HomeMy WebLinkAbout025 - 04/20/2004 - AMENDING THE CITY CODE RELATING TO SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND RECYCLING SERVICES 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and repealed and reenacted, and are now set out in Chapter 15, Article XV of the Code of the City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 is hereby
amended to read as follows:
See. 15-411. Definitions.
when used in this Article shall have the
The following words,terms and phrases, ,
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 collection 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 a 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 is
hereby 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 residential 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 each 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.
Until January 1,2006,the performance of legally binding arrangements for the provision
of solid waste collection services to group accounts that: (1)were in effect as of the effective date of
Ordinance No. 025, 2004, and(2)do not offer choice of volume based service levels to individual
residential customers,shall be deemed not to violate the terms of Section 15-412 for so long as and to the
extent that the existing contractual obligations preclude the solid waste collector from modifying the rates
or terms of such services to offer choice of level of service to individual residential customers in
compliance with the requirements of Section 15-412.
(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 provide to each residential customer 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 maybe charged to 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 residential 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 formula used to determine group account rate schedules.
Section 3. That Section 15-413(a) and (d) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is
hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 15-413. Recycling requirement.
(a) Curbside%n-site collection.
(1) Each solid waste collector licensed by the city shall make available to its
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 customers 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.
(2) Each solid waste collector licensed by the city shall provide to each
residential 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. For group accounts,the
notices required hereunder may be sent to the group representative for said account,
provided that such notice shall further notify said representative of its obligation to
notify all individual residential customers within the group of the availability of
recycling services and the terms of variable rate service options, pursuant to§ 12-
19(b). The collector shall deliver to the city's Natural Resources Director a true and
correct copy of each form of 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, such as the formula used to set volume based rates for any group
accounts, 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
reasonably coi?venient 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 the
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 residential,
multifamily and 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 reasonable suspicion of a violation as determined by the City
Manager. The City Manager shall provide advance notice to the affected solid waste
collector of his or her intent to conduct an investigation under this Section,unless the
City Manager determines that provision of such notice may compromise the purpose
of the investigation.
Introduced, considered favorably on First Reading, and ordered published this 6th day of
April, A.D. 2004, and to be presented for final passage on the 20th day of rill A.D. 2004
Mayor
ATTEST:
C
City Clerk
Passed and adopted on final reading this 20th day of April, A.D. 2004
Mayor
ATTEST:
City Clerk