Agenda #5e

memorandum

to: Mayor and Town Council

from: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

subject: Response to Citizen Petition to Reduce Disturbance from Garbage, Trash and Recycling Collection Noise

date: November 21, 2005

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to respond to a citizen petition related to collection of commercial refuse.

BACKGROUND

Michelle S. and Burwell Ware, residing at 126 Kingston Drive, presented to the Mayor and Council on September 26, 2005, a petition (please see attached) 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.

We have adjusted commercial start times over recent years as follows:

Prior to 1999, routes started around midnight, either Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday; routes were collected by 2.5 front-load and one side load crews on 10-hour per day schedule.
During 1999, the starting time was changed to 4:00 a.m. to accommodate landfill hours of operation; routing and crews did not change at that time.
In 2002, starting time was changed to 5:30 a.m. in response to noise complaints and the town’s noise ordinance. Other changes included 1) decrease to 8-hour work days; 2) decrease in number of front-load crews to 2 from 2.5; 3) conversion to five-day work week to accommodate a new fee structure.
In 2005, while start times did not change, the one side-load route was eliminated.

Current routing consists of two front load commercial garbage trucks operating five days a week and collecting a total of 536 containers weekly. Routes normally are completed by early- to mid-afternoon. The landfill operates daily, Monday through Friday, opening at 7:30 a.m. with a closing time of 4:00 p.m. Because garbage trucks must be emptied before being parked overnight, we must conclude our routes in time to deliver loads to the landfill. Garbage trucks parked overnight with full or partial loads would present a fire hazard, and could be a source of objectionable odors during certain times of the year.

A major consideration in running refuse collection routes is safety. We must coordinate commercial collections with school bus activity and vendor deliveries to insure safety in those areas having significant commercial activity, especially around major shopping areas.

The town does not provide commercial collection services either on Saturdays or Sundays except in case of emergencies. Orange County recycling services are provided in compliance with the town’s noise ordinance, which precludes starting times before 5:30 a.m. on weekdays. Collections made by private vendors do not uniformly comply with the noise ordinance in terms of starting times. We are aware of such collections starting as early as 3:00 a.m. on weekdays. When the Public Works Department receives noise complaints about starting times that violate the noise ordinance, they refer the complainant to the Police Department for follow-up investigation and possible enforcement procedures.

DISCUSSION

Because the zoning designations included in the petition encompass basically the entire area of the town, we would have to adjust our schedules for all commercial sites town-wide to comply with the request. This adjustment could mean day of service changes and we believe such a change would require additional resources to continue existing scheduled commercial collection services. Given the number of commercial containers town-wide and the realistic number of containers that a commercial route can service on any given collection day, we would need to increase the number of crews, which would require more equipment and employees if work hours were adjusted as requested.

We note that collections in the vicinity of the Ware’s residence normally occur after 8:00 a.m. One recent collection was made earlier than normal because the specific route servicing that site had a substitute driver. Atypical collection times occur throughout any given year because of such factors as driver availability, vehicle maintenance issues and weather conditions. We will continue to try and minimize collection times in Mr. and Mrs. Ware’s neighborhood before 8:00 a.m.

To delay town-wide commercial collections as requested would adversely affect our ability to provide services for the following reasons.

We need to access many commercial dumpster sites prior to vendor deliveries, rush hour traffic, arrival of business owners and customers seeking parking and other traffic incidental to commercial activity. This congestion restricts access of our commercial trucks.
We have certain sites, especially in downtown commercial areas, in which it is difficult to maneuver our heavy duty commercial garbage trucks even when traffic congestion is minimal. Delaying these collections would exacerbate this situation.
Given our workload demands and hours of landfill operation, a decrease in collection hours of operation would require additional equipment and personnel. Because we need to deliver commercial garbage to the landfill prior to closing time, we could not collect from 536 containers using only two crews. Our present routes operate at or near reasonable workload limits and any lessening of hours of operation would result in the need for at least one additional crew. Please see the attached weekday commercial collection schedules for specific data on daily collections.
Adding one truck and an operator, along with sufficient backup, would cost $140,000 annually ($88,000 personal service costs; $24,000 maintenance and operational costs; and $28,000 annual equipment cost).

CONCLUSION

Further restricting operating hours is not feasible without addition of equipment and employees. We recommend no change. If the Council determines that further restriction of operating hours is necessary, we recommend consideration as a part of the 2006-07 budget development process.

ATTACHMENTS