Agenda 03-19-24; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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44 1 Commissioner McKee asked if this increase is in addition to the improvements at waste 2 and recycling centers. 3 Robert Williams said the waste and recycling centers would have environmental 4 improvements to allow additional uses at the facilities. He said the infrastructure as part of 5 Scenario 3 could allow them to take MSW, so they do not have to be transferred outside of the 6 county by the towns. 7 Commissioner McKee said that given the fact that they are already looking at costs for 8 other competing needs, he does not see it getting to $10 million. 9 Commissioner Richards said there have been challenges with the community engagement 10 piece. She asked what would be done differently to move forward on what has occurred 11 previously. 12 Jennifer Porter said the idea is not additional new sites but reimagining how current sites 13 are being used. She said that Scenario 3 is a phased master plan of Eubanks Rd. or an alternate 14 site. She said that Eubanks is great because there is flexibility there for organics processing and 15 MSW. 16 Commissioner Richards said that would still require community engagement for that 17 process in an area where the county's legacy is not stellar. She asked how they envision meeting 18 this challenge. 19 Jennifer Porter said they have this as a center question during the whole project. She said 20 they will continue to meet with stakeholders. 21 Commissioner Richards asked where the waste is being taken and if it was being taken 22 to a lower wealth county in the eastern part of the state. 23 Robert Williams said the waste is transported to Randolph County. 24 Chair Bedford said that Randolph County is not a minority low-wealth county. 25 Commissioner Richards said it is lower income than Orange County. 26 Commissioner Fowler said if the waste is being transferred that is not taking it to zero. 27 She asked if any of the efforts to take it to zero would reduce the amount that is being used or if 28 it would impact the need for a transfer station. 29 Chris Lund said the transfer of the waste will be needed for the growth over time and if 30 they are going to increase diversion, they will need a facility to do that. He said that if it does not 31 go to the landfill, it must go to other useful locations. 32 Commissioner Fowler asked if there is a place where the BOCC can have an impact on 33 prevention. 34 Jennifer Porter said Scenario 1 has the direction for waste prevention policies and policy 35 changes would be provided in the direction. 36 37 PUBLIC COMMENTS: 38 Susan Walser said currently there is disparity between the Town services and County 39 services. She said that Option 3 has an increase of over$40 per household. She said many rural 40 residents do their own composting and their own yard pick up. She said they do not use vendor 41 services for trash pickup or county recycling, and they go directly to the convenience centers. She 42 said that the fee would increase but they would not get the services they need. She said they 43 should review private trash hauling in the rural county if they want to decrease vehicle miles. She 44 said it would be good to look at rural services and in-town services and the appropriate fee 45 structure. She said it would also be good to look at household fees in surrounding counties areas. 46 She said Wake County has a $20 fee and they are looking at $200. 47 Marilee McTigue said she is pleased to see a Solid Waste plan. She said that 48 recommendation 16 of Scenario 3 talks about two waste transfer stations. She said this is the 49 costliest and contains little detail. She said that this has been highly controversial in the past. She 50 said that she believes that the Centroid of waste production should be where waste is handled