A MOTION acknowledging receipt of a report on garbage collection in unincorporated areas by the solid waste division of the department of natural resources and parks, as required by the 2017-2018 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 18409, Section 107, as amended by Ordinance 18544, Section 68, Proviso P5.
We have two final items. Maybe we can get through them relatively expeditiously. Both are about solid waste. So I'm not I'm going to skip my introduction and just call on our staff. Mary and John and Terre Rose to walk us through both of these items, and we'll take them up one at a time. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and members of the committee. For the record, I'm here, Rose. And with me is Mary Bergeron of Council Staff Proposed Motion 2018 0062 would acknowledge receipt of a report on garbage collection in unincorporated areas in response to a budget proviso requirement. The materials for this item begin on page 141 of your packet. The Council adopted a budget proviso as a part of the 2017 2018 biennial budget requiring the executive to conduct a public outreach process, prepare additional analysis on recycling rates, and provide a report to council prior to advancing any proposal to reduce garbage collection frequency from every week to every other week in the unincorporated area, the proviso is written such that if garbage collection frequency was not planned to be reduced, the report to council could say this and no further analysis or reporting was required. On November 15th, 2017, the executive transmitted a letter to the Council stating that reduced garbage collection will not be pursued from every week to every other week in unincorporated areas of the county, from the state through the end of 2018. And the executive's letter, as transmitted, satisfies the terms of the proviso the Council will have the opportunity to set longer term policy direction regarding garbage collection and recycling rates within the context of the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, which is anticipated to be transmitted later this year. That concludes my staff report, and I'm happy to take any questions. Okay. I'm sorry. Could you say your last sentence again? There's a little. Sure, sure. I was just mentioning that the Council will have a property opportunity to set longer term policy direction concerning garbage collection and recycling rates within the context of the comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, which is anticipated this year. Okay. So this is just I need to get up to where we're at. We are item eight Web page area of 141 141. And the motion is on page 147. That's what I'm looking for. It's a so the motion is to acknowledge receipt of the report. That's what we are being asked to do today. Is there comments or questions about this item? Councilmember two. Thanks. So the report that has come back to us that we are accepting now says that it won't we won't go to every other week garbage collection for the duration of what period. The letter filed with the clerk is from the date. So November 15, 2017 through the end of 2018. Through the end of the year. Okay. But after that, and there hasn't been any commitment one way or the other in terms of from solid waste on the issue. Correct. Okay. Just want to make sure we have all the facts. I have some comments. We're just accepting report and I know some comments. Are just or something you report. So if you have comments, now would be the time. Okay. So just real quick. So again, this accepts the proviso I sponsored and it essentially requires the division to either do significant outreach if they are going to go from one week to two weeks or to delay the policy until after the current by any. And so the division is acknowledged and I think it's great that they're not pursuing every other week garbage collection policy through the current year. But I just want my colleagues to know that when I was first elected to the council, illegal dumping was a huge issue in my district and it continues to be a huge issue in my district. Rates at the transfer stations, combined with growth, have just created a situation where all the people are going out to the unincorporated areas and dumping their trash or washers and dryers or even cars in some extreme situations. So as part of that response, I sponsored legislation that created a voucher program to help low income residents clear dumping grounds. And in the first year, over half the vouchers had been awarded, which just goes to show the extent of the problem. Also, I represent a lot of neighborhoods that are, you know, very unhappy with frequent odors coming from the facilities that we have out there. Of course, in my district, the landfill material composting is out there. There's a lot of odors coming from those facilities as well. And so switching every other we garbage collection is probably going to drive up the collection of work organics which are sent to my district for processing and increase the smell. And with the current rate that the folks have been contacting my office about odors, I'm not comfortable with a every other week policy change going forward until there's a plan to really address the odor concerns. You have no idea how many thousands of emails I get because of the odor related problems down there in that quadrant of the county. So I had a chance to survey my constituents with my newsletter here just last year, and I wanted to get a sense of how they felt about this issue. And and well over half of the residents surveyed said they would be unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with this policy change. And you can understand why. I mean, it's you know, that, you know, you've got situations like, for example, you've got all kinds of critters out there in the unincorporated areas, especially rural King County. And if you're leaving your garbage out for two weeks as opposed to one week, there's a greater opportunity for critters to get in there. There's smell issue, there's rodents and sanitation related issues. And and it's just it's just one of these things that and it's also, you know, even if the containers increased slightly, you still got an issue. You know, we're going to charge them the same amount for the same, but we can charge them the same amount for half the volume being reduced from their house for or from their home. Right, if they're only coming every other week. So those problems that I really have and so I just don't think this is a place to experiment and we'll be very dogged in pursuing that. Continuing on beyond the by any means. I know all the waste understands and appreciates. I just wanted to get that information out. Thank you. Yes. And I would urge we accept the report. Okay. You can simply thank you. Well, I just want to say I agree completely with the previous speaker that we are per capita. We have lots and lots of families out there. And because there's more families with more people in the house that you are going to have more garbage than. You know, averaging a, you know, one or two person household. And as he said, garbage shows up elsewhere. And it has gotten, in some cases, so extreme that we've had to hire a helicopter to come in and bring large items out that have shown up in all kinds of crazy places, which is not safe for other people and just makes it an eyesore. So I think, Councilmember, one of the things that your people need to know that the current garbage plan would take the at the height of garbage piled councilmember, the height of garbage piled up now can go up to 780 feet above sea level. But the proposal is it would go to 800 and I think 20 feet above sea level. So that they're complaining now just wait unless we change our plan. But the plans before us, we'll have an opportunity to talk about that. The other thing is that because of the garbage issues, we do have beer cans available and I think it's $4.99 more a month if you want a beer, garbage can. So for those people out there that are having problems with the bears, you can under our contract ask for a beer, garbage can. Thank you. Thank you. All right. If there's no additional commentary, I would accept a motion to approve motion number 2018 0062 of the do pass recommendation. Gladly. Madam Chair, would we propose motion number 20180062 with a do pass recommendation? But we would also ask that it be removed from the consent agenda very well. Any other comments or questions? I'll ask her to please call the roll. Thank you, Madam Chair. Councilmember Dombrowski. Councilmember Dunn. All right. Councilmember Gossett. I. Council Member Cole Wells. Councilmember Lambert. Councilmember McDermott. All right. Councilmember Staff members. Councilmember one right there. Madam Chair, I. Madam Chair, the vote of Seven Eyes, No No's, council members Cole Wilson and one. Right. They were excused. All right. By your vote. You have. We have passed proposed motion number 2018 0062 of the do pass recommendation. That is to accept the report and it will not be able to consent calendar. So I'll move on to the last item on our agenda today, which is proposed motion number 2017 0505.