• Environmental Court
 

Staff has continued to work on this issue and has been in contact with State Representative Steve Driehaus and Rep. Bill Seitz, both of whom have pledged support for the City of Cincinnati's Housing Court initiative. In addition, both see great potential for linking that effort with a potential County Environmental Court. District Staff are in the process of attempting to set up a meeting with City of Cincinnati Staff to begin discussing the City's effort and the Policy Committee's proposal.

District Staff have submitted a request to the Regional Computer Center asking for details on the number of cases, heard in Municipal Court, related to Litter, Open Dumping, the State Building Code, Hamilton County Building Code, City of Cincinnati Building and Housing Code, Hamilton County's Zoning Resolution, Stormwater, Soil and Water Conservation District Regulations and several other miscellaneous code violations (Animal offenses, weeds, etc.). Results of this search are pending.

Staff contacted several of the Mayor's Courts existing in the County and discovered that while most of them serve as the forum for hearing litter/dumping related cases, these cases rarely appear there. An exception was Norwood which hears about 20 litter cases per year. Few other courts hear more than 1 litter/dumping case every two months. Those Mayor's Courts contacted stated that they predominantly hear traffic cases (Individual courts also noted certain other cases heard in significant numbers including housing violations and bad checks).

In terms of the financial benefits of Mayor's Courts to local political subdivisions, surveyed political subdivisions indicated revenues ranging from $24,000 - $240,000 per year.

There are several options for proceeding in this matter. Hamilton County has representatives willing to sponsor legislation, based upon recommendations from interested parties, and several agencies and departments interested in becoming party to such an initiative. In addition, the City of Cincinnati, while it seems their effort has stalled slightly, remains interested in pursuing a Housing Court. It remains uncertain as to whether there is an existing case-load to justify the creation of a new court for these types of nuisance violations. However, other solutions might be just as appropriate (i.e. One idea which has been discussed is to have Municipal Court work with the Ohio Supreme Court to change the Rules of Superintendence to allow these minor misdemeanor cases to roll to one specific Judge on a half or quarter time basis, or to a magistrate). Regardless of the final solution, however, it would be recommended that this item be recommended to the Board of Commissioners where, if desired, it can assume higher status than what the District can offer via additional research.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: District Staff recommends passing the Resolution offered by Public Member, Jim O'Reilly, with any changes and amendments to be submitted at the meeting of January 10^th, to allow the District's recommendation on the Environmental Court to proceed to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration.

D. Fee Structure

At the last District Policy Committee meeting, there was a brief discussion regarding issues relating to the District's fee structure. Staff recommended, at that meeting, that the District proceed with allowing Eastman and Smith to put together a plan describing how an alternative fee structure, relying on the County's designation authority, would be implemented for Hamilton County and how questions of law (specifically those posed by District Policy Committee Members) would be addressed in any new fee structure.

The Policy Committee requested that Staff first receive a quote on this work. Eastman and Smith has informed Staff that this work could be done for a price not to exceed $2,500.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the District enter into an agreement, with Eastman and Smith, not to exceed $2,500, to develop a plan detailing how an alternative fee structure (similar to the Maharg fee structure) would specifically be structured and implemented in Hamilton County.

V. Informational Items

A. Facility Updates
On November 5, 2001, Rumpke submitted a Permit to Install Application to OEPA for a vertical expansion of their landfill on the northwest portion of their facility. This expansion will not change the existing footprint of the landfill and will encompass an area of approximately 67 acres on the existing facility. A portion of this expansion will be over a previously placed liner system while a portion will require the construction of a new liner.

Members of District Staff and Staff from the Hamilton County General Health District attended a public meeting on this planned expansion on December 10.

Waste Management, Inc. held an open house for their newly constructed transfer station on December 11. The facility has received its Certificate of Occupancy and is awaiting upon a license from the Cincinnati Health Department to begin operation.

B. Market Development Grant Pre-Proposal
The District recently submitted pre-proposals on behalf of the Omaha Paper Stock Company (OPSC) and Community Access to Technology (CAT) for Market Development funds through ODNR. OPSC would like to invest in some small-scale recycling processing capacity to handle approximately 10 tons per day of co-mingled curbside material. OPSC receives this material from other haulers in the area which provide curbside recycling but do not have ready access to processing capacity. CAT is seeking funds for equipment and supplies to expand their ability to process and recycle used computer and electronic equipment.

• House Bill 459

HB 459 was recently introduced into the General Assembly by Rep. Kirk Schuring. This Bill calls for a commission to be established to analyze several facets of Ohio's current solid waste law. Solid Waste Districts and Counties will play an integral role in this analysis (three of the 31 commission members will be from solid waste management districts and three will be from counties). The Organization of Solid Waste Districts of Ohio will be meeting with representatives of CCAO to begin to map out a strategy for participating in this process. The Policy Committee will be kept informed on news and issues pertaining to this legislation. The Bill can be found using the following link :

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=124_HB_459

• Regional Recycling Workshops

The regional recycling workshop that the District is coordinating, with ODNR and the Association of Ohio Recyclers will occur on June 5. An additional workshop will take place in Stark County will be held on June 4 or June 6. Recently, the Organization of Solid Waste Districts of Ohio and the Ohio Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America agreed to serve as additional co-sponsors for the workshops.

The planning committee will be advertising these workshops through individual mailing lists as well as through the Ohio Municipal League and the Ohio Township Association.

• EPP

Following the Policy Committee's approval of a proposed EPP Policy for the County, District Staff have been working to gain support for the Policy among various County departments before submitting it to the Administration and Board of County Commissioners. In addition, District Staff and the County Purchasing Office are in the process of developing resources for access by County departments looking to do EPP purchasing. These resources are expected to be completed by late February with training sessions to be held in early April. Staff will bring the EPP Policy before the Board of Commissioners in mid-March.

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 14, 2002, 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.)