Agenda #5g

memorandum

to: Mayor and Town Council

from: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

subject: Follow-up Response to Citizen Petition of November 21, 2005, to Reduce Disturbance from Garbage, Trash and Recycling Collection Noise

date: February 13, 2006

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to respond to a citizen petition related to collection of commercial refuse on November 21, 2005.

BACKGROUND

Michelle S. and Burwell Ware, residing at 126 Kingston Drive, presented to the Mayor and Council on September 26, 2005, a petition (Attachment 1) requesting that the Town Council direct the Town Manager to prohibit the pickup of garbage or recycled materials between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday when such activity disturbs people living in nearby residences.

At the November 21, 2005 Council meeting, Mr. Ware presented to the Council additional questions and concerns (please see attached e-mail).

DISCUSSION

1. Mr. Ware raised questions about the number of noise complaints received related to commercial garbage collection, and how such complaints were logged.

The Public Works department receives formal complaints through many different media, including e-mail, voice mail and citizen requests forwarded from Town Hall.

There have been two formal noise complaints related to commercial garbage collection since 2001. Both were related to 126 Kingston Drive. There have been no formal or informal complaints related to noise concerning the downtown collection service area. There has been one noise complaint related to University Mall cardboard collection this fiscal year. The message had been left on the Public Works message center. The caller did not leave contact information. Thus, our records indicate that there have been three complaints, including two made by the petitioners. One of the three complaints related to Orange County operations.

2. Mr. Ware requested more information concerning safety issues that are inherent in running a garbage truck.

Garbage and recyclable material collectors have the fifth most dangerous job (Census of Fatal Operations Summary, 2004, US Department of Labor, August 25, 2005) (please see the attached report summary). This occupation is routinely in the top ten most dangerous occupations year after year. Chapel Hill Solid Waste crews have not experienced any deaths while performing their solid waste functions, although we have experienced injuries on the job. The most serious injuries have included a collector being hit in the street by a passing motorist and a collector falling off of the back of a rear loader, breaking his ankle. By industry standards, Chapel Hill’s solid waste collection practices are safe and exceed the standards, both with respect to injuries and accidents. A pedestrian was killed by a front load garbage truck backing out of an alley in the downtown in the early 1980s.

Solid Waste commercial front loaders are now equipped with back up cameras and current drivers have a combined experience of 75 years with the Town in Solid Waste collection. All commercial drivers have Commercial Drivers License, and are Class B licensed drivers and graduates of the National Solid Wastes Management Association Coaching the Refuse Truck Driver Course. Superintendent of Solid Waste-Fleet Maintenance Services Harv Howard is a certified instructor for the course. Additional training in all aspects of collection and personnel safety are conducted by the Public Works Solid Waste staff and Public Works Safety Officer.

3. Mr. Ware inquired whether containers could be serviced every two weeks instead of every week.

Current routing and scheduling of container service are determined by ordinance, customer needs and requests for service and Council direction. Collection of multi-family units includes a base service of one, eight-yard dumpster, collected once a week. We currently provide service over a five-day work week. We are unaware of any demand for weekend service from our customer base. Every other week service could be explored as an option; however, potential problems related to sanitary conditions would have to be considered. For example, non-food waste possibly could be changed to every other week, but it likely would be impractical to lengthen the collection period for food wastes. Another option relating to service frequency could involve reduction in size of commercial containers.

4. Mr. Ware requested information relating to shifting operating hours at the Orange County Landfill.

We contacted Orange County’s Department of Solid Waste in response to the petitioners’ points about hours and operations at the landfill. Key points included in their response are noted.

Total collection and disposal operations for everyone, including the town's solid waste department, the landfill, the citizens, all haulers, all recycling collections and all end processors, would be impacted if operational hours were to be adjusted to accommodate commercial collection starting times after 8:00 a.m. for Chapel Hill’s customers

Adding one hour to the official operating time would be problematic, but not impossible. Both Construction & Demolition and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills need to have the same operating hours. The landfill’s operating permit would need to be adjusted and approved by the state. All public information would need to be updated. Staffing would need to be adjusted considerably to account for the extra hour, especially on the Municipal Solid Waste side, due to cover regulations issues, which require daily covering on the garbage that has been delivered to the landfill.

If pursuit of change is desirable, then the county staff would need time to identify the consequences of such change, including cost implications. The issue of who would be responsible for paying such costs could include higher tipping fees.

CONCLUSION

We recommend no change to current schedules, practices or operations related to commercial collection. If the Council determines that further restriction of operating hours is necessary, we recommend further analysis, including cost implications, prior to any change.

ATTACHMENTS