Title
Vote on a Request to Approve the Updated Solid Waste Ordinance
Abstract
Action Requested: Vote on a Request to Approve the Updated Solid Waste Ordinance
Introduction & Background: Currently, the Solid Waste and Recycling division (SWR) uses various ordinances and policies to manage solid waste in the county, along with state and federal rules and regulations. The current Chatham County ordinances and policies include the Solid Waste Ordinance last updated in 1993, the fee ordinance last updated in September 1998, the Decal Policy last updated in November 2005, the Materials Acceptance Policy last updated in 2009, and the Construction and Demolition Ordinance last updated in 2010. These needed to be updated and it made sense to incorporate them all into a single ordinance document. An effort was begun in 2009 to update and combine ordinances, but this was not completed. The attached ordinance combines all the above ordinances into one document, modernizes and clarifies the language in the various ordinances, uses a common set of definitions and adds content that reflects current departmental practices.
Discussion & Analysis: Many of these ordinances and policies had not been updated in decades. They needed to be updated to reflect current solid waste management language, departmental structure, practices, and procedures. For example, there were references to the “Public Works Director” being over SWR, which is no longer the case, and collection centers were once called “green box sites” because of the small, front-loaded dumpsters that used to be at various sites around the county. By combining the various ordinances and policies into one ordinance, both staff and the public can more easily find the rules for managing solid waste in Chatham County.
Major Additions
None of the previous ordinances and policies discussed the full range of services offered at the main facility, e.g. yard waste collection, scrap tires, electronics, etc. These are now explicitly spelled out in the ordinance under the heading, “Main Facility.” The authority to charge tipping fees for any materials accepted is still included in the ordinance, but the actual amounts of the fees have been removed, with a note added that these will be approved or changed as part of the annual budget process.
SWR has for several years issued “special decals” to various organizations who would not otherwise be allowed to use the collection centers, such as fire departments and State Park offices. This was not mentioned anywhere in previous ordinances, but has been added to this ordinance.
Under certain circumstances, staff believes it should be possible to revoke a resident’s decal for the year. There were no provisions for this in previous approved ordinances. This would only be used in situations where the resident willfully violated center policies or posed a threat to the safety of the attendants.
Notable Changes
The Solid Waste Ordinance from 1993 says that SWR programs are funded by “…ad valorem property tax, LCID landfill tipping fees, household fee, and other miscellaneous taxes.” This has been updated in the proposed ordinance to reflect that SWR operates as an enterprise fund, funded mainly by the Solid Waste Fee with no funding from ad valorem property tax. Also, as part of the fiscal year 2020 budget process, the Availability Fee and Disposal Fee were combined into a single Solid Waste Fee. The language in the proposed ordinance reflects this change.
The civil penalties for violations of the ordinance were established in 1993, so have been increased to be more in line with modern penalty dollar amounts. Also, in the previous ordinance, each offense had its own penalty schedule. For instance, littering and several other offenses had a civil penalty of $50, but use of a Chatham solid waste facility by an out of county person was $75 and violations “for commercial or industrial purposes” was $100. In the proposed ordinance all violations will be charged on the same scale of $100 for first offense, $200 for second offense and $400 for subsequent offenses. If the violation of the ordinance is deemed to be “flagrant and willful” or “for commercial purpose,” the ordinance allows a civil penalty of $500. There was no “flagrant and willful” penalty in the previous ordinance.
Other than the civil penalties for a violation of the ordinance, the amount of any fees for services were removed from the ordinance, including the solid waste fee. The ordinance gives the Environmental Quality department the authority to establish fees, but they will now be approved through a fee schedule along with the annual budget, rather than through an ordinance update as currently required.
The process for new construction and demolition (C&D) facilities to be licensed by the Environmental Quality department and the license revocation and suspension procedures were updated. The existing revocation and suspension process involves numerous steps with short deadlines for completion, including a hearing with the County Manager. The new process is simplified, and keeps all decisions to suspend or revoke the license of a facility within the Environmental Quality department.
How does this relate to the Comprehensive Plan: The Solid Waste Ordinance spells out the ways solid waste and recycling are to be efficiently collected and the penalties for failing to follow these procedures. This helps to preserve natural resources and prevent litter.
Budgetary Impact: None
Recommendation: Approve the Updated Solid Waste Ordinance