MANAGER'S MEMORANDUM

DATE: January 3, 2003

TO: District Policy Committee Members

FROM: Jeffrey W. Aluotto, Solid Waste Manager

Cory R. Chadwick, Director

I. Introduction/Opening Comments

NOTICE: This memo is for the meeting to be held on January 9, 2003. This meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. at the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.

Policy Committee Information (Agendas, Manager's Memos, Minutes, etc.) now available on the District's Website at www.hcdoes.org.

II. Clerk's Report/Additions to the Agenda

A. Approval of Minutes - November 14, 2002

Minutes from the November 14, 2002 Policy Committee Meeting is included as Attachment A for the Policy Committee's review and approval.

B. Additions to the Agenda

Please contact Susan Schumacher at 513-946-7734 or susan.schumacher@hamilton-co.org if you have items to add to the agenda.

II. Finance Subcommittee Report

A. Finance Subcommittee Briefings for January 9, 2003

Mr. Graham will provide a brief report regarding the items discussed and reviewed at the Finance Subcommittee meeting of January 9, 2003.

B. Recommendation Regarding District Disbursements - SWR 01/2003

The Finance Subcommittee reviewed the expenditures at their meeting held prior to this meeting.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: With any alterations or corrections noted by the Finance Subcommittee members or Policy Committee members, the Staff recommends approval of SWR 01/2003.

• Policy Items
   

• City of Cincinnati's Budget on Recycling and Yardwaste

In the City of Cincinnati's most recent biennial budget, the Council voted to eliminate recycling and yardwaste collection beginning in 2004. While, during public hearings, several council members spoke of their intentions to keep these programs, doing so seems to be dependent upon finding cost savings within those programs and the ability to dedicate savings from other programs as well.

District Staff will be working with the City to assist them in developing cost-effective alternatives for providing curbside recycling. In addition, the City's yardwaste program should be examined to determine more cost-effective means of providing that service. District Staff is currently working with R.W. Beck to determine how the scope of second phase of the existing market development study could be altered to provide that service to the City.

Staff Recommendation: Municipal yardwaste collected by the City of Cincinnati amounts to approximately 10,000 tons each year. As such, it is vitally important to the District in terms of maintaining a waste reduction rate above 25%. Therefore, District Staff would recommend that the existing R.W. Beck Market Development Project scope be altered to determine more cost-effective means of keeping this material out of the landfill. If, in fact, the scope of that project cannot be altered, Staff would recommend that the project be temporarily put on hold so that funding may be secured to initiate a project specifically focusing on yardwaste collection in the City of Cincinnati.

• IAWMP
  
   

District Staff have been informed that Rumpke plans to implement an IAWMP project at their landfill utilizing ash from the incineration of municipal wastewater sludge from MSD. Traditionally, the Director of OEPA has waived State and District fees for IAWMP projects. Currently, however, there may be more of a tendency for the OEPA to rely more on District comments in terms of whether or not District fees are waived. (Information on the IAWMP program is included in Attachment B).

In brief, an IAWMP project involves the use of material which had formerly gone to landfill in another "beneficial" application. Those advocating fee waivers from such projects would claim that the material is not being landfilled, has been reviewed by OEPA for environmental implications, and thus should not be subject to solid waste disposal fees. One argument against waiving fees on these projects has been that many of these projects amount to nothing more than landfilling a benign material without any accompanying environmental benefit, and as such are simply a means for generators to escape paying for disposal of the material.

Rumpke has indicated that they would be providing information to the District as to the quantities of material which would be involved in this project as well as the benefits of the project. They would be providing this information with the request that the District would make a recommendation, to the Director of OEPA, that District fees relating to this project be waived. This project would be the permanent extension of an IAWMP pilot project for which fees were in fact waived.

Staff Recommendation: Other than preliminary conversations with Rumpke personnel, District staff have not yet received any information on this project from Rumpke or OEPA. As such there is no recommendation at this time. It is hoped that a recommendation will be possible for the Policy meeting on the ninth of January. Staff's recommendation will hinge upon the demonstration of the project's environmental benefit as well as the relative impact to the District's finances and thus the ability to implement the District's Plan.

• Residential Reduction Assistance Grants

District Staff recently reviewed applications for the District's Residential Reduction Assistance Grants. Recommendations and an analysis of these grants will be provided at the meeting.

Staff Recommendation: District Staff recommends issuing the Residential Reduction Assistance Grants according to the details provided in the analysis.

V. Informational Items

A. District's Ability to Designate Facilities

At a previous Policy Committee meeting, District Staff was asked to obtain a Prosecutor's opinion on whether the current Solid Waste Management Plan gives the District the authority to designate facilities. Following a discussion with the Prosecutor's office, it was mutually determined that OEPA, as the regulatory authority for the District, would be better suited to answer this question. Recently, the District heard back from OEPA on this issue. OEPA informed the District that the current language used in the designation section of the Plan is indeed ambiguous. The language is as follows:

The Board of Hamilton County Commissioners (The Board) acting as Directors of the Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District is hereby authorized to designate solid waste management facilities in accordance with Section 343.014 of the Ohio Revised Code. At present time, the Board waives this authorization and will allow any industry, political subdivision and solid waste hauler to use any solid waste management facility."

The District spoke with Andrew Booker, Supervisor of OEPA's Planning Unit (the unit with direct authority over solid waste districts). Mr. Booker stated that in one portion of the above language it seems as if the District were reserving the right to designate and then waiving that right in the next sentence. However, he added that it would be extremely unlikely that OEPA would challenge the District if in fact it proceeded with an attempt to designate.

B. ODNR Advertising Campaign

On Tuesday January 7, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources kicked off its new state-wide advertising campaign. The campaign entitled "Recycling: It's Good for the Bottle, It's Good for the Can" will be aired on radio and television stations across the State beginning this month. The District will be allocating advertising dollars toward this campaign in order to boost the local visibility of these ads which will run on Channel 9.

A media kick-off was held on Tuesday the 7th at Rumpke's MRF for this advertising campaign.

• 2003 Recycle, Ohio! Grant Award Winners
   

Attachment C details the local communities which received funding from the 2003 ODNR Recycle, Ohio! Grants.

VI. Tentative Future Agenda Items

VII. Policy Committee Members' Comments

VIII. Public Comments

IX. Upcoming District Meetings

The date and time of the next regularly scheduled Policy Committee meeting will be Thursday, March 13, 2003, at 2:00 pm at the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.

X. Adjournment (Target Time: 3:30 p.m.)