ITEM TITLE:
Report: Phase II: Bear-Resistant Solid Waste Management Plan (Update #6)
SUBMITTED BY: Bart Hinkle, Chief of Police
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive and file.
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
The Valdez Bear Working Group has existed for a number of years, with the following Mission Statement: The Valdez Bear Working Group will develop a Bear Management Plan that strives to create and maintain a sustainable relationship between humans and bears. The Valdez Bear Management Plan was originally adopted in 2013, and reviewed and revised on an annual basis.
In 2018 the Valdez Bear Working Group consisted of the Chief of Police, Animal Control Officer(s), the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Director, the Public Works Director, the Baler Foreman, the City Manager/their designee, the Valdez-based Alaska State Trooper, an at-large community member, and a [vacant] City Council representative.
That group reviewed and updated the Bear Management Plan, while also identifying the 2019 top priority as: Implement & Enforce Bear-Proof Solid Waste Management throughout Valdez.
Over the course of countless meetings, the Valdez Bear Working Group collaborated to create a handful of alternative solid waste management options throughout Valdez that:
• Reduced/eliminated access that bears have to non-natural food sources (human-generated garbage)
• Standardized and codified acceptable containers for curbside collection
• Reduced/eliminated litter or unsightly piles of garbage at the end of driveways
• Maintained or increased overall available cubic yards of solid waste disposal
• Increased number of households utilizing curbside collection
• Mitigated potential injuries due to COV personnel during curbside collection
• Reduced the number of employees necessary for curbside collection
• Reduced the amount of time necessary for curbside collection
• Identified cost savings that would ultimately offset the cost of the implemented program
This work culminated in a formal presentation, during a work session, in front of City Council on 4.16.19 (see attachment). Discussions at that work session resulted in an agreement to move forward with a two phased approach of COV-approved containers for curbside collection [Phase I], and the establishment of public use dumpster pods in select locations with the intention of reducing the overall number of residential dumpsters in service and offsetting the costs of the initial phase [Phase II].
The COV-approved container program was funded during the 2020 Budget process and began in earnest in February of 2020 with the adoption of changes made to VMC 8.08 (Garbage Collection and Disposal) via Ordinance No. 20-01.
Since March of 2020 a portion of the City of Valdez website has been dedicated to thorough and transparent communication on the Wildlife Resistant Garbage Collection Program <https://www.valdezak.gov/553/Wildlife-Resistant-Garbage-Collection-Pr>. Five previous updates, between Dec. 21, 2021 and Feb. 22, 2022, included on Council agendas were dedicated to describing the communication efforts both underway and planned for the future to advise citizens of the upcoming Dumpster Pods.
Given the recent community interactions, it seems apparent that many throughout the community are aware that the City plans to establish Dumpster Pods beginning on May 18, 2022. As such, this report was designed to provide background related to the Wildlife Resistant Garbage Collection Program (aka: Bear-Resistant Sold Waste Management Plan) and methodology for doing so.
SYNOPSIS:
Phase I of the program has been implemented in full, including purchases of Wildlife Resistant Containers (WRC’s) and the upfit/purchase of the necessary equipment to facilitate curbside collection of the WRC’s.
Phase I has been successful. The number of wildlife/garbage related incidents have decreased, garbage is more securely stored and presented in a uniform and aesthetically pleasing container, and the number of households utilizing curbside collection services has nearly doubled (from ~550 to ~1000).
Phase II of the program has been planned since 2019 and is the phase in which dumpster inventory is reduced to provide cost offsets and -ultimately- have the WRC program break even.
For example, a reduction of dumpsters in inventory from 280 dumpsters to 250 dumpsters would project to a break even point in mid-2024 (see attachment). Naturally, reducing the number of dumpsters in inventory by less than 30 would result in the break even point moving even further out, and conversely so if the reduction was more than 30 dumpsters.
Establishment and implementation of the dumpster pods have a number of benefits, including wildlife management, aesthetics, increased litter and debris control, passive monitoring and greater accountability, overall community safety, and operational efficiencies.
That being said, the primary objective in going from “status quo” to establishment of Dumpster Pods and a reduction in dumpster inventory is budgetary.
The Bear Working Group (BWG), including members of the Public Works Department, was challenged to come up with a plan that addressed the aforementioned myriad of issues - while also paying for itself. That plan was presented by the BWG to Council on 4.16.19 and remains relevant and viable to this day.