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Report: Phase II: Bear-Resistant Solid Waste Management Plan (Update #6)
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SUBMITTED BY: Bart Hinkle, Chief of Police
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Expenditure Required: N/A
Unencumbered Balance: N/A
Funding Source: N/A
RECOMMENDATION:
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Receive and file.
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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 sa...
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