Agenda - 04-01-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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17 1 Carroll Hawkins lives in Cedar Grove Township and has a very long driveway. He 2 cannot imagine having a roll cart. He said from an equity standpoint, it is not fair to him to be 3 charged a tax when it is not convenient to use the service, and he does not plan to use it. 4 5 Commissioner McKee addressed Gayle Wilson and said that his department does an 6 excellent job. He complimented the solid waste department on the excellent recycling rate. He 7 said the abstract states that up to 14,000 roll carts will be purchased for the rural areas. He 8 said if it is assumed that many folks will not use the service, there will be a surplus of carts. He 9 said there is a cost of$212,000 for the carts. He said that a tax district with 20,000 parcels has 10 a potential to have up to 8000 unused carts, and this is not a good use of funds. 11 Commissioner McKee said he will concede that there may be a 25 percent reduction in 12 recycling if the County goes to a subscription service. He said rural curbside is only 17 percent 13 of the total recycling in Orange County, and if the 25 percent is applied to this rural rate and 14 then extrapolated across the total volume of recycling, it brings the possible reduction down to 3 15 or 4 percent. 16 Commissioner McKee said, with the tax concept, there will be 694 exempt properties 17 that will not pay tax though they can continue to receive services. He said the possible number 18 of medium and lower income residents that will be paying a tax for a service they may not need 19 or want is an equity issue for him. 20 Commissioner Price said she would like to see some comparable information and data 21 showing the scenario if people in rural areas are not required to pay for pickup and instead use 22 the convenience centers. She said people in the rural areas do recycle, and she has seen it at 23 her convenience center. She questioned whether the Board needs to have curbside pick-up to 24 accomplish their goals of recycling. She questions whether the Board is justifying the means or 25 the end. She feels that the County should be giving citizens options, and the option of"opt- 26 out" should be considered. She said there is no information on the effect of a subscription 27 service, and she would like to see this. 28 Commissioner Pelissier said the Board does not have a lot of information at this 29 meeting. She said part of the problem is that there is no good data on many of the things being 30 considered. She thought the purpose tonight was to decide whether or not to have a public 31 hearing. She does not want to make a decision before a public hearing is held. She said the 32 public needs to receive the big picture on this issue. 33 Commissioner Rich agreed with Commissioner Pelissier. She said that, because this is 34 not a public hearing, many people who are in favor of the tax just sent in emails instead of 35 attending. She urged the Board to move forward with what is in the abstract. 36 Commissioner Dorosin said the County has one goal, which is to maximize recycling in 37 Orange County. He said the other shared goal is to maximize fairness to all in the residents in 38 the County in achieving this recycling goal. He said the idea seems to be that paying a tax 39 means people will put the bin out at the curb, but these same residents will not recycle if they 40 have to opt, and this seems logically inconsistent. He said the only way to fairly do curbside 41 recycling is to either have an opt-in service or to fund it out of the general revenue so that 42 everyone bears the burden. 43 He said, as to the question of a public hearing, it should be a public hearing to present a 44 series of options. He said it can't be a public hearing on just a service district. He said he 45 would only support curbside recycling if it is funded from the general fund or a subscription 46 service. He said if the Board does not want to do curbside recycling, then other options need to 47 be considered, such as more convenience centers. 48 Commissioner Gordon said she would support going forth with a public hearing since 49 tonight's meeting was not advertised as a public hearing, and the Board needs to get this 50 information out to the public. She said a public hearing is required by statute in order to