What comes next?

If agency dissolved, questions will arise

Ken Woods collects garbage for Del Norte Disposal, which holds the authority’s collection franchise, on Thursday afternoon.(The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

It’s the government entity that oversees all garbage collection, waste disposal and recycling in the county. It controls the rates people pay for curbside pick-up and sets the tipping fees for those who choose to haul their own waste to the transfer station.

With the recent decision by the chairman of the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, Gerry Hemmingsen, to form an ad hoc committee to study the viability of the Solid Waste Authority, it’s possible the agency could be dissolved.

“I’d really like to know if we need oversight from an entire government bureaucracy for garbage collection,” Hemmingsen said just days after announcing the creation of the committee. “Let’s get the government’s hands out of there if they don’t need to be there.”

“If this gets screwed up it can get screwed up in a number of different ways,” said authority Director Kevin Hendrick. “That’s why I think we should keep it together because it’s working.”

The authority’s transfer station operates seven days a week.(The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

Birth of an agency

The Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority was formed in 1992. At that time, the county owned the Crescent City Landfill and was under an enforcement order from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to close the trash disposal site due to various violations. The county was also under a cease and desist order from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board due to environmentally hazardous materials that were being discharged into the groundwater, and it was being fined by that agency for tens of thousands of dollars.

“The county failed, honestly,” Hendrick said.

Del Norte County and Crescent City signed a joint powers agreement that formed the authority and gave both governments oversight and equal decision-making capabilities when it came to all solid waste-related activities in the county.

The newly formed agency was charged with facilitating the closure of the Crescent City Landfill and implementing new alternatives for waste disposal in the county that complied with state regulations. This eventually led to the construction of the transfer station off Elk Valley Road.

Today, the authority has nine employees and an annual budget that exceeds $4 million. It is in compliance with state and federal mandates regarding trash disposal and recycling, helps operate the transfer station and other collection sites throughout the county, and continues to monitor and maintain the now-defunct county landfill, a 30-year obligation.

“I think it’s working,” Hendrick said. “Anybody that looks at it will see that it’s working.”

Some officials agree with Hendrick and say the agency is a model of government efficiency, with cooperation between both the city and county as well as private businesses — both Del Norte Disposal, Inc. and Hambro/

Waste Solutions Group have lucrative contracts, respectively, with the authority for dealing with garbage collection and helping operate the transfer station.

Others, particularly Hemmingsen and County Supervisor Mike Sullivan, who is heading the solid waste ad hoc committee, contend it might not be the most suitable economic solution and wonder if there is a more viable option.

“I think the citizens and residents of Del Norte County have a right to know if this is the most effective way this is set up or not,” Sullivan said before a Board of Supervisors meeting earlier this month where citizens were allowed to comment on the formation of his ad hoc committee. “Is this the most efficient use of resources?”

What would replace it?

The questions of what would happen should the county pull out of the Solid Waste Management Authority joint powers agreement are many, and start with whether or not the entity would continue to exist even if the county opts out.

Other legal considerations include what would happen to the authority’s assets and liabilities, particularly the landfill and transfer station, should it be dissolved.

The Crescent City Landfill was owned by the county before the authority was formed. If it was dissolved, ownership and the estimated $2.3 million liability of monitoring the landfill for 30 years would revert back to the county.

“There’s no doubt that the county owns the landfill and the county’s on the hook,” Hendrick said. “All the liability for that post-closure would be on the county’s books.”

However, who gets control of the transfer station, and the nearly $5 million loan debt from its construction, is a trickier affair and one that would require more legal analysis.

Although Del Norte County financed the loan for the transfer station, the debt liability is with the authority. The deed for the land that the transfer station sits on is owned by the authority.

Neither Crescent City Attorney Bob Black, who also represents the authority, nor Del Norte County Attorney Dohn Henion, who wrote the joint powers agreement, have resolved this issue as there’s been no move for dissolution yet. But they both said figuring out who gets what should a split occur will be lengthy and complex.

“Everything dealing with government organization and reorganization is complicated,” Henion said.

“It’s a matter of devoting time to it,” Black said. “Sitting down with documents, reading the language multiple times, and thinking about what it means.”

There are many variables, Black said, such as determining the logistics of franchising garbage collection in both the city and county, making sure the community meets state mandates for waste diversion and recycling, ensuring hazardous materials, like batteries and fluorescent tubes, are separated from the garbage stream and having the staff to oversee these duties.

“Who’s going to shoulder the legal responsibilities to make sure those things are taken care of, to make sure the community is in compliance?” Black asked. “There’s lots of subparts.”

An expiring contract

The authority has a contract with Hambro/Waste Solutions Group for operating the transfer station and hauling garbage to a landfill in Oregon and another one with Del Norte Disposal for garbage collection.

According to Hendrick, Hambro’s contract, which extends to 2028, is transferable to whoever would own the transfer station in the event of the authority’s dissolution. The franchise agreement with Del Norte Disposal, under which the company pays $185,000 annually to the authority in order to be the sole provider for garbage collection, would be split between the city and the county, depending on how many customers are in each jurisdiction.

The contract with Del Norte Disposal expires in June 2010, and the authority is considering going out to bid on the franchise to have companies compete on the price. 

Under the current agreement with Del Norte Disposal, Hendrick said everyone in the county pays the same price for trash collection. Without the authority, Hendrick said, the city and county would each be responsible for negotiating their own franchise agreements with a collection company, and this could potentially affect cost.

“If you’re a garbage company, Crescent City is the plum,” Hendrick said, because there are a large number of residents in a small area and trash collection is easier.

With the county, even though there are more potential residents, the collection area is much larger, and more costly to get to when considering gas and time expenditures.

The city and county could adopt a new joint contract to find a garbage collection service, Black said.

“That would probably be the most in the public’s interest, but there’s a lot of other alternatives because municipalities can also have their own garbage collection,” he said.

State laws need to be considered as well. For instance, the California Integrated Waste Management Board requires every city and county to divert at least 50 percent of its waste away from landfills or else face fines from the agency.

“If they’re going to voluntarily split up their agreement up there, then they’ll have to submit their plans to us,” said Andrew Hughan, a public information officer for the state board. “We just need to know what each jurisdiction’s plan is for diverting the 50 percent.”

Joint efforts have been growing

Politically, the county’s decision to evaluate the authority has already been divisive.

Some City Council members have expressed concern over the county taking it upon itself to evaluate a joint venture between the two governments, and at least one council member has said the move sets a bad precedent.

Over the past couple years, the City Council and Board of Supervisors have made an effort to work together and form partnerships with one another in order to improve efficiency and find cost savings. The two governments have become involved in other joint powers agreements, including the Border Coast Regional Airport and the Tri-Agency Economic Development Authorities.

Hemmingsen’s decision to form the ad hoc committee came the day after a joint meeting with the City Council at which no mention of his plan was made.

Other officials are concerned with the timing of the county undertaking such a bold endeavor when every county and city is facing massive budget cuts from the state and figuring out how to grab some money from the Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan.

“It’s a challenging time with the budget and with trying to get ahold of the stimulus package,” County Supervisor Martha McClure said. “To me it’s really important that staff have time on their plate to make sure those two giant issues are addressed.”

McClure is a member of the Solid Waste Management Authority Commission, and is also on the ad hoc committee that was formed to study it.

McClure likens the scrutiny of the authority to someone who is avoiding car engine problems and is instead shampooing the seats.

“Dang, I think we better deal with the engine first,” she said. “That’s where our energy and focus should be, with as few distractions as possible.”