that are closed. There are 12 recycling centers, 10 bottle bill places, 80 employees, and 36 Department of Health permits. She said that the work on steepening the landfill slope involves one big permit with the Department of Health and that the permit application is in a four -inch binder. She said a lot of lead time is needed for planning and that 55 contractors are involved for operational services or as consultants. She said that the DEM probably privatizes more than any other department. All the recycling is privately done, as the County does not directly provide those services. There are numerous contracts for engineering consultants and environmental assessments, etc. She stated that a major policy assumption is that residential trash is not charged directly at the transfer station, that instead it is paid indirectly via peoples' property taxes every year. There are budget requests to keep the DEM in compliance with all of its permits. They never receive all that they ask for, but they need it to be on the record each year. The DEM knows what it takes to be totally legal. Regarding recycling, a very small amount of County funds is put into it. It is funded mainly through federal and state grants, and the DEM is always on the lookout for grants. The next page of Ms. Bell's handout was a summary of numbers to show the Council, to explain where the DEM's revenue comes from. She explained that when the federal