Agenda - SWAB 020805 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Solid Waste Advisory Board The SWAB was established in September 1999 by an interlocal agreement between the County and the three municipalities ( Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough). The mission of the SWAB, spelled out in the interlocal agreement, is: ... to advise the County's Governing Board on matters related to the [solid waste] System and the Solid Waste Management Plan and Policies." (Section 7, page 10, Interlocal Agreement for Solid Waste Management, August 7, 1999) - The SWAB is composed of two representatives each from Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Orange County. There is a non - voting representative from UNC (The University has not signed the interlocal agreement). Finally, there is a liaison representative from BOCC and several members of the Solid Waste Department staff attend the SWAB meetings. Several core members of the SWAB have been active since its inception. The SWAB first met in September 2000 and over the course of the past four plus years has been active in a number of areas. Some of the highlights include: • Rogers Road Neighborhood Water Supply Line — one of the initial tasks for the SWAB was to advise the BOCC on alternative strategies to finance the collateral costs for Rogers Road residents associated with access to OWASA water supply, including meters, hook -ups, and internal plumbing upgrades. The SWAB considered a number of issues of costs and equity and provided BOCC with alternatives, finally recommending a plan that would finance the water supply line while providing financial assistance to those households needing such assistance to connect to the public water supply. • Evaluation of Alternative Fee Structures — a major task for the SWAB has been to identify and evaluate alternative means to meet the financial shortfall incurred by the Solid Waste Management Department. Increased rates of recycling, resulted in lower revenues from landfill disposal fees and increased costs associated with recycling operations, thus requiring additional revenues in addition to those historically provided from tipping fees. As part of this effort, the SWAB again dealt with issues of costs and equity associated with the different needs of the County's solid waste stakeholders, including jurisdictional (County and Towns), socioeconomic, and economic (single residential, multifamily residential, commercial, governmental, non - profit, etc.). The SWAB identified the desirability of a fee -based funding mechanism based upon varying levels of service available to the various stakeholders as opposed to one based on property taxes. • Coordination with Towns and County Officials — as part of -the evaluation and identification of alternative fee structures, the SWAB members engaged in a significant program to educate the Municipal and County elected officials in their activities and in the future needs faced by the County. We are continuing this activity this year. Page 3 of .l0 2/3/2005