2001-09-26 Enviromental Management Commission Minutes

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Minutes for Wednesday, September 26, 2001Page 3 of 7 Mike Allen stated that what the Mayor is saying is that it is not okay to cut public jobs, but it is okay to cut private jobs. Riley stated that there is a large portion of money that the Mayor feels needs to be cut and Galen has been directed, within his two sections, to come up with that recommendation on the budget. Mike DuBois understands that the Diversion Grant Program costs $40/ton that goes to a certified recycling processor. It costs us over $80/ton to throw it away. Why is the Mayor making choices to spend more taxpayer’s money to throw it away rather than recycle it if recycling costs less? Galen mentioned that $80/ton doesn’t really involve any cash outlay on the part of the County. Peter Martin stated that the number came from a full cost accounting of the cost of dealing with municipal solid waste. That includes the tipping fee, transportation, administration, equipment, fuel and personnel. Three years ago it was $82.00 and it is now between $82.00 and $88.00. He will provide a detail of that to the Commission members. PRIVATIZATION OF THE PU‘UANAHULU LANDFILL Galen stated that he is looking at this as a potential cost cutting measure, not only for the near future, but for the long term. Waste Management has indicated to us that they may be willing to operate the landfill at no additional cost to us preliminarily. That being the case, we can readjust the operations at Pu'uanahulu. Primary savings will revolve around the equipment and its operations, as well as some personnel. We do have some vacancies that we can shift existing personnel into. We have provisional hires that we could move permanent employees into or we could establish a crew to clean up our transfer stations. We don’t anticipate loosing any permanent personnel with the Solid Waste Division. Larry Capellas stated that when we reopened the contract with the security guards, it was very specific about turning away commercial loads and restricting all loads into transfer stations for residential refuse only. The security guards have personality conflicts. They let their neighbors come in and dump. This is exacerbated by the fact that the transfer stations are not gated. The transfer stations have to be gated. Larry states that we have no authority to fine them. We have asked the Police to issue citations, but that has not been done. Riley Smith reiterated that the security guards are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. If any of the haulers or recyclers are aware of abuses or improper conduct by the Security Guards, they can give Larry a name, date, and place Jon Olson stated that when you close the transfer stations, you increase illegal dumping. People illegally dump because they don’t have the resources to haul it the distance it needs to be hauled or they are afraid to face the rejection at the transfer station due to the size of their load. You can’t close people off to the option of getting rid of the trash because they are going to get rid of it one way or another. SWAC Mayor Kim’s Memo to Galen stated that he recommends the consideration of disbanding the SWAC and having the Commission assume its responsibilities. However, since some members of the SWAC have been very involved in process to date, perhaps some would be interested in being assigned to a working group or task force of the Commission for this purpose. Galen concurs with Mayor Kim and is making the recommendation that the responsibilities of the SWAC should be turned over to the Environmental Management Commission. The nine Commission members represent all geographic areas of the island. It’s diverse membership has business, environmental and community interests and involvement. Galen recommends, "The Commission shall authorize co-chairs to send a letter to Mayor Harry Kim recommending the disbanding of the existing Solid Waste Advisory Committee and in compliance with HRS 342G appoint the Environmental Management Commission as the County of Hawai‘i’s new Solid Waste Advisory Committee. The Commission shall also recommend that the Mayor include appropriate language that would invite file://C:\Test1\minutes092601.htm6/22/2011