The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 11/19/2013 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 164, 2013, APPROPRIAgenda Item 6 Item # 6 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY November 19, 2013 City Council STAFF Susie Gordon, Senior Environmental Planner SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 164, 2013, Appropriating Prior Year Reserves in the General Fund for Waste Reduction and Diversion Projects Approved by the Waste Innovation Program. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to shift $53,100 accumulated during 2013 in the Waste Innovation Program Fund (WIP) account into the City’s General Fund account for an approved Streets Department project to buy a new piece of equipment called a Power Screen, for use at the Hoffman Mill Road Crushing Facility. The Power Screen will significantly increase the Streets Department’s ability to screen ground-up asphalt, concrete aggregates, and fill dirt, from the current maximum of 300 tons/day to 400 tons an hour. On an annual basis, the Mill Road Crushing Facility averages 100,000 tons of recycling. Products generated by the Facility are used on City streets paving projects or sold to the public. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION The City Manager created the Waste Innovation Program Fund (WIP) in 2010 to pay for projects that improve the City’s organizational ability to divert waste generated by municipal activities from being disposed in the Larimer County landfill. Discarded material and trash that City crews self-haul to the landfill is charged only 28 cents/cubic yard by Larimer County Solid Waste Department, which is passed through in payment to the state for landfill regulatory management and monitoring programs. The balance of the regular “tipping fee” at the landfill, $5.27 per cubic yard, is placed in the WIP Fund. WIP revenues are received from 15 City departments that self-haul various types of waste to the landfill. An interdepartmental group of employees participates in awarding funds when requests are received from departments. Members of this group also act as “waste reduction champions” throughout the organization and communicate with crews about how to apply Best Management Practices in City operations. When the Streets Department submitted an application to the group to purchase a Power Screen in May 2013, the employee group awarded the grant, in recognition that the purposed purchase will allow Streets to continue to make its important contribution to high levels of waste diversion for the City and for the community at large. However, due to delays in ordering, the new equipment was not invoiced to the WIP until after deadlines passed to appropriate funds. This action to appropriate $53,100 will enable the Streets Department to complete its order for the Power Screen in 2013. Packet Pg. 57 Agenda Item 6 Item # 6 Page 2 FINANCIAL / ECONOMIC IMPACT This Ordinance makes $53,100 available for a City organization waste reduction project that has been submitted and approved for funding from the Waste Innovation Program as part of the internal competitive process in 2013. By improving the Streets Department’s ability to operate efficiently, the use of WIP funds will strengthen the Crushing Facility’s financial condition, due to savings on fuel and reduced time needed for an employee operator to process materials. The Crushing Facility also allows the City of Fort Collins to save money by utilizing its own road base for paving projects. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS WIP funds are intended to help City departments reduce their trash sent to the landfill. The Streets Department operates the City’s Crushing Facility on Hoffman Mill Road, where old asphalt, cement, porcelain items (toilets, sinks, and tubs), bricks, tiles, aggregates and soil are accepted from the public at no charge, to be ground up and recycled. Many of these loads of material would have otherwise been taken to landfills for disposal. Each year, Streets grinds at an average 100,000 tons of used asphalt, concrete, and aggregates, to then be applied to new paving projects as road base and other products. Putting recycled materials to use instead of producing new paving products helped the City prevent the emissions of greenhouse gases; in 2012, 182.2 MTCO2e were avoided from concrete recycling and 7,008.2 MTCO2e from asphalt recycling. The City staff team further recognized that by purchasing the new equipment, Streets will create additional improvements over the old, small screener currently in use at the City’s Crushing Facility. The Power Screener: 1. Does a better job of sorting more types of material and allows Streets to “customize” more kinds of fill/road base products to meet customer specifications. 2. Will not kick up as much concrete dust. 3. Is portable so other departments (Water Engineering & Field Services, Parks) can borrow the screener to use at other sites. 4. Helps improve operations in terms of: regulatory compliance; fuel consumption (takes less time to process the same amount of material); better use of equipment operator’s time because changing screens is faster. Packet Pg. 58 - 1 - ORDINANCE NO. 164, 2013 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROPRIATING PRIOR YEAR RESERVES IN THE GENERAL FUND FOR WASTE REDUCTION AND DIVERSION PROJECTS APPROVED BY THE WASTE INNOVATION PROGRAM WHEREAS, in 2010, the City created the Waste Innovation Program (the “WIP”) Fund for the purpose of collecting and disbursing funds to administer grants that allow City departments to initiate new waste diversion and recycling projects, with special attention to departments that have large quantities of waste that have historically been hauled to the Larimer County Landfill by the City; and WHEREAS, an interdepartmental group of City employees acts as a liaison among City departments to incorporate waste reduction, promote recycling strategies, and award funds when requests are received from participating departments; and WHEREAS, this interdepartmental group has received a request from the Streets Department for $53,100 to purchase a “Power Screen” device as an approved waste reduction and diversion project under the WIP; and WHEREAS, the Power Screen would increase the City’s ability to screen ground-up asphalt, concrete aggregates, and fill dirt to 400 tons per hour to be used for public projects and other recycling purposes; WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9, of the City Charter permits the City Council to appropriate by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year such funds for expenditure as may be available from reserves accumulated in prior years, notwithstanding that such reserves were not previously appropriated; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That there is hereby appropriated for expenditure from prior year reserves in the General Fund the sum of FIFTY THREE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($53,100) to fund an approved Waste Reduction and Diversion project approved by the Waste Innovation Program. Packet Pg. 59 - 2 - Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 19th day of November, A.D. 2013, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of December, A.D. 2013. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ Deputy City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 3rd day of December, A.D. 2013. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Packet Pg. 60