Baltimore County, MD Solid Waste Work Group, 3 Dec 2020

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From YouTube: System Strengths and Weaknesses. Baltimore County Solid Waste Workgroup, December 3, 2020

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I have 5:00 pm on the note,.

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So we are going to begin., we will come back and check on the roll call before we end.

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Sevetra,, if you see them, come on as far as the participant list,.

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Please, when we take our first cause,, if you wanted,, we can update at that point.

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B

Again, good evening, everyone and welcome to our second solid waste workgroup session.

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For those viewing this evening,, I'm stacy rodgers,.

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Baltimore county administrative officer and the chair of the solid waste workgroup.

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On behalf of the county executive,, we extend greetings to our workgroup members and.

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Thank you for joining us again for our second session.

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We also welcome the members of the public who are viewing our workgroup session. This evening.

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Before we begin,, I would like to share a few housekeeping items regarding our meeting.

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This workgroup session is being recorded.

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Material shared this evening will be shared via email, with our workgroup members.

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Workgroup members,, you will receive the powerpoint from tonight.

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Just as we did last week,, we will forward it to you..

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It will be coming from jennifer porter,.

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Our project manager from gbp.

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That's a slight shift..

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I know you're used to getting things from leslie., ms. porter will send slide decks after meeting,.

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Documents that we can share immediately after the meeting.

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The webex chat feature is going to be used this evening.

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As we did at our last meeting to post any comments or questions.

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That way,, we are able to gather this information.

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And we're able to feed it back with responses,.

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Particularly if we do not get to all questions during the workgroup session.

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We will monitor the chat box throughout the meeting and we will,.

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Indeed, seek to answer those questions that we can during this session.

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We will have breaks throughout the session this evening for discussion and questions.

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For workgroup members who are on camera,.

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If you would like to raise your hands to be recognized, to offer a comment or a question,.

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Please feel free to do so.. We will be monitoring that or you can use the raise hand function as a part of the webex function.

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Again, I'd like to thank everyone for your feedback,.

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Those who provided feedback on.

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The materials that were forward from our november 19th meeting.

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As a result of your feedback,.

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There are few items that I do want to start with, because.

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Several people asked or made comments and referenced to in the response.

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One of the things is,, I want to revisit our goal as a workgroup.

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If you have the opportunity,, if you will go back to your appointment, letters,.

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It is reflected there as well..

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Our goal is to review our current state of operations in terms of solid waste, management.

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We are going to examine national best practices,.

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Innovative technologies, and waste reduction,.

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Diversion, disposal, and outreach efforts.

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We're looking to identify opportunities for improved performance,.

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Increased waste diversion and reduction,.

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And ways to have a stable, long-term operation here in the county in terms of our solid waste management.

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As a workgroup,, we will develop recommendations for the county executive to consider.

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Upon the final review and approval,.

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Recommendations will be included in our five-year solid waste plan to help.

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Guide the county as we move forward in our solid waste management, efforts.

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Our discussions together are the initial steps to recommendation. Development.

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By no means are we ready to make recommendations at this point in the juncture,.

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We have not reviewed all of the information that is available to us.

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Our workgroup sessions are designed to introduce new information,.

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Determine what things might be viable here in the county.

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We will have a session addressing innovations in financing.

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I have spoken with the county executive.

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Definitely, for the financing discussion,, he is going to work to join us for that session.

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Tonight, we are going to discuss the process by which we will go through.

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A recommendation formation and prioritization of recommendations,.

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Where we're ready to do that., I want to acknowledge the great cycle information that everyone's been in, who responded,.

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But I do want to say that some of our work will probably have to be divided out into.

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Some sub-workgroup activities that we will bring back to the full body because there are.

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Many discussions and pieces that we are going to have.

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To discuss to be prepared for the recommendation, process.

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But again, I want to reiterate, and it will be articulated a little further today in.

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Our decision-making and recommendation prioritization process,.

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That the gbp team is going to present.

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I also want you to know that if there are questions after this evening,.

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We have developed a county email address.

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That you may send questions to.

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This county email address is going to be monitored by staff here in the county,.

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And all documents coming in will indeed be shared and discussed with the gbp.

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And the authority as we plan and bring things back up to you as our workgroup colleagues.

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I also want to acknowledge louis,.

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Thank you for your wonderful white paper,.

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Food waste, and food recovery that you sent in.

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We are going to make that document available to all workgroup members.

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We will send it out as a part of the package. This evening.

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The documents that will come out after this evening's meeting,.

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We will send this document out..

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It is another way for you to have additional information.

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This is a report that the baltimore county advisory commission on environmental quality put together.

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I will stop there,, but I do want to share a slide with you that I.

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Shared with county operations in march of 2020,.

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When we were faced with, how were we going to address the pandemic,.

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All of the unknowns. here in the county,. We are definitely managing a pandemic.

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We have to do our day-to-day work and run the government.

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Likewise, in this experience,, we have to keep running the solid waste operation as we have our discussion.

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Our solid waste plan, by no means, is only for a snapshot of five years.

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But it's going to be our road map, while we're.

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Managing solid waste and the path forward.

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We're building it as we're going,.

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But your input and where we land on recommendations,.

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Regardless of what recommendations exist now in.

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The 10-year plan and recommendations that have come forward through observations from gbp,.

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They are a part of the input., but I just hope that you will bear with us and not.

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Jump to or be concerned that this is already decided because it's not.

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I say that emphatically,, it was in our notes from our last meeting,, but I want to say that publicly,, your input will guide us and help us to get to our recommendations.

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Thank you, sevetra., like I said,.

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I'll stop there and I'm going to turn the meeting over to our project. Manager,.

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Jennifer porter,, who will talk about.

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Our evening's agenda and move us through the various components of the agenda. thank you.

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Thank you,, stacy.

C

I just need to get sharing ability on powerpoint and then you [overlapping].

D

Can you transfer sharing ability to jennifer, please?.

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While we're doing that, transfer,.

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I did see a few people come in..

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I think I saw cara.

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Did mr. robinson join us?

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D

I have mr. robinson who has joined, mr. patoka, mr. lafferty, mr. benjamin.,.

D

You just mentioned cara.

D

did mr. adams join?.

D

E

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Thank you., sara and louis,. Did they join?.

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I'm here, this is sara. okay.. Thank you very much., ms. jacobs?.

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Okay. well, we'll proceed and we'll check to see if louis joins us a little later.

A

Thank you very much and jennifer, I'll turn it over to you.

C

Okay., thank you so much, stacy, and welcome everybody to meeting number 2..

C

This is really exciting.. What I'm sharing right now is the agenda page, which was.

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Sent by leslie prior to the meeting.

C

I am going to use the powerpoint as the full agenda tonight.

C

So I'm going to switch from this. the only thing I was going to note here. Was, I hear a little feedback..

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The meeting number 1 note.

C

stacy,- did you want to ask,?

C

Should we ask now about an exam? Is on the notes for meeting number 1?.

C

Before I do, that,.

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We're getting a little bit of feedback.! So what I would kindly ask everyone, if you would mute until you were going to speak,.

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That might reduce the feedback.

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So say it one more time,, jennifer?

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meeting number 1 notes.

C

Did we want to ask for any comments on the notes that we sent from the first meeting?.

C

Yes. well, one are there additional comments that need to come? In?.

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We received a feedback, very,, very thoughtful feedback from several workgroup members,.

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But are there additional notes to come in that you all plan to send in?.

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Or if there are any high level comments.

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That workgroup member would like to make at this time?.

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This was on the briefing document.. This was on the meeting.

C

Meeting notes. yeah, the meeting note. yeah, the meeting notes. right. anybody just the meeting notes from meeting number 1.

C

If there's no comments, because what will happen is we'll post notes for the workgroup, right?.

C

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We just want to make sure that what was reflected for each of you was accurate.

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Ms. jacobs is on the feature.

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Okay. okay., I don't see anything in chat [overlapping], any hands.

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Okay. for meeting comments on the meeting notes.

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Okay., I don't see any jennifer [overlapping] great. okay,, we'll move on., I'm going to now bring up the slide, show here.

F

Just go to here.

A

When you get to the plane, you can move on, since we did that one over here.

C

We'll move up. it'll be there for the pdf that goes out.

C

Exactly. we are focusing tonight on a topic area of systems, strengths and weaknesses..

C

Thank you again, everybody for coming here for meeting number 2,.

C

Presenting tonight with three colleagues from the gbb team.

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Myself, project manager;, steve simmons,, gbb, president;.

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Harvey gershman, founding owner associate;.

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And sam lybrand,, our special principal associate.

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Harvey and sam presented last week as well.

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We're happy to be here., we have our plane and stacy had.

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Covered the charge from the county executive to the workgroup,.

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Covering our goals and our outputs., so this is for reference again from the letter that she had mentioned.

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I would just say, on the outputs of the group that we.

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Are also looking at prioritization for short,.

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Medium, and long-term on the recommendations as we move through.

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What we're going to cover for the rest of the meeting really,.

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And as stacy said,, we have pause points built in here, so we can pause for comments in the slides.

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But,, if you have an issue,, please do let us know..

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We have these items coming up., so our inputs,, we have goals, discussion,.

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The prioritization path, ahead,, the actual topic of the strengths and weaknesses,.

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And then an update on the online digital survey.

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The inputs to inform decision-making, as stacy noted,.

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We are building from these spheres that you can see on the slide.

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The solid waste management plan, which was part of.

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The documentation also in the background memo which everyone reviewed.

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The gbb team recommendations, which you see in draft form in the background memo as well,.

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We'll also be presented as we move through the presentations in this workgroup.

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The workgroup presentations and discussions there.

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This is a key part of what we're putting into this bucket for decision-making.

C

Then the resident in business public survey, also really important, as we are building.

C

Then you can see the funnel shape to the tactical five-year plan.

C

I would say, what we've acknowledged as a group so far, too,.

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Is that some of the recommendations, one, I just mentioned,, the short, medium,.

C

And long-term may extend beyond the five years,.

C

And that's part of what we are going to be moving through as a group as well.

C

But our charge is specific to a tactical five-year plan.

C

In terms of goals,, we wanted to bring up the context that the national level,.

C

At the state level, and at the county level., we have here the epa recycling target of 50 percent by 2030 for nationally.

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Just as a frame of reference, the state of maryland,, the goal of 40 percent by 2030.

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Then the baltimore county goal of 45 percent, which has been met since 2015.

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When we look back at what this group was charged, with,.

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We did not have a specific numerical and we had.

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More comments around having a world-class system and.

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A system that was equitable and the comments from the county, executive,.

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But not a specific number.. We wanted to bring up this discussion of goals in light of.

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Both federal state and then the current goals from.

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The county to have this discussion with the members of the workgroup in terms of.

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What are you thinking about? Goals?.

C

With that, we're going to have our first pause point to reflect on.

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Both the charge from the county executive and the context of national state goals.

C

We obviously know some of the goals from montgomery county,.

C

Baltimore city, recently adopted different goal. Framework.

C

We're interested to hear from the group at this point.

G

Maybe you said this and I missed it.: what's our current rate of diversion?, we've met the 45 percent since 2015,.

C

We're just above 45 percent.

G

That includes recyclables, right?.

G

G

To use information that mike beichler shared with me, before,.

G

This always measures what comes in,.

G

Not necessarily what is actually recyclable. is that right?.

C

Yeah,, that's true.

G

Same with the yard, material,.

G

So the yard waste material that comes in is nothing.

G

Actually,, it's not fully re-utilized,.

G

So it comes in as a certain tonnage or volume.

G

But we're really not utilizing all of that,.

G

Or diverting all of that,, because part of that does go into the landfills,, isn't that right?

G

yeah., so the diversion numbers are probably not accurate?.

A

[Inaudible] ,, would you like to comment as well? [laughter].

A

I'll give you the numbers right off and describe them.

H

Maryland has,- and this is commercial recycling,- what they call the maryland recycling act, numbers,, which are computed per a political formula.

H

now,. I use political because it went through the legislature, [laughter] and.

H

Our mra number per the maryland department of the environment is 38 percent,.

H

And that's commercial and residential.

H

now,. When you look at what we do, curbside residential collection,, 18 percent of our total material set out is recycled.

H

So, really, [noise] excuse me,, only 18 percent of what is put on the curb is recycling.

H

Now,, when we process that and market that,.

H

Only 9.6 percent actually goes to market or for a use as a recycled material.

H

The question is: there's all these goals, which, again,.

H

I'll say are political or policy goals.

H

But where do you measure that, against the reality and,.

H

I guess,, where do we want to be,? Is the question.

G

Mike,, only nine percent is really being diverted,. Right?.

G

[Inaudible] six percent,.

H

So it's rounded up to 10. okay, 10 percent,.

G

And even though we, by our report to the state is much greater,.

G

And that's what we use to measure our diversion rate,.

G

In fact, it's half of that.

H

Correct., when you calculate per the state calculation in the legislation,.

H

That's really come up with 38 percent.

I

J

Mike,, this is harvey.

J

The state gets reports from.

J

Commercial recyclers when it compiles the mra report, correct?.

J

Those are numbers that aren't in your control.

J

Correct. but that gets counted as part of the mra-calculated percentage.

J

One of the things I guess I would have a question about is,.

J

Should we differentiate that in the report versus.

J

What you actually are responsible for, collecting and ultimately getting recycled?.

J

The other part of this,, I see sara's question,.

J

Is due from the [inaudible] and the yard waste,.

J

I assume either goes to the eastern landfill or shift down,.

J

Or to bresco, depending upon its location or other factors.,.

H

A

Okay, I had a second question.

A

is this by volume or by weight?.

H

It's by weight.

K

Okay, thanks., thank you for answering sara's question,. I was also thinking that. other questions, comments,.

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Feedback with respect to the goals that jennifer presented,.

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But also the charge of where we're trying to go,.

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Or any of the feedback that you all looked at in.

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The briefing memo related to this goal-setting?.

A

Does the 38 percent that you referenced as being the maryland recycling act number,.

F

Is that also including the waste reduction credit?.

F

[Overlapping], who is speaking?.

A

I'm sorry,: this is sara bixby.

A

oh,, I'm sorry, sara. [laughter], no worries., it's [inaudible] to see the whole panel [inaudible] and who is speaking.

A

If you want to say who it is for the purpose of our recording too.

A

I will. sara bixby asking a question about whether the 38 percent that you.

F

Referenced also includes the five percent waste reduction credit.

F

Yes,, that is correct.

L

Okay., I also see, sara,.

H

That you asked what happens to everything that isn't in the nine percent that is all disposed of..

H

That's all contaminated?.

F

No, by the nature of your question,.

H

If you put 100 percent of everything set out on the curb as residential garbage,.

H

We recover and go to market nine percent,.

H

So the other 91 percent would be disposed of in some fashion.

H

A

Wasn't that [inaudible] bresco?.

A

Mike,, can you clarify.

J

Whether the residue is in the mra number or not in the mra number?.

H

I'm trying to think of the right way to answer that.

H

The mra number, to me,.

H

Is a legislated number by mass.

H

In my numbers, what actually happens? [Laughter] I'm trying to think of a tactful way of putting it..

H

But when you report to the state,.

J

You tell them our recyclables are what we collect or what we market?.

H

We tell them, it's what commercial reports and what we report as residential.

H

I'll give you my favorite example was washington. County has.

H

An incredibly high recycling rate.

H

Because they'd get the count's saw dust from all the sawmills.

H

An 80 percent recycling rate back when we could count slag from sparrows point.

H

You have to look what all goes into that calculation.

B

I'm glad you brought that up,.

K

Mike. this is cara. yeah,, because I'm comparing this to construction, debris, and so construction debris, under the act, lead, silver,, typical c and d waste is 70-plus percent,.

K

But again, it just depends on. What's going into it., I feel like a lot of our investigation in.

K

These conversations is going to come down to what we're collecting.

K

But if we're looking at it by weight, and a lot of it's going to be contaminated with food, waste,,.

K

But as much as the diagrams in their report showed that compost.

K

Is a really small piece of the current equation,.

K

That may be a good way to keep the heat separated,.

K

Because, as much as we can keep them separated coming in,.

K

That's going to be important in terms of how we can.

K

Volumetrically, keep it marketable in the backend.

H

Very well-put., the reason why I say that is our numbers are what we control,.

H

And what we control and what we do primarily is residential curbside material for the great majority of what we do.

C

C

Can folks see the chat as the chat is coming through?.

A

Sarah's comment.

A

Yes. chris has a comment.

A

It should be also mentioned that construction and demolition waste is not in the mra calculation,.

A

So that's another piece., then sarah, did you want to talk about your piece that it.

A

Makes case for not using the number or percentage as a sole measure for success?.

A

Yes,, so this is [overlapping].

F

No, I'll just stand by what I wrote because I usually get in trouble. If I try to add to it, verbally.

A

Okay. right., so programs are placed on what is actually happening,.

A

What is essential to providing context to the numbers.

A

I agree with that. again, everything that is placed in the chat,.

A

We're able to then take out and feedback to you-all for your note for future reference.

A

Thank you all for putting your notes in the chat.

A

We have the capacity to repay.

L

If I can have one more question, while we're on this topic?.

K

Jennifer,, I don't know if maybe you know, but regionally,.

K

I know. Maybe these percentages are dependent on who puts what in the reports.

K

But if you're saying that we're hitting 45 percent since 2015,.

K

What's very progressive in the area?, did you mention in the last video that montgomery county had.

K

A progressive-: do you know of anybody, that's more than 45?.

K

What's a good regional comparison right now in terms of what's realistic?.

C

We were comparing some of.

C

The goals last time with montgomery county and baltimore city,.

C

Setting either zero waste goals or percentage number targets that way.

C

The team can chime in too on this..

C

I think that it's challenging.

C

we tried to give you guys the bench-marking in.

C

Sections of some of the comparative numbers there,.

C

So it might be the best place to look for some of the numbers.

C

Harvey,, do you want to say anything in particular there?

C

well, montgomery has a,.

J

Chaz,, you can confirm the number,, but I think it's in the mid to high 50s.

L

No,, it's actually 41 percent real recycling,.

L

Then you add in 15 percent plus for the ash.

L

J

So the recycling rate,.

L

You had to distinguish between the two.

L

Okay. so ashes from the waste to energy plant,.

J

Which is processed separately, posts, the plant,.

J

I believe,, but that tonnage,.

J

The mra doesn't have ash as a material. That's counted,, I believe.

J

That never got added. is that right,, andrew and chaz?.

M

This is chris skaggs, and I just wanted to mention, for montgomery county,.

M

They are allowed to count the ash as part of the mra recycling rates,.

M

So their number is higher okay., as the county is going forward through their aiming for zero waste. Study.

M

As chaz mentioned,, they definitely did a bifurcation looking at the recycling rate with and without ash.

M

It's important as you're doing bench-marking to other jurisdictions.

M

That may not have the wastes energy facility or may not count ash,.

M

That you look at them, different.

M

for example, minnesota includes what goes into.

M

A waste energy plant as recycling and their recycling rate,.

M

So really, again,, you have to look at what's counted, how it's counted, and why..

M

It would seem to me that counting,.

J

Recycling, per how it's counted now in maryland is one thing,.

J

And then talking about diversion from landfill as another thing, because other processes,.

J

Fresco or some other conversion technology,.

J

A county may consider, would consume the volume,, reduce the weight,.

J

And reduce diversion from landfill and demand on esl.

J

Or transfer and disposal to some other out-of-county location.

J

I think it would be a good idea,.

J

As we talk about the options in the future,.

J

To think about, recycling.

J

in addition, also think about diversion from.

J

Landfill as something that should be reported.

A

That makes sense.

A

yeah. any other [overlapping] on this?.

C

Maybe it is in the big document.

L

I would be candid,, I have not read every single page of the big document.

L

Do you have a breakdown of the tonnage? The county reports commercially,.

L

And reports for residential to get to the,.

L

I believe mike said it was 30-38 percent,.

L

What that breakdown, is?.

L

Of from the state recycling office website,.

L

That lists all the counties [overlapping] and the numbers they submit.

L

That will give you maryland in a nutshell,.

L

Or a crab shell. [laughter], I don't think I saw this in the report.

K

Do we have data??

K

This might be my question on what our low-hanging fruit is.

K

What's our heaviest stuff going into these calculations?.

K

It's not getting diverted [inaudible].

J

The state did waste characterization, study,.

J

And baltimore county locations were not part of that.

J

There is data from other locations..

J

I think we could extrapolate pretty easily what the low-hanging fruit is.

J

Paper, plastics, food scraps,.

J

Are probably the three biggest things.

J

Much of which,, while food scraps are in both residential and commercial,.

B

The paper is probably more in the commercial than it is in the residential,.

J

But we don't know that based on county data.,.

J

We don't have data to tell us that we have data from nearby locations.

J

Baltimore city transfer station was sampled,, they quarantine also.

J

Chris,, you can mentioned some other locations, montgomery, howard,.

J

But not baltimore county, unfortunately.

H

We do have it, harvey., we heard seared did a very in-depth waste characterization four years, ago.

H

I think it's actually in the website,, but we can publish that for everybody,.

B

Or refer to that.

A

I see this, sara bixby had a question about waste composition, study.

A

I believe baltimore city did their waste composition, study.

A

Chris, was that in their report?.

A

I've read several of the reports, and I can't remember. yeah.. We might done a recent waste composition, study?.

A

Yes. it's four years: old.

H

We did it through the authority.

A

It's four years: old? yes. okay. well, at least that would be a baseline study,.

A

Maybe something that we would need to look at.

A

yeah.. I think it's actually on the authority. Website.

H

Okay. well,, maybe in our follow-up memo colleagues.

A

We can put that link after action.

A

Put that link in there for you to look at what our studies show,.

A

But I do recall looking at baltimore city.

A

Okay., so are we ready to move on?.

A

Okay. thank you.

C

Obviously,, this is a continuing discussion.

C

As we are thinking about this process of bringing ourselves.

C

Along in our tactical plan, development and at the same time,.

C

Like stacy said, we're flying the plane and writing the plan.

C

We're wanting to give the group away to think about.

C

The elements in the tactical plan, as we.

C

Move forward and breaking it down into some key questions.

C

We don't have to answer these right. Now,.

C

But as a point of framework for thinking about the future, sessions,.

C

We're going to have to gather an additional information that we want to be pulled in like we're saying here.

C

About weight materials in the stream and what's available.

C

We have broken out here five questions to think about in our tactical plan. Development.-.

C

First question,: what can we divert?.

C

As we are just saying,, we have noted here mixed waste, which.

C

Ties into different processing that we were going to hear about during our sessions.

C

Organics, mattresses has been a topic brought up,.

C

More household, hazardous, waste,, other items.

C

We spoke last week about the second question posed here.

C

How do we change residential contracts or.

C

Residential system in the short-term, medium-term, long-term?.

C

[Overlapping], that's the particular topic.

A

We are going to have a breakout work. Group.

A

I spoke extensively with the county executive about concerns raised there and it is.

A

Our general belief, in order for us to sort out some of.

A

The various pieces and come back with a viable recommendation back to the full group.-.

A

We're going to have to do a breakout on that group.-.

A

So we've talked to the team,.

A

The project team about this,, so you will be hearing about them..

A

If there's anyone else from the larger work group who wants to join.

A

The hauler representatives on that part,.

A

We welcome your engagement as well.

A

But we have to sort through some pieces because that's definitely not done deal. [noise].

G

Jennifer,, this is steve, lafferty.!

G

Isn't that the question really,?

G

Should we change the residential contracts and if so, how?.

G

This presumes that they have to be changed.

G

I'm not saying they shouldn't be,, but isn't the question whether they need.

G

To be based on what mr. singleton raised at the last meeting?.

A

A

yeah., it's a good point. apart of that, how, steve, is the discussion that we want to have?.

A

Going to have some additional starting with that study from last year.

A

There was a question from someone either last meeting or since then that we.

A

Received questions on about the study that was worked on last year.

A

I don't know we brought final resolution to that,.

A

But we do have the study available and can.

A

Share with this work group for the purposes of our decision-making.

A

Next question, we're posing,.

C

What can we do with what's left?.

C

Listed here is landfill extension at eastern sanitary, landfill, transfer and disposal,.

C

Out of the county, mixed waste processing as an option which we're going to hear about in sessions coming up, and waste to energy, bresco.

C

now,, these are again frameworks for you to think about,.

C

Respond to,, mull, over.

C

Next question is number 4.

A

[Overlapping] jennifer, before we leave that one,.

A

What we'd like to know is: what's missing?.

A

The same approach, mr. lafferty just brought up about the way this is worthy.

A

Because the other thing is right: now we don't have residential contracts,.

A

We have residential agreements.

A

But in this area,.

A

What can we do with what's left?

A

if anyone has any ideas or any pieces that need to be put into that consideration,.

A

White papers, other ideas,.

A

For example,, their white paper,.

A

Which again, we just got that today, we're going to send that out to you all., but we're looking for your thoughts about what else.

A

Do we need to bring to the discussion table?.

J

I just want to mention that the t&d, transfer and disposal,.

J

Can also mean rail, haul transfer and disposal,.

J

Not just truck haul transfer and disposal.

B

Okay., if you're near rail, line,, yes.

G

I would ask the question, jennifer, about the sequencing you have here.

G

I assume it was intentional that.

G

It seems to me that we're going to start with what can we differ,.

G

Then the next question is: what do we have left,.

G

And then how do we collect materials before we.

G

Get to the issue of the contracts or the finances.

G

I don't know if there's a sequence in mind that you.

G

Were looking at when you laid this out.

C

It's not necessarily sequential,.

C

I think we could have depicted them more interconnectedly, here.

C

This is important as we start to bring out.

C

The menu of options as part of the tactical plan is.

C

We want to start with structure finances first and then bring down the options.

C

I think it's a framework that we can definitely move the questions. Around.

C

I think that, what's not on here also is just a status quo to.

C

Your point steve about where we presuming that we're going to change.

C

We are envisioning that there is a status quo comparative point as we build.

C

The scenarios or the option, so we can know if there's.

C

Basically, no change, so we have something to compare to.

A

But I will say to mr. lafferty's point, steve,.

A

We did revisit the sequencing of our meetings in terms of what we would have and win,.

A

Because it makes sense to look at the array of options that have been put on the table, thus far,.

A

Which of course, is not limited to those options.

A

That's why we're asking for consideration of any other thoughts;.

A

White papers, considerations in terms of disposal, recycling,.

A

Diversion from you all that we can put into the mix,.

A

But we move financing further down.

A

I do believe that looking at the contract and piece and.

A

The financing piece as the ultimate.

A

Here are all the things that are out there,.

A

Now: how do we finance this?? What does it cost??

A

What I hear you all saying,.

A

Do you want this to be reconfigured, to show that sequencing?.

A

Because it wasn't intentional that financing is just plopped in there.

A

Colleagues,, do you want this reconfigured to.

A

Move the financing pieces down to the bottom?.

A

I would say the financing pieces should go to the bottom,.

B

Madam chair, only because I think we have to have.

B

A discussion about what we would recommend doing.

B

Talk about the costs ahead of time, [overlapping] [inaudible], before the costs [inaudible].

I

You have to have a structure before you can do a cost. On.

A

Yeah,, I agree with dandrea there.

I

A

For the sake of flow,, why don't we look at this jennifer.

A

This was your thought,. This was your way of just at least getting a vision on paper.

A

Again, for correctness,, we would have to change that language.

A

I agree with mr. lafferty,, but the word contract is not accurate.

C

Moving contracts down with finances,, how do we structure?.

C

Again,, this is great because we want to, basically,.

C

Boil some of what we're going to hear next in our sessions, around these topics,.

C

Down into some categories, so we can start to try.

C

To have the framework to understand the options that we're facing,.

C

And evaluating, and understanding the impacts from.

C

So I think this is good to get our own fingerprints on this framework.

C

In terms of structuring,, if we move the agreements,, what's now our agreement, down.

C

again all through this,, I'm also saying that these are presuming some change,.

C

But we are planning to have a status quo,.

C

With no change, compared at a point.

A

I want to acknowledge sara's question,.

A

And maybe we need to look at this.

A

How do each of the elements in the slide lineup in this one,.

A

Align with the restated purpose?.

A

What our purpose as a work group, is,.

A

And what our desired outcome is in terms of our deliverable.

A

How do we gauge vibrant and equitable within that, is what she says.

A

The definition,, what do we believe is vibrant and equitable?.

A

I know those words have come out of sara,.

A

Just as a backdrop, have come out of our strategic plan in terms of sustainability,.

A

Vibrant communities, and then equity in general.

A

But I think our narrative and our product is going to have to address those pieces.

A

In just this visual that the team put together,.

A

Gbb team put together to try to give us a visualization of.

A

Our work and how it will help us to get to our decision making around recommendations.

A

I'm comfortable.

B

We are moving the,, collect materials, question,.

J

Up under the,, what can we divert question,.

J

And everything else moves down?.

A

I thought that we're taking what is currently reflected as how do we.

A

Change residential contracts and [background], how do we finance it and move it down.

A

Move those two pieces down below how do we collect materials?.

A

How do we collect materials would end up under,.

A

What do we do with what's left??

A

This is sara bixby.

F

I understand what you're doing,.

F

But I think what I was trying to say: is, what you have on your slide, jenna, aren't necessarily linear.

F

No., I think some of these things need to happen in parallel,, rather than the linear approach.

F

Which I'm taking away from the actual conversation that you're having.

C

That's where we brought.

C

The background memo with the building blocks we had so.

C

Far for the solid waste management plan and the gbb team, recommendations.

C

Wanting to bring this group a level of how to think.

C

About the number of recommendations in larger groups of concepts,.

C

So we can start to bring them together.

C

they're, not discrete items as we have them on these spots. On this slide,.

C

But more they're elements to think about,.

C

That we can put together, to start to understand impacts, and physical impacts.

C

That's the intent,, not that they're each discrete.

A

Sara,, let me ask you a question,.

A

To get to your point, because.

A

I think this is a process [background] of what it is that leads to this particular point.

A

Can you describe a little more?.

F

I'm sorry. ms. rogers,.

F

You froze up, and I missed most of what you are asking.

A

This is,, I guess more about process what jennifer and the team,.

A

Is the fact they hear.

A

but to get to your point, in terms of,.

A

If you can talk more about your vision of how we will go, because this is how [inaudible].

A

I understand that.

F

A sustainable future- and I understand that may come out of your solid waste plan,.

F

But if you look at the items on the slide,.

F

How do we change residential contracts? Is an operating thing.

B

Right., how do we structure finances is an operating thing,.

F

And it circles back around after you talk about some of the other stuff.

F

How can we collect materials is an operating thing,.

F

And that may actually fall a little bit.

F

Under a parallel discussion, [background] as well about what can we divert?.

F

We do with what's left is a diversion thing.

F

I don't think they're all just linear in here.

F

Like I said,, this is where I start to talk myself into problems.

F

Residential contracts clearly enhance operations.

F

Reduced waste through a mix of recycling, composting,.

F

And other disposal diversion.: what can we divert?.

F

Clearly, that fits over into that flow of conversation.

F

What do we do with what's left?

F

that also fits into a reduced waste flow of conversation.

A

I get it now., so you're, saying that,.

A

I guess, for this process. Piece,.

A

Let's align it with, what our goal and vision for our work: is, in that manner.

A

How it aligns with those pieces.

A

the definitions of vibrant and equitable, that,.

A

I think we have to work on because that ties to a much bigger scheme of things,.

A

As far as language from our strategic plan.

A

When you said what you just said,, I got it.

A

I got what sara meant.

A

It would just be a realignment of.

A

These pieces, because these really just started out as questions,.

A

Not with the arrogant progression thing when we were talking about it.

A

It's some of the things we need to focus in on.

A

But sara, what I hear you saying: is, try to bucketize them. If you will, under the statements of our goal., am I getting the gist of what you're saying?.

F

F

Anytime, I'm working on something,.

F

I always try to remember in my head what it is we're trying to achieve.

F

What's the ultimate objective?, if the ultimate objective is sustainable future, that's vibrant and equitable.

F

Then we ought to do it by [overlapping].

A

It's in operations.

A

yes., reducing waste. yes. through a mix of recycling, composting, and disposal, diversion effort.

A

What I think jennifer was trying to do, these discussions,.

A

She just laid it out. This way, will get us to recommendations that will do what our goal is.

A

How do what's on this chart fit into that framework?.

A

Once you describe what that meant,.

A

That is what we're trying to do in this conversation. That's going to.

A

Lead us to recommendations on we're going to enhance operations.

A

Recommendations on how we going to reduce waste through different recycling, options,.

A

Composting, and our whole diversion.

A

That's just my response back to sara,, but I think we can visually show that as.

A

A part of our document, so it could reflect that.. I think we can get there.

C

What I'm imagining is we keep working through this and we come back to it. Each meeting.

C

We come back to the visualization of this because maybe a.

C

More hub-and-spoke is a better look.

C

At this than as we have it, sequentially. [overlapping].

A

At the beginning of this,,.

A

I think some things we have to have on spot are.

A

Just our meeting to try to put things together.

A

B

Will that work with you, sara?.

A

C

In the interest of our time,, we need to move forward.

C

[Overlapping] yeah., I'm just going to lay out.

C

The prioritization path ahead that we have thought for this group,.

C

And please do chime in here, stacy.. We have our input as our building blocks. Here,.

C

The solid waste management plan,, the gbb, team, work, group, and then the public as we are using.

C

These building blocks to what we're envisioning for our february teams, meeting,.

C

Which is also when you're going to have the feedback from the public survey.

C

You're going to hear more about it later that.

C

We were going to do interactive poll tool through.

C

This crowd tool on that meeting and.

C

Really get interactive feedback on our meeting here together, live.

C

But again, I'll be preparing for that, each one heading up to that [overlapping].

A

I think sara's point,.

A

We need to frame some of it around. Just those things.

A

That was a very good point.. Once I got it, I see it..

A

We have to frame it around. Some of those pieces.

A

Enhancing operations;, how would this enhance operations?.

A

Of all the things we've heard. reducing waste and looking at some of the ways.

A

We are all in agreement would be innovative way to do. That,.

A

And then, our disposal options when we talk about landfill and otherwise.

A

When we get to our privatization and interactive poll, that sara was talking, about,.

A

Its just going to allow us to all put our input on a topic in.

A

Real-Time and you'll see on the screen. What everybody's position was on something.

A

We're going to use technology. since, in traditional formats we would've had things on the wall that you put sticky notes on,, but we had to figure out how to do that. Virtually and electronically.

A

But I like sara's.

A

sara,, the more think about it,. I liked what you're saying on how we can group this or just keep us focused on our charge.

B

Colleagues, to do you have.

A

Other questions about this part because we have two other major segments. We need to do tonight.

C

But that was really good..

C

C

Moving then into the segment of the county, strengths and weaknesses.

C

This is where we're going to tag team, some of the presentation with myself and gbb review.

C

Hold on one second,, jennifer.

A

Chaz,, did you get a chance to make your comment?.

A

I'm sorry,, we missed your hand.

A

hand was raised..

A

C

I think it's muted now, chaz.

L

It's hard for me to see..

L

Can you hear me now? yes.? It keeps flipping back and forth.. The question was answered. that was good.

C

All right. great. are we okay now to go now, stacy?.

A

Yes. okay., unless there are any other questions, but I really would like to move ahead so.

A

We save ample time for the survey discussion.

A

Okay. harvey, go ahead.

J

I've got the first strengths and weaknesses slide, and this is overall comments.

J

You've heard that the combined commercial and recycling rate, as reported to mde,.

J

Compiled by mde, is pretty high.

J

That's positive., there's a very convenient weekly single stream collection program.

J

That is out there.

J

it's without county provided cards,.

J

But there's quite a bit of material. That's collected and processed.

J

The county has a variety of.

J

Drop-Off recycling opportunities in three locations.- that's very good.

J

Provides a lot of access for people to bring stuff that could be collected, curb side,.

J

But also they just decide they want to bring.

J

And many materials that aren't collected curbside.

J

There's very few complaints by the people that get the service,.

J

Which they're happy with the services they get.

J

That's a positive, as mike has told us, very,.

J

Very low, complaint rates.

J

On the minus side,.

J

The weakness side, we just talked about how low the residential recycling rate is, we think.

J

When we just look at the residential recyclables,.

J

If we look at what's marketed versus, what's collected.

J

That extends to the multifamily side as well.

J

The non contract arrangements,.

J

They're agreements, but they're not contracts,,.

J

And the haulers haven't.

J

Been compensated with regular increases.

J

They are paid regularly from what I understand,.

J

But their rates are, as we would say, far under what they need.

J

We've heard that,, we see that when we compare it to nearby jurisdictions.

J

Overall, solid waste is funded through the general fund.

J

Revenues that come in go into the general fund..

J

The bureau has to get in line with other departments for its funding.

J

Whether that's capital or operating,,.

J

That gets in the way of them being able to do business. In,.

J

I'll say,, a more normal way.

J

Which is passing along cpi increases to contractors and things like that.

J

That's a big weakness in our opinion,.

J

The way the bureau is funded.

N

This is steve simmons.

N

I did review the contracts that the county has,, the major contracts.

N

We didn't go to end every one., but we did review this list.

N

In the positive, you have the agreement with bresco.

N

It was just recently amended., it provides you with very reliable capacity, and it has a very attractive rate through 2026.

N

So you have the ability to move waste into bresco.

N

You have contracts with the out-of-state landfills, rotational capacity,.

N

Overflow, capacity, and there're also good attractive competitive rates in the marketplace.

N

You have a good set of contracts with the trucking companies to move material around.

N

Within your system from the transfer stations to the various disposal, locations.

N

Those contracts have quite a long life to them and they're good market rates.

N

That's a very positive.. You have a long-term contract with.

N

Harford county to manage their waste at an attractive, rate.

N

So you've got extra waste coming into the system to help fund improvements.

N

Again,, a very positive [inaudible] .

N

Then finally, on your landfill gas, system,.

N

You have very innovative contracts.

N

Where you lend the gas that comes out of the eastern sanitary landfill,,.

N

It's converted to power and moved in and actually used by the county at county facilities.

N

I've looked at a lot of these,, this was a very innovative contract and it's got a long-term life out to 2045.

N

So a very good asset there in the way. That's.

N

Securing both the management of the gas from the landfill,.

N

But getting into energy for use at county facilities.

N

A couple of the drawbacks from the contract structure;.

N

It's a strength that you get the volume from harford county.

N

The flip side of that coin is now you've got an obligation to provide.

N

Disposal capacity for harford county through 2034.

N

So it's there,, it's good today,.

N

But that is a long-term obligation. Now the county has,, that's coupled with,.

N

A little bit to the one out-of-state landfill contract.

N

With republic services does expire in 2024.

N

It's a very attractive contract.

N

You probably can roll it over at market rates again in 2024.

N

But there's some risk around that and what will market rates be in 2024.

N

So that's a synopsis of the major contracts that we reviewed.

N

More on the next slide, I'm going to do that for dave. [overlapping].

A

Steve before you leave that slide, out, I've got one quick, question.

A

Excuse me. on the out-of-state landfill capacity,.

A

Are there multiple contracts?

A

yes, there are.

N

Okay., you have some contracts through republic,.

N

Through waste management, and then through your transporter.

N

Your waste goes to landfills in pennsylvania,, maryland, and virginia.

N

So there's a multiple of landfills, used.

N

I have a question as well,.

G

Steve,, if I may, regarding bresco., your reference really was the cost.

G

What about the other implications of incineration, though?.

G

You're right,, my point was the cost.

N

The incinerator is there,, it's going to operate at its capacity as long as it is there.

N

In many ways,, whether your way is going into it or somebody else's,.

N

Environmental externalities are going to be in the region.

N

That means the mechanism isn't good or bad,.

N

It's just an asset. You have in managing the waste you have.

A

Thank you., I would say, as a caveat that, mr. lafferty,,.

A

We have to also consider.

A

That this agreement, that.

A

Bresco entered into with the city,.

A

Which is a 10-year deal,, but it also requires an investment of $40 million in improvements with.

A

Respect to the incineration and the air quality and all of the epa kinds of things,.

A

Even though, from what I've read about the whole piece,.

A

Is that they currently meet the epa standards,.

A

But in entering into this relationship,.

A

Again with the city contract, with the city, there's, a commitment of $40 million in enhancement.

A

So how that impacts, us?.

A

We have a five-year project., we did not enter it for a longer-term contract.

A

We need to consider all cases associated with it in our global scheme of things.

A

But we were able to negotiate a competitive price when you compare their tonnage,.

A

Their price per ton, in the thing you deal versus our price per ton..

A

I don't dispute anything that you just said, [inaudible].

G

I'm just saying that the presentation was only about.

G

The cost factors- and there are environmental implications.

G

The fact that the city has gotten a commitment of.

G

$40 million doesn't address the fact that we're continuing to put our refuge.

G

Look,, I'm not disputing that. We had to enter into that agreement,.

G

That's not where we had to go.. I'm just saying that there are always going to be questions.

G

About the relationship of incineration through other disposal, methods.

G

So the fact that our contract looks good.

G

Financially doesn't mean that we're not still contributing with some of that,.

G

I think it's sulfur dioxide, that's not really being captured still in.

G

All the $40 million that the city,.

G

That bresco is going to be investing to improve their facilities.

G

That was my only point. thank you., point's well, taken.

A

Mr. lafferty,, because we do want to consider the environmental impact in all that we do.

A

County in terms of air or anything else.

A

This is harvey.

J

When we present bresco as an alternative for [inaudible] ,,.

J

We can present its environmental performance currently as well as what's projected.

J

With a $40 million investment so that you have that information.

L

The environmental friendliness or unfriendliness of bresco.

J

Is a differing opinion depending upon who you talk, to.

J

So we can try to shed some light on that when we.

J

Talk about it as an option for the future,.

J

But it is beyond the five-year look, if you will.

J

But as you said, stacy,, we should be talking about things to think about beyond that in the plan.

J

Absolutely, the plan should include.

B

Bresco plans to be around for.

J

At least five or six years beyond.

J

2026 for the agreement, and probably some more years beyond that.

G

Then the question, harvey, is,.

G

Should the county continue to look at bresco as one of its disposal methodologies?.

G

We have to have a better understanding of the environmental implications.

G

Exactly. that air drifts,, not only in the baltimore city, but to the residents of baltimore county and everyone in the county and elsewhere.

G

So, if we're going to either discard that as an option or continue that as an option,.

G

It's more than just we're getting a good financial benefit from that,. That's the point.

G

Going back to sara's commentary:, is it.

G

A sustainable element of our future disposal, methods?.

G

Just as a footnote to that,.

J

One of the reasons we included alternative fuels.

J

For collection, trucks and transfer vehicles is that.

J

Some of them will be going to bresco and that you would have less of an impact on.

J

The environment as those trucks travel, if they're using cng or electric versus diesel.

J

That's a secondary consideration.

J

But that's part of the thought process behind a different fuel for vehicles.

A

Mr. lafferty's points are well taken.

A

We always have to go back and think about the sustainability part.

A

Not just financial sustainability,, but in terms of the environmental piece,, and we definitely asked mr. lafferty to always.

A

Keep that lens on so that we do have that discussion.

A

I do want to address one piece for mr. goode,.

A

And then we need to move on,. Mr. goode,, you asked steve the question,, but this was something that we had to negotiate. Internally,.

A

I'll just say the price,.

A

The rate when we define good rate,.

A

Our rate, starting out with this new contract, was less than our original rate.

A

The escalation of the rate,.

A

Even in the five years, does not get us back to where we were in the original contract.

A

So that's in terms of what we say: competitive.

A

of course,, our rate is less than what their new contract with the city is.

A

That was a part of the negotiation., a second part, you ask: the question, is the county comfortable with making the goal?, based on our projections and based on all of.

A

The negotiations that went on with that contract,.

A

We do believe can make this the goal,.

A

And mike is concurring that we do.

A

Thank you for these, stacy.

O

Now, steve said favorable., so when somebody says favorable,, I'm like,, what are you favoring that as? he used favorable.

O

Just that the rates were certainly within the marketplace,.

N

Slightly below what the marketplace is for [inaudible] disposal in central maryland.

N

That's what that was. certainly,, it's about markets.

N

You've got a good market rate,, it's costing you less for a tnd there than blindly going out to republic plant in pennsylvania.

N

O

Okay. we'll talk about that later. okay., okay., yes.,.

A

We do need to move on.. That is a big teeth in steve,. I'm glad you're holding us accountable as you and I had discussed on.

A

The sustainability part and ties back to sara's talk about vibrant.

A

We have these pieces in here,, so we do have to overlay that part as we think of our recommendations.

A

But we do need to move on,, we have a few more pieces, [overlapping] strengths and weaknesses,.

A

Then we need time to discuss the survey,.

A

So I'd like to move on.

A

N

Dave is better with this than I am, I'm going to present his slide on the financials.

P

As the apartment [inaudible] ,, you have a very low overhead rate., it might be too low.. You have positions that aren't filled.

N

You've got things internally that you haven't been able to do because of lack of funding.

N

It's great if you're a taxpayer in baltimore county here,.

N

There's not been a lot of expenditure,, but this may not be sustainable..

N

Looking at the overall thing, because, meeting, this value,.

N

You don't have a total cost of services, budget.

N

If you don't really have a total true cost of this,.

N

This cost related to solid waste or the overhead that are over in other department's budget,.

N

And in one of the bigger ones is the department itself is.

N

Not in control of its capital project, financing.

N

It's a part of the overall accounting,.

N

We look at that enterprise violence,, sometimes [inaudible], differently.

N

Go to the next slide, jennifer.

A

I acknowledge that mr. adams asked a number of questions.

A

Mr. adams,, we will follow up with the summary document to get to some of what you asked,.

A

But for the sake of time and the flood,.

A

We definitely acknowledge,. We have that information.

I

Good evening., sam lybrand.

I

Shall I go on, jennifer? yeah, please., the transfer, stations, they're well-managed,.

I

Good management, team,, well-designed,, efficiently, operated,.

I

Quite a lot of redundancy to the county and where they're located,.

I

Good access, roads,, you can go in and out without major traffic issues, good locations,.

I

As I said, before, to provide redundancy to accounting, and it's serviced by a.

I

High-Quality long haul transportation company that I'm familiar with.

I

Some of the negatives:, the western acceptance facility, is located in a flood plain.

I

It's subject to frequent flooding, and that is not recommended for a solid waste disposal. Facility,.

I

Or a recycling facility of any sort., the western acceptance facility actually uses old and worn compactor units to move.

I

Single-Stream recyclables to the different material recovery facilities that are.

I

Utilized and yard waste recycling location.

I

These units can usually have a limited life.

I

You can repair them for a while,, but after a little while,, they are going to probably give up on you.

I

That's my positive and negative analysis of your transfer stations.

I

Or strengths and weakness.

A

I

Except for the western acceptance facility being in the flood, plain.

I

That's a serious matter.

A

Right,, that's a weakness., but quick question,. Can you go right? Back?

A

go back one minute, jennifer.! This is a question.

A

We don't have to answer it now,, but mike,.

A

How old are the compactor units at the western acceptance facility?.

A

We can put that in the feedback.

A

as a matter of fact, I'll put it in the chat.

A

original units from 1972.

P

I

The drop-off locations, they're, well-managed also.

I

They're laid out well, you separate your residential and truck traffic as early as they can.

I

Can be separated for safety? Reasons.

I

you give a high level of service to the residents in.

I

Baltimore county and accept multiple materials.

I

Those are all positives of the drop-off service of the county.

I

Now, some of the negatives.. They require continued management and oversight to make sure the right materials go into the right places..

I

They collect 60,000 tons a year of waste,.

I

Which equals a significant amount of transportation and or disposal expense for the county to bear.

I

Once again, western acceptance facility is on a flood plain,.

I

And subject to light flooding,, which is not optimal., some of the signage at all the facilities could be somewhat improved.

I

It's there, present,, but it could probably be improved. Somewhat.

I

The collection system that you have for solid waste and recyclables in the county,.

I

We've already touched on it in a couple of different ways in prior slides.

I

Once again,, the management oversight is good., although a little thin,, the team seems to be working hard to keep it going..

I

This is my opinion,. I saw resilience working under challenging conditions,.

I

Such as one of our haulers passed away several weeks ago and management team.

I

Had to travel to get things on pace.

I

Supports local collecting companies?

I

that is good, supporting your local businesses.

I

Low costs for residents in the way of service, price.

I

Pretty low cost, pretty high level of service., you have long-term commitment from the [inaudible] group that is currently servicing.

I

Some of the negatives:, the below-market compensation to the hauler, as we've touched on prior.

I

Some of the truck performance and reliability.

O

Is not the best due to the age of the fleet.

I

You have an inconsistent cart. System, everybody's got different carts.. This limits your ability to go to automated or semi-automated technology, [inaudible].

I

The technology,, once again, is limited as far as routing that you're familiar with,.

I

And also, once [inaudible], you have the option for automated or semi-automated collection, systems.

I

The route sizes, some may be inefficient for some of the haulers,.

I

It could be better of a route. there's a limited equipment investment by the haulers, since they don't have.

I

Long-Term contracts that can be supported for financing.

I

There's no consistent messaging on the different collection vehicles that represent the county.

I

Oversight enforcement takes a lot of time and effort on the team.

I

Service delivery is at risk due to a lack of formal agreements in a place.

I

You do not have any curbside household hazardous waste.

I

And bulky collection., those are some of the negatives.

I

Next slide, any questions?.

Q

Can I ask my question?.

Q

This is izzy patoka..

Q

Can we go back to the last slide?.

Q

On the collection side, on areas for improvement,.

Q

That's a lot of areas.

Q

It makes me believe that baltimore county,.

Q

In our overall scheme of what we invest, in,.

Q

It's a systemic issue.

Q

We're obligated to invest 51 percent of every tax dollar,, approximately in education.

Q

Then the other 49 percent or so does all the other things.

Q

Funds, the police department,, does roads,.

Q

Picks up trash, does all the other things that are the nuts and bolts of good government.

Q

It seems like all of these items in the areas for improvement,.

Q

What did you call it? Stacy?.

Q

Strengths and weaknesses?

Q

yeah,, so the weaknesses..

Q

It feels like there's a systemic issue of lack of investment.

Q

By a large county of almost 900,000 people.

Q

To have so many of these areas of.

Q

Weakness on a basic governmental, function.

Q

It seems,, it almost feels to me like the investment,.

Q

In terms of solid waste, removal,.

Q

It's like we would do our grocery shopping at a discount down at our general store.

Q

That way, you're not really getting any nutrition in your body and you're not really doing it. Well.

Q

for solid waste collection,, I feel like we at baltimore county, have a systemic problem.

Q

Of not making a proper investment in solid waste.

Q

Now,, I know that this administration is only been in place for two years,.

Q

And the systemic problem predates that lack of.

Q

Investment in something that is a basic function of local government.

Q

I think it's something that the report should, or that we want to make that statement,.

Q

I believe, loud and clear that there's just a lack of investment in.

Q

A basic nuts and bolts function of government in this area.

A

So noted, council, member patoka,, so noted.

A

This is an observation and we share.

G

A question, mr. lybrand.

G

If, in fact, one of the collection challenges.

G

Is the need for technology and consistency in the cart system,.

G

Doesn't that also mean that whoever is.

G

The hauler has to have a different model of vehicle?.

G

If we're going to have carts that are picked up, automatically,.

G

Then the vehicles themselves have to accommodate that,.

G

Which also means perhaps fewer employees or different way of employees being deployed.

G

The technology applies to the vehicles that have to be utilized for pickup itself? right?.

I

Yes. primarily, sir.

L

What,, when you say primarily?.

I

Well, technology can also apply to some of the systems that are onboard.

I

The trucks such telematics and routing systems, gps.

I

But primarily, yes., automated or semi-automated service.

A

I think these are some of the pieces that, in.

A

Looking at our collection system in general,.

A

That goes along with the compensation, goes along with the technology, talking with the hauler community about how do we work together to take steps over.

A

The next five years to move toward some of the industry, innovation- that's out there.

A

What investment again, back to councilman, patoka's statement.

A

What investment would we need to make in cooperation with the haulers?.

A

What financing partnerships? I mean,.

A

Different things that we've never thought about., we have just kept going along,.

A

But that's where we're looking to this work.

A

As [inaudible] singletary talking about the what ifs,.

A

And then how much it will cost with you all not making unilateral decisions about it.

A

These discussions need to help us understand what's available and then how would we get there?.

A

What is the vision for getting there?.

A

Some of these pieces, we want to pull out into.

A

The continued discussion in terms of.

A

Residential collection, as well as a sub piece of that is compensation.

A

But we need to talk about the whole piece.

A

Again,, I'm looking to our colleagues from the hauler community,.

A

Those who worked also last fall with us.

A

Then members of this group that could be a part of that discussion.

A

We can talk about these pieces and and mr. singletary,.

A

You've played a leadership role in the past and I hope that you will.

A

Continue to want to do that and help us have.

A

The comprehensive discussion that we need to have so that we can articulate.

A

The financial investment- that's needed., I think you're on mute.

E

Sorry., I totally support what you're commenting on.

E

Reflecting back on my discussion last week, where I talked.

E

About the minimum wage is going up and what our costs have gone. Up.

E

I've shared costs over the past 10 or 15 years with the county.

E

They've been receptive to get the costs.

E

It's just that's, never translated into additional revenues for us in the form of raises.

E

I don't know if the committee's aware of what baltimore city, just recently,, did.

E

I assumed that people knew this when I was talking at the last meeting.

E

But baltimore city has stepped up to the plate, pretty.

E

Big time with respect to sanitation workers and how they're paid.

E

The city gave them a five-plus dollar, an.

E

Hour raised to the laborers that work on the back of the truck.

E

Their pay rates now 16, plus an hour and they're getting health benefits.

E

I think that's great.. They raise the cost of their drivers. $4,000-$5000.

E

Again,, that's great..

E

I would love to be able to do that.. I do that on the commercial side of my business, because I've got the revenue to support that.

E

I can't do that on the residential side of my business, because I'm not getting paid enough money to do. That.

A

I definitely was aware of that, because it's been brought to us.

A

By other haulers and, like I said, the the city's move,.

A

We applaud the city's move for doing so..

A

That's why we're here at the table, again, like I said, trying to make the case for the investments that need to be made,.

A

Particularly on the collection side., I think council member patoka,, your observation are well taken in looking at.

A

The historical investment in this particular part of the operation,.

A

The investment has not been made and that's just factual.

A

From the standpoint of looking at where we are as baltimore county,.

A

What has it been invested, and what's happening around us.

A

We're definitely going to have the cell breakout,.

A

And anyone who wants to join us,, please e-mail.

A

We have a new email, address.

A

Please and then we'll put it in the follow-up email as well.

A

Please let us know if you want to join that subgroup as well,.

A

Just to have some further conversations about this piece.

A

I think this is a last segment on the strengths and weaknesses.

C

This is a section I've working on with paige davis at gbb,.

C

Looking at the county's outreach and education.

C

We assessed a strength with the informative website,.

C

And multiple tools used on the website for interaction with residents.

C

We noted some weaknesses with language translation being in english,.

C

Not having information on products made from recyclable, materials,.

C

And also, just clarification on plastics accepted in the program.

C

Some of this is also reflected in the background memo.

C

Really all the pieces here tonight are pulled from the background memo to give you.

C

The high-level look from those sections. harvey.

C

I think you're on mute.

C

J

I'm reporting for brad kelley.

J

brad did an evaluation of counties mrf back in 2017,.

J

So he had in his mind what he saw three years ago versus what he saw. This go around.

J

He noted that there was significantly improved cleanliness and maintenance,.

J

The system is operating, well, team is keeping up with the maintenance and it's performing.

J

Necessary major refurbishing, as it goes along.

J

The team there prides itself on producing very,.

J

Very clean commodity bales,, which they're able to sell consistently in the marketplace.

J

They're selling about 50,.

J

54 percent of what comes in the front, door,.

J

This is the numbers before glass.

J

Mike,, I don't know the numbers after glass,.

J

Maybe it's another 10 percent or so,.

J

But as an industry standards, single-strand mrf generally can ship out 70 to 75 percent,.

J

But the quality the bales in today's marketplace needs to be as clean as possible,.

J

So there's a balance there.

J

The parts in inventory are well-organized,.

J

Brad tells me he uses baltimore county as an example of how.

J

Other mrfs should keep their parts in inventory. Documented,.

J

And he was happy to see the glass is being recovered. Again.

J

On the weakness side;, it's an old facility and it's a small facility,.

J

Things are tight,, there's no room to expand or upgrade as you're operating.

J

The loading dock area is too small and you got to be very careful if you're bringing people.

J

Around into the facility to show them because the bales.

J

Are stacked pretty high and it's not well lit.

J

The inventory software and county software are not compatible,.

J

Causing some extra work to enter the data,.

J

So the county has it as well as the mrf is doing it.

J

The value of the recyclables is very volatile,.

J

I think you may notice, in the review of.

J

The financials how the value of the recyclables has gone down, significantly.

J

This is true in every mrf,.

J

But it's something that creates financial pressure on the bureau's budget,.

J

If you go from five or six million a year down to two million, a year,.

J

Where's that three million come from?

J

and something has to give in the county general fund, budgeting process.

J

I talked about the low recovery room, ready,.

J

The facility doesn't lend itself to be used for public education.

J

What we mean there is, it would be nice to be able to drive a school bus full of kids up to the facility,.

J

Walk them into an education center, have them walk around safely in a viewing gallery,.

J

So they can learn about what happens to the stuff they sit out at home or at school.

J

This is something that for,.

J

If there's a new mrf in the county's future would be great and.

J

Important to have to reinforce the importance of recycling.

J

There is an issue with the electric pallet jack, where the inventory.

J

Seems to need to be replaced. Immediately.

J

That was something brad wanted me to also mention.. That's all, jennifer.

J

N

Again, I'm going to present for corrine who did the review of the organics facility,.

N

But I was there with her on the day we went through it.

N

On the positives of the organic system;,.

N

You have the yard material collection,, you offer your residents free compost and mulch,.

N

That's a nice amenity for the citizens,.

N

And you do accept bulky garden materials at the eastern sanitary landfill.

N

But there are several negatives to the system.

N

In going into their actually,, I'm going to jump to the bottom bullet because I think it's one of.

N

The more important ones in what I know: causes, mike, problems, there.

N

In that you collect, or you allow collection and you.

N

Allow the residents to put their yard waste in plastic bags,.

N

And I know the reasons why that it has again, tying into the collection and then there's frequency and service and paper bags and all,.

N

There's a reason why it's done,, but that does create a lot of problems with the management of the organics, because now you've got.

N

All that plastic in the compost and the mulch that you're trying to produce,.

N

And it really renders it a melon economic product.

N

You give it away for free, because it's really got no value,.

N

It couldn't go to the commercial market.

N

So that's one of the weaknesses in the tie-in between collection and your facilities.

N

So going back up to the top,.

N

You can handle large volume..

N

You've got some space out the eastern sanitary landfill,, but it's pretty used, lack of enforcement ability on collection at the current versus commercials,.

N

You're missing on opportunities to expand your feedstock,.

N

And you're missing revenue opportunities because you don't.

N

Have a marketable product when it's done.

N

Finally, you're not taking in food scraps,.

N

So your organics management program right now is not as it's configured now,.

N

Is that really much of a viable alternative for managing food waste.

N

Go into the next slide. talking about the eastern sanitary landfill,.

N

Positives,, it's a good site..

N

It's fully compliant, you're maximizing the capacity.

N

It's capacity gives you planning and assurance for the next few years.

N

It's a very well-run facility.

N

Some of the negatives towards it is the permitted capacity is ending,.

N

You don't have much life left, there.

I

Probably going to have problems with expansion,.

N

There's a lot of residential development around there,, so you should expect some opposition to expanding either vertically or horizontally.

N

There's no alternative site yet identified with that site. Fills.

N

Is there another space available in the county for landfill?.

N

We're going to stop and take questions.

N

We've got a lot of pieces in the chat which I think we're going to have to.

A

Answer like we did last session in order for us to get to this last part,.

A

But most of these were economic recovery, investment.

A

Yes, sara, lack of investment.

A

We recognized we are going to have to go back to.

A

The general fund or look at options to do it.

A

We did a referendum on spending,.

A

So there's some money that will be made available. This coming year,.

A

But we have to look closely at what that money can specifically be used. For.

A

But you're right, we have a need for investment.

A

In being good stewards of our time,.

A

We really do want to get to this last segment with.

A

You-All, because we need to talk about the survey.

A

The team is working on the survey,.

A

And we just need you to at least know. What's happening,.

A

And then, looking later, we will send out the questions,.

A

But we needed to let you know, because in the plan right now is that.

A

The survey is both the residential and a commercial survey.

A

The plan is to promote the survey,.

A

Is online and it will be out for a month, but we need to get the feedback in,.

A

In order to have that be a part of our decision-making as well.

A

I'm going to turn it over to jennifer to talk about the plan and a strategy for moving forward.

A

Thank you,, stacy.

C

We are building from the phone survey in this effort that.

C

Was part of the solid waste management plan and this survey is not a phone survey.

C

We're planning an online digital survey.

C

again,, as stacy noted for both residents and businesses,.

C

The plan is that it is going.

C

To be open from the beginning of january, to the beginning of february.,.

C

January 5th, to february 7th,, so we can bring back the report to you at your february. 18Th meeting.

C

Again, we're on a condensed timeline trying to meet all the needs.

C

When you get the powerpoint from this meeting, tonight, you're going to have the survey links in it,, but we're going to share some of what it looks like now.

C

Let me ask you a question: jennifer.

A

If it's in powerpoint, as pdf,.

A

Are they're going to be able to click on it? yes.? I can put them in an e-mail too, but they'll be clickable from the pdf.

A

I just wanted to make sure, because sometimes in a pdf you can't click on things.

C

Should be, and if not, I can put it in an e-mail though too just to make sure.

C

When we looked at the phone survey,.

C

We noted the two things that I wanted to highlight for the group that there was.

C

More representation of residence over age 61 in the phone survey likely,.

C

Because it was a phone survey based on home phone numbers,.

C

And also that there were also.

C

More homeowners in the phone survey than are in the population.

C

These two notations of.

C

The demographics of the phone surveys is what we we're taking into account as we're.

C

Developing the new online survey and advertising through the county, communications.

C

We've already had organizing meetings around this and trying to deploy and model some of.

C

The successful school surveys and other models that have.

C

Gone out through the county to really reach a diverse audience.

C

The two links are here.

C

These are just the draft test: environments for you-all,.

C

So once they're finalized try to go to the link.

C

Once they're finalized and they go live, they'll be accessible from.

C

A page on the county site where you can choose the residential or business.

C

I was trying to load the survey.

C

Once we finalize the questions with you-all,.

C

Which we will do by our next meeting,, so you'll have time between now and the next meeting to.

C

Review the online digital survey, questions for residences.

C

The top two we have they're in blue because they're demographic questions about age,.

C

And are you a resident? which are both,, you need to be over 18 and you have to be a resident to take the survey.

C

If it's not,, then you get kicked out of the survey.

C

We ask a zip code question because we want to be able to present to you.

C

All the council, districts and the locations within the county when we get the results.

C

We also are going to be asking questions about what services.

C

Used most often for trash disposal and recyclables.

C

In their meaning, current set or drop off.

C

we're going to ask questions about the use of rolling carts and also for yard materials.

C

How do you rate satisfaction with your current services?.

C

Then we ask if you can see our question 10.

C

When we are talking about a world-class system.

C

As we've been charged with from the county executive,, what does that mean to you?? What are the most important elements? you'll see that it's a selection.

C

Also about collection schedules and.

C

Some of the hot topics that we know are part of discussion. Within this group.-.

C

Same-Day collection, kinds of containers.

C

We also have an open-ended question about suggestions or comments. Overall.

C

Just to give you a sense of what this looks, like.

C

This is the opening page..

C

If you select survey screenshots,, it should take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete..

C

We do direct people back to this group's web page,.

C

And also noting, when we're going to be doing the presentation of the results onto the february 18th meeting.,.

C

This is a view of a few of the questions.

C

You can see this is using,, it's called questionpro,.

C

And that's easy interactive with either radio buttons or check marks.

C

Some of them are select ones,, some select all that apply.

C

Another look here..

C

We are asking about phrasing.

C

You're going to see phrasing around, for example, food scraps collection or rolling cards,.

C

And asking if they would be willing to pay a fee for it.

C

Not naming a number, but just finding both interest and willingness to pay for some of these additional services.

C

This was the world-class question that I just mentioned,.

C

And you can select all that apply in this area., so again, we're looking for your feedback.. You can take these surveys now when you get the links,.

C

As many times as you want, as a resident or business., you can click through this slide again,, but these are not ready for public use. Yet,.

C

We are just taking your input at this point,. It's a test, environment.

A

It's going into test site.

A

If you take it just for ease of use,.

A

The data will go into a test site.

A

We still have some final vetting to do, but what we're asking you guys to do is take a look.

A

And see if there are any words or any questions,, if you will.

A

We don't want it to be too long, but we're trying to see if there are any things were missing.

A

particularly,. This is the residential one,.

A

There's a commercial [inaudible] [overlapping].

C

This is the business survey.

C

Again, we ask in this one about size of business.

C

And the type of business using the naics code you'll see in there.

C

But we recognize that people,.

C

Business owners in the county are often people in the county too,, so we might have the same person taking the survey from two different perspectives.

C

I'm not going to go through every..

C

Let me see if there's anything here, I can just look at a quick..

C

When do you need response?? We want to have prior to.

C

Our next meeting [inaudible] we're asking for comments between now,.

C

As soon as we can get them,, but we want to have the questions finalized following the next meeting.

A

Then we have a meeting coming up with our communications folks here within the government.

A

That's why we're trying to get your input as well, so that.

A

We can get it all cleaned up and ready to begin to promote.

A

That's where we're asking you all as well through your respective organizations,.

A

We're going to do promotion., council member patoka,, I always keep up with everything through [laughter] your promotion,.

A

But we want to get this far and wide as we can.

A

Jennifer,, I did have one question,: are we doing a spanish version??

A

That's a good question.

C

We do not [inaudible] with what I was mentioning say with languages,.

C

We can prepare that.

C

A

Let us know if you need some translation assistants, because we do have in hhs,.

A

We have some translationist staff who do translations.

A

But what do you-all think about that? Offering,.

A

At least at minimum, in spanish?.

A

Council, member patoka,: what do you know??

A

C

Our office can help with that. [overlapping] yes,. I absolutely think we should.

Q

We have a large undercount,.

Q

As you know, stacy., I'm sorry. administrative rogers.

D

[Laughter] we have a large undercounted hispanic population.

Q

I think if we can have some of their concerns, relayed to us,.

Q

It would be very helpful.

A

No,, I see you put that in.

A

But [inaudible] [overlapping] everyone else?.

A

I think jennifer answered the other questions about survey in terms of when.

A

As soon as you, can.

A

jennifer is going to send everything out tonight, so you all.

A

Have the powerpoints and that's going to be our routine.

A

Jennifer will send out the powerpoints and any other follow-up memo or things that need to come from us that could take a day or so,.

A

We will send you., we don't want to bombard you, but in order for us to keep up with the time frames on things, sometimes,, we have to send it out.

A

the responses to the questions, we'll do like we did. The last meeting.

A

We'll get responses and write them out, and then send them. Out to the group.

A

What does the baltimore county public schools enrollment.

A

Reflect as far as other languages?

A

steve,, we can look at that..

A

I know that spanish by far is the most prevailing,.

A

It's from my work from social security,, but we'll see what the other percentages are.

A

But in terms of how we present multiple ones,.

A

We have to think about that.

A

language access was a big part of my former roles, so I am sensitive to that as well,.

A

But we'll have to look and see.

C

I saw, council member patoka,.

C

Your question about pushing it out. yes, definitely,, once they're ready,.

C

We're going to have a soft launch right after new year, so it'll be ready for the 5th of january., so yes,. We want this group to share with your networks when we have that coordination underway with county communications.

A

Jennifer,, this number is slipping out of my head, but I know we talked about,.

A

What is our target in terms of response rate? We were looking for?.

A

We had around 800.

C

Eight hundred would be our minimum, but we would like to be maybe closer to 1,500 or 2,000.

C

Because that's the average representative sample for.

C

Significance for the size, population., statistically significant for our population,.

A

We need at least that statistical significance.

A

Question on that.

Q

We have a really extensive social media and e-mail network.

Q

If we push it out,, do we skew it to second district?.

Q

I mean, our network goes beyond the second district, but it primarily is a second district.

Q

Do we skew the data to be more reflective of second district?.

Q

If, let's say, you're, looking for 800 responses and 400 are from the second district.

Q

Does that skew the data?.

A

Council, member patoka, one of the things that I would ask that you consider doing on behalf of the group since you are part of the work group, is talking with your colleagues about their network.

A

I know council member jones has a network too,.

A

And just about everybody. if they would send it through their same network,, [inaudible] support, you.

A

I'm happy to talk with them as well,, but getting representation and using all the channels that we can, I think, is what's important. Here.

A

Okay. good idea.

Q

Thank you., [overlapping] [inaudible]. I think we're at the end, stacy.

C

There's a couple of slide: here, different types of questions,, so you'll see..

C

This is my last slide just to say we did reorganized the.

C

Future sessions speakers a little bit and moved the revenue.

C

System revenue went down to february 4,, so the next session is going to be about best practices.

A

We have one question that mr. adams put,.

A

In a business survey, they mostly have privately,.

A

Will you want to raise an expectation?.

A

Well, mr. adams,, I think, is about more than just the collection part is about.

A

The recycling piece and how we might be able.

A

To partner more with businesses on certain recycling.

A

I don't think it raises expectations on collection,.

A

But I think we need to be able to know their position.

A

On engaging in collections,.

A

Especially around food scraps and some other things that we don't do right, now.

A

Also,, the other part of that one of the presentations.

A

That we have lined up is about mattress recycling,.

A

Something I never even thought about, the volume of mattresses in [inaudible]. We have lots of hotels and.

A

Things because they have a cycle that they have to recycle mattresses.

A

I was like, "oh,. I never thought about that.".

A

So many little pieces to this,, but I hope that gets to why we need to do commercial as well.

A

I know we're at a few passed.

C

I did want to say I put up here also, so you have this, it's in the chat. Too,.

C

But that's the dedicated e-mail address at the bottom. For this group.-.

C

So using that, as opposed to the previous e-mail, would.

C

Be great too so we can keep track of comments as they might come. In.

C

A

It comes into the solidwasteworkgroup@baltimorecountymd.gov.

A

We will indeed share with the project team.

A

We just brought it,, though it was better to just bring them into the government.

A

I know we had a lot of questions that we did not get to,.

A

But we will go back to the survey.

A

Jennifer,, when you send out the slide deck tonight or tomorrow morning or whenever you're going to do it,.

A

Can you put the information about when to respond back to the survey?.

A

Then here in the business community sap, please look at both of them.

A

Everybody can look at both of them as your time avails, because we really want to make sure we're good.

A

Miss lovely,: we will get back to you on the data about the languages.

A

I know that was a lot.

A

[Laughter] [inaudible] [overlapping] thank you, everybody.. We want to thank you.

A

We'll definitely be in touch. [laughter].

Q

Thanks, everybody. thanks so much.

A

Bye. thank you. thank you,, [inaudible].

K

Good night, everyone. be safe.

C

Have a good night., [inaudible], good night.

B

[Inaudible] good night., night., good night.