HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/16/2004 - ITEMS RELATING TO SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND RECYCAGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL
ITEM NUMBER: 26 A-B
DATE: March 16, 2004
STAFF: Susie Gordon
SUBJECT
Items Relating to Solid Waste Collection and Recycling Service.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinances on First Reading. The Natural Resources Advisory
Board has recommended these Code changes.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A. First Reading of Ordinance No. 025, 2004, Amending Chapter 15, Article XV of the City
Code Relating to Solid Waste Collection and Recycling Services.
B. First Reading of Ordinance No. 053, 2004, Amending Chapter 12, Article II of the City Code
Relating to Collection of Garbage and Refuse.
Since it was adopted in 1996, the pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) Code provisions governing the
provision of solid waste collection services have been implemented by trash haulers as a condition
of their City license, with one amendment made in March 2000 to establish an audit system for the
City's use.
Clarification of the Code language is proposed to specifically state that all single family and two-
family residences in Fort Collins are subject to unit-based (PAYT) trash rates, including those
participating in group accounts for trash service. By including group accounts in the PAYT
Ordinance, staff estimates 10,000 more residences (approximately 19% of residences in Fort
Collins) will participate in the unit-based trash system, preventing up to 15,000 cubic yards of
municipal solid waste from being sent to local landfills for disposal. Staff also expects to see a 4-6%
increase in recycling in these residences.
Code language is also being added to Chapter 12, requiring that persons arranging group accounts
for trash service do so in a manner consistent with the PAYT requirements.
BACKGROUND
In 1995, the City of Fort Collins adopted a PAYT trash requirement for trash haulers (Section 15-
412 of the City Code). By requiring that haulers charge a variable rate for trash, the PAYT system
provides economic incentives for single-family and two-family residences to reduce their household
March 16, 2004 -2- Item No. 26 A-B
waste and increase efforts to recycle. The City requires trash hauling companies to apply these
variable rates as a condition of their license to provide residential trash services.
The Natural Resources Department continues to work at the request of the City Council to ensure
that the PAYT program is effective. One issue that has been brought to staff's attention is the
difficulty of applying variable rates in situations where property management companies,
homeowner associations (HOAs), neighborhood associations, or other intermediaries negotiate with
trash haulers for group service and rates.
The City continues to endorse the practice of consolidated trash collection accounts because of their
positive environmental benefits (less damage to roads, traffic, noise and pollution). However, in
some cases staff has found that individual customers in group accounts are not being given their
choice of trash service level with unit-based rates. For example, an HOA may negotiate a contract
whereby all homes receive the same 90-gallon container per week and are billed the same base rate,
and the option of choosing a lower service level (e.g. 30-gallon or 60-gallon) is not available. This
situation negates the economic incentive of the PAYT system and reduces its effectiveness.
Staff developed amendments to the PAYT requirement during 2003, with input from interested
citizens and the private sector. The proposed changes were discussed by the City Council on
February 3, 2004, and the first reading of this Ordinance was postponed to allow staff to respond
to Council direction. In response to direction given at that meeting, staff has drafted two additional
amendments:
1. Revisions to Ordinance No. 025, 2004, (shown in bold faced type) to:
a. clarify that inspection or audit of records will occur at the hauler's place of
business or other reasonably convenient location designated by the hauler;
b. provide additional procedures to protect confidential records from release;
and
c. clarify that haulers may not be unfairly targeted for inspections.
2. Ordinance No. 054, 2004, enacting a new Article in Chapter 12 of the City Code to
require that representatives of group accounts who negotiate for consolidated trash
services must also comply with the PAYT provisions (in addition to the regulated
trash hauling industry); and
The Natural Resources Advisory Board considered the proposed PAYT revisions on November 5,
2003, and recommended approval of the revisions. The NRAB had also inquired about holding
those who arrange group accounts responsible for compliance with the requirements. The proposed
amendments to Chapter 12 address those concerns.
ORDINANCE NO. 025, 2004
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 15, ARTICLE XV
OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS RELATING
TO SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND RECYCLING SERVICES
WHEREAS, in 1964, the City first enacted licensure requirements for solid waste collection
services with the adoption of Ordinance No. 42, 1964; and
WHEREAS, in the intervening years, those licensure provisions have since been modified,
and repealed and reenacted, and are now set out in Chapter 15, Article XV of the Code of the City
of Fort Collins; and
WHEREAS, in June 1995, the Council enacted Ordinance No. 58, 1995, requiring residential
trash haulers in Fort Collins to apply variable rates ("pay-as-you-throw") and provide curbside
recycling services at no extra charge, in order to encourage the reduction and diversion of solid
waste in residential households; and
WHEREAS, in March 2000, the Council adopted Ordinance No. 22, 2000, updating the
provisions of Chapter 15, Article XV of the Code in order to provide for more effective enforcement
mechanisms, including recordkeeping and audit requirements; and
WHEREAS, since that time, staff has worked to review and monitor the effectiveness of the
pay-as-you-throw system, and has determined that compliance with those requirements in group
residential accounts has been very limited; and
WHEREAS, in order to clarify the application of the pay-as-you-throw system to group
accounts, and to provide more specific guidance as to how group accounts must be administered in
order to accomplish the pay-as-you-throw objectives embodied in the Code, staff is recommending
that the Council adopt the proposed amendments to the existing Code provisions, as set forth herein.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That Section 15-411 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins be amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 15-411. Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this Article, shall have the
meanings ascribed to them in this Section:
. . . . .
Communal system for the collection of waste shall mean an arrangement for the
collection of waste from multiple properties or residences using collection containers
shared by those properties or residences.
. . . . .
Group account shall mean a customer account for solid waste haulingcollection
services that provides for collection of waste from multiple residential customers,
regardless of the method by which such services are contracted or arranged. An
account for service arranged by a single property owner for collection of solid waste
from multiple locations owned by that property owner shall not constitute a group
account for the purposes of this Article.
. . . . .
Residential customers shall mean residential properties for which there is a
curbside collection system for the collection of solid wastea communal system for
the collection of waste is not employed.
. . . . .
Section 2. That Section 15-412(c) and (d) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins be
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-412. License requirement.
. . . . .
(c) Volume based rates.
(1) Any person licensed to operate as a solid waste collector within the city
shall charge all single-family and two-familyresidential customers,
including, but not limited to, residential customers provided service
through a group account, on the basis of the volume capacity (or volume
capacity category) of the containers of solid waste placed for collection by
theeach residential customer. The amount to be charged for such containers
shall be determined by each solid waste collector; provided, however, that
no volume capacity category shall exceed a range of variation in volume
capacity of more than thirty-three (33) gallons. Said charges need not be
based upon the volume of solid waste actually deposited within such
containers by the residential customers. The charge for additional
containers of the same volume capacity (or volume capacity category) shall
not be less than the charge for the first such container.
(2) In order to further ensure that the charge for the collection of solid waste
is based upon volume as required above, any person licensed as a solid
waste collector shall, with respect to single-family and two-family
residential customers, provide to sucheach residential customers disposable
bags, or labels to be attached to nondisposable containers showing the
volume capacity (or volume capacity category) of such containers, or shall
establish another system for accomplishing the same purpose which is
acceptable to the city. A solid waste collector shall arrange for provision
of service to each group account in a manner that results in an individual
selection by each individual residential customer of a level of service from
the full range of container sizes and levels of service offered by the hauler.
(3) In offering or arranging for services, a solid waste collector shall provide
reasonable notice of the full range of bag or container sizes or levels of
service offered by the hauler, and shall provide to each residential customer
that customer’s requested container size or level of service.
(4) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly attach any such label to
a container exceeding in volume the volume capacity (or volume capacity
category) shown on, or represented by, such label, and to place said
container for collection.
(5) No solid waste collector shall collect or transport solid waste which has not
been placed for collection through such system or in bags or containers
upon which such labels have been attached. Upon emptying any such
containers, the collector shall remove or otherwise void all such labels.
(6) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed as prohibiting any
collector from also establishing rules and regulations regarding the
maximum weight of containers of solid waste and/or recyclable materials.
(d) Flat monthly fee. In addition to the volume-based rates required pursuant
to paragraph (c) above, solid waste collectors may, but are not required to, establish
a flat monthly fee which may be charged to single-family and two-family residential
customers for the purpose of covering the fixed operational costs of doing business
of such solid waste collectors. If a solid waste collector elects to charge such flat
monthly fee, said fee shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the aggregated customer
cost (the combination of the flat monthly fee plus the monthly volume rate charged
pursuant to paragraph (c) above, assuming the collection of one [1] container per
week). Said flat monthly fee shall be based upon the following formula:
Flat monthly fee < .50 x C
Where:
C = aggregated customer cost (flat monthly fee + 4.33 x volume rate charged
per container)
In the event that a solid waste collector elects to establish a flat monthly fee, all bills
for services provided by such collector to single-family and two-familyresidential
customers shall clearly show both the flat monthly fee and the volume-based rate.
Additionally, in the event that a solid waste collector elects to establish a flat
monthly fee, such collector shall, within ten (10) calendar days after establishing
such fee and on or before January 1 of each ensuing year, deliver to the City's
Natural Resources Director a true and correct copy of such solid waste collector's
rate schedule, including, but not limited to, each group account rate schedule.
Section 3. That Section 15-413(a) and (d) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins be
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-413. Recycling requirement.
(a) Curbside/on-site collection.
(1) AllEach solid waste collector licensed by the city shall make available to
theirits multifamily and commercial customers, and other customers
receiving solid waste collection services through a communal system of
waste collection, at the customer's option, curbside collection of recyclable
materials as said materials are designated from time to time by the City
Manager as provided in § 15-414 of this Article. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, the collection of recyclable materials from multifamily and/or
commercialcustomers pursuant to this Subsection (1) shall not be required
if the collector determines that there is not sufficient space available to
allow the placement of recycling containers without encroaching on needed
parking areas or on the sidewalk or street, or without impairing or
impeding bicycle, pedestrian or vehicular traffic. The provisions of this
subparagraph (1) as they apply to single-family and two-family residential
customers shall terminate and be of no further force or effect commencing
October 1, 1995.
(2) Commencing October 1, 1995, allEach solid waste collectors licensed by
the city shall provide to each single-family and two-familyresidential
customer in the city, as a part of any solid waste collection services
provided by such solid waste collector, both the collection at curbside of
solid waste, and recyclable materials as said materials are designated from
time to time by the City Manager as provided in § 15-414 of this Article.
No such collector shall be permitted to divide or diminish the provision of
said basic service at the request of such customer or for any other reason.
. . . . .
(d) Customer notification. Upon the initial provision of solid waste collection
services to new customers, and on or before December 31 of each year with respect
to existing customers, collectors shall notify in writing such customers of the
availability of the collection of recyclable materials, the materials designated for
recycling collection pursuant to § 15-414 and such rules and regulations as have been
established by the collector for the orderly collection of recyclable materials as
authorized pursuant to § 15-413(b)(2). Such notice shall further include notification
of the variable rate system employed by the solid waste collector, and shall be in a
form reasonably acceptable to the city to ensure that customers are fully informed
of the availability of recycling and level of service options. The collector shall
deliver to the city's Natural Resources Director a true and correct copy of the form
of each such notification sent on or before December 31 of each year.
Section 4. That Section 15-415(a) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-415. Application for license.
(a) Any person desiring to obtain a license to engage in the business of solid
waste collection shall make written application to the Financial Officer on forms
provided by the city. The application shall include, without limitation, the following
information:
(1) The name and address of the applicant;
(2) The principal place of business for the business to be conducted;
(3) A list of vehicles owned and/or operated by the applicant directly in the
collection of solid waste and/or recyclables, including vehicle make, color,
year, cubic yard capacity, Colorado license plate number and empty tare
weight.
(4) A description of the system to be used to account for and charge volume-
based rates, as required under § 15-412(c), and a plan describing the
structure and operation of the recycling collection services to be offered to
each customer class. The description of the system shall include a detailed
description of the means by which residential customers are notified of and
offered the full range of sizes of bags or containers provided. In addition,
the description shall provide sufficient detail to allow the Financial Officer
to determine the means by which volume-based rates are applied to
residential customers receiving waste hauling services through any group
account, and the methods used to offer and account for the volume-based
charges.
Section 5. That Section 15-418(b), (c) and (e) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is
hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-418. Plans, recordkeeping and reports.
. . . . .
(b) Each collector licensed pursuant to this Article shall maintain accurate and
complete records of the service provided to each residential customer, the charges
to such customer and payments received, the form and recipients of any notice
required pursuant to this Article, and any underlying records, including any books,
accounts, contracts for services, written records of individual level of service
requests, invoices, route sheets or other records necessary to verify the accuracy and
completeness of such records. It shall be the duty of each collector to keep and
preserve all such documents and records, including any electronic information, for
a period of three (3) years from the end of the calendar year of such records, except
for paper records of route sheets, which may be discarded one (1) year after the end
of the calendar year of such route sheets.
(c) Promptly upon a request by the City Manager in connection with an audit
or other investigation he or she has initiated, a licensee shall make records retained
pursuant to subsection 15-417(b) available, at its place of business or in such other
in a reasonably convenient location as the licensee shall specify, for review by the
City Manager, the Financial Officer or his or her designee, or an officer of the city
charged with the investigation of potential violations of the Code, for the purpose of
enforcing the requirements of this Article. Any such information constituting
confidential customer records or financial proprietary information and identified as
such by the licensee shall be maintained as confidential by the city, unless otherwise
required by court order or as agreed by the relevant party-in-interest. If the city
receives a request for public inspection or a request for release of any of said
information to a third party, the city shall provide timely notice of such request
to licensee.
. . . . .
(e) All collectors shall accurately and completely report to the city the
following information:
(1) Number of tons or cubic yards of solid waste collected from all single-
family, two-family andresidential, multifamily residentialand commercial
customers.
(2) Number of tons of each type (as determined by the City Manager pursuant
to §15-414) of recyclables collected through the commercial and
multifamily recyclables collection program.
(3) Number of tons of each type (as determined by the City Manager pursuant
to §15-414) of household recyclables collected through the curbside
recyclables collection program.
(4) Number of tons of each type (as determined by the City Manager pursuant
to §15-414) of household recyclables collected by drop-off system.
Such reports shall be made on forms to be provided by the city and shall be made
biannually for each full half-year of curbside collection performed by the collector.
A half-year shall mean January 1 through June 30 or July 1 through December 31.
All such reports shall be submitted to the City Manager no later than thirty (30) days
following the close of each half-year.
Section 6. That Section 15-422 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-422. Investigation of reports, records and other items relating to
compliance with this Article.
For the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of any reports, plans or other
documents submitted or required to be prepared and maintained by a licensed
collector pursuant to this Article, or for the purpose of determining compliance with
any requirements of this Article of any person, whether or not the same is licensed
under this Article, the City Manager may hold investigations, including audits, and
hearings concerning any matters covered by this Article, and may examine any
relevant books, papers, records or memoranda of any such person and may require
the attendance of such person, or any officer or employee of such person, or of any
person having knowledge of transactions involved, and may take testimony and
proof of the information. The City Manager shall have the power to administer oaths
to such persons. Except for routine or random audits, any such investigation
shall be based upon a complaint or other reasonable suspicion of a violation.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 16th day of
March, A.D. 2004, and to be presented for final passage on the 6th day of April, A.D. 2004.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
Passed and adopted on final reading this 6th day of April, A.D. 2004.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
ORDINANCE NO. 053, 2004
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 12, ARTICLE II
OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS RELATING
TO COLLECTION OF GARBAGE AND REFUSE
WHEREAS, in 1964, the City first enacted licensure requirements for solid waste collection
services with the adoption of Ordinance No. 42, 1964; and
WHEREAS, in the intervening years, those licensure provisions have since been modified,
and repealed and reenacted, and are now set out in Chapter 15, Article XV of the Code of the City
of Fort Collins; and
WHEREAS, in order to clarify the application of the pay-as-you-throw system to group
accounts, and to provide more specific guidance as to how group accounts must be administered in
order to accomplish the pay-as-you-throw objectives embodied in the Code, staff is recommending
that the Council adopt the proposed amendments to the existing Code provisions, as set forth in
Ordinance No. 025, 2004, presented for Council approval of even date herewith; and
WHEREAS, in connection with its initial consideration of proposed Ordinance No. 025,
2004, the Council determined that the purposes of that Ordinance would be furthered by enacting
a Code provision affirmatively requiring persons arranging for group accounts for solid waste
hauling services to arrange those accounts in a manner consistent with the volume based service
requirements of Chapter 15 of the City Code.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That Section 12-17 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins be amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 12-17. Purpose and policy.
The purpose of this Article is to protect the public health, safety and welfare by
regulating the accumulation, storage, transportation and disposal of refuse and
rubbish to prevent conditions that may create fire, health or safety hazards, harbor
undesirable pests or impair the aesthetic appearance of the neighborhood, and to
further the volume-based service requirements for collection of solid waste set forth
in Article XV of Chapter 15 of this Code. The City Council shall use every means
at its disposal, including its police powers, for the enforcement of this Article.
Section 2. That a new Section 12-19 be added to Chapter 12, Article II of the Code of
the City of Fort Collins, to read as follows:
Sec. 12-19. Group accounts for collection.
(a) No person who solicits solid waste collection services from a solid waste
collector for residential customers through a group account shall:
(1) fail to arrange for service in a manner that offers residential customers:
(i) choices from amongst volume capacity categories of the containers
of solid waste that are placed for collection by the residential
customer; and
(ii) charges to residential customers that are based upon such volume
capacity categories; or
(2) fail to provide reasonable notice of such volume capacity categories and
volume based rates to all residential customers served through the group
account once such volume capacity categories and related rates have been
provided by a solid waste collector; or
(3) in any way discourage, or provide disincentives to, any current or
prospective residential customer served through a group account who
wishes to select a volume capacity category that is different from that
selected by other residential customers served through such account.
(b) For the purposes of this Section, the terms contained herein shall have the
same meaning as in § 15-411.
Section 3. That all remaining sections of Article II of Chapter 12 of the Code of the City
of Fort Collins be renumbered accordingly.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 16th day of
March, A.D. 2004, and to be presented for final passage on the 6th day of April, A.D. 2004.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk
Passed and adopted on final reading this 6th day of April, A.D. 2004.
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk