Code Compliance! Council Mulls New Law On Decibel Levels in Dixon, Okays New Waste Management Pact
Code Compliance! Council Mulls New Law On Decibel Levels in Dixon, Okays New Waste Management Pact
By Ben Edokpayi, Staff Reporter ©
Word Count 1904
A new ordinance on decibel levels in Dixon is on the horizon.
The item listed as Chapter 9.05 at Tuesday’s City Council session was initiated by City Attorney Douglas L. White and Jim Lindley, City Manager.
The plan to enact new noise control laws was postponed to City Council’s next regular meeting but not without some weighted insights from former Council Member and Newspaper Columnist Michael Ceremello who used what seemed to be concerns about a particular neighborhood to buttress his dissension about the proposed law
“I have driven past that area. On Independence Day I figured there would be many people celebrating and making noise, that would be the day. I have driven through that area several times and didn’t hear a peep, no celebration, no move,” said Ceremello, who visited this reporter just before his elections, after complaints about hazards.
The former Council Member added “If this has been taken care of why are we wasting staff and attorney time to develop a new ordinance. I just don’t think it is necessary,” he cautioned.
(Experts believe this will be a legal pathfinder for municipalities especially in Solano and New York. https://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Fairfield/html/Fairfield25/Fairfield2556.html
https://www.ci.vacaville.ca.us/home/showdocument 923
https://www.solanocounty.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=14394#
https://untappedcities.com/2016/07/11/cities-101-nycs-noise-pollution-and-how-the-city-resolves-it/ )
In the main deliberation at Tuesday’s council session, and after robust discussions and comments from several members of the public that included Kay Fulfs Cayler, Ceremello and David and his wife Deborah Dingman, members adopted a resolution to amend the Franchise Agreement between the city of Dixon and Dixon Sanitary Services, Inc. Cayler contested for city council in 2006.
Public Works Director Lauren Kotow in her presentation informed council members that the City of Dixon has an exclusive agreement for solid waste, recyclables, and organic waste collection and disposal with Dixon Sanitary Services, Inc. (Recology) since 1996 and a new Senate Bill (SB) 1383 placed new regulatory requirements on the City that necessitate changes to the collection agreement.
The City and Recology have negotiated an amendment to the franchise agreement to meet all the latest state mandates while maintaining some of the lowest collection rates in the greater Bay Area.
In September 2016, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) establishing methane emissions reduction targets in a state-wide effort to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) in various sectors of California’s economy. Methane emissions result from the decomposition of organic waste in landfills and are a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. SB 1383 directs the Department of Resources Recycling & Recovery (CalRecycle) to adopt regulations and requirements to achieve state-wide goals. CalRecycle is one of Six Departments under CalEPA whose mission “ is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.” Other agencies under the CalePA Umbrella include Air Resources Board, Department of Pesticide Regulation, Office of Environmental Health Hazards, State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Toxic Substances Control Board, where this reporter was the Information Officer for the CalSafer https://calsafer.dtsc.ca.gov/ and SCP https://dtsc.ca.gov/scp/ Environmental Protection Initiatives. https://calepa.ca.gov/
These State Departments, especially DTSC where I was Information Officer for the States CaSafer and SCP Environmental Protection initiatives “ all work in tandem with city governments to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality. Michael Regan is the first Black man and second person of color to lead the U.S. EPA.
https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-administrator
https://dtsc.ca.gov/executive-leadership-team/
Dixon Public Works Director said these goals include achieving a 75% reduction in statewide disposal of organic waste by 2025, and a recovery of 20% or more of currently disposed edible food, directing it toward human consumption. While the City and Recology have made significant progress towards achieving SB 1383 goals and CalRecycle requirements, amendments to the franchise agreement are necessary for full compliance.
The proposed amendments to the City’s franchise agreement with Recology require the City’s hauler to offer organic service to all customers, perform route reviews, contamination monitoring, noticing, education and outreach, and reporting services as required by SB 1383.
The amendment includes the following scope added to City services:
• 10-Year Term valid through July 4, 2032
o May be extended (by mutual agreement) for up to two five (5) year terms for a total term expiring July 4, 2042
o Performance Review completed by Year 4 with section outlining selection, cost, purpose, and standards
• Standard Definitions to be in compliance with SB 1383
• Weekly service will be provided to all customers lCWl 14575. I}
o Bundled Cart Service for all residential customers (garbage, recycling, and organics)
o Bundled Collection Service for all commercial customers (garbage with 96- gallon recycling, and 64-gallon organics)
• 1 free landfill voucher to all Residential customers annually
• Kitchen food pails distributed from Dixon Recycling Center
• Cart replacement upon request once every 1 O years at no cost to customers
• Performance Requirements updated to include additional reporting, route reviews, 0.5 FTE Waste Zero Specialist, Waiver Participation, and Education and Outreach materials
• Rate adjustments revised to remove 1 % Consumer Price Index (CPI) reduction
• Curbside Recycling “opt out” option to be removed in its entirety • All City facilities will be serviced under Exhibit B of the Agreement
• Updated Liquidated Damages section to provide metrics for performance monitoring
In order for Recology to perform these required actions, a rate adjustment must be adopted to account for the additional annual expenses incurred and capital resources needed by Recology. The special adjustment would increase rates sufficient to cover all costs of the organics collection and diversion program mandated under SB 1383 and would be applied July 1, 2022.
The proposed rate increase for these additional services is 18.00%. Staff and the City’s consultant have reviewed the proposed amendment to the Franchise Agreement between the City and Recology as well as the subsequent rate increase and determined the changes to be justified.
The public comments which featured speakers Cayler, Ceremello and David Dingman and his seemingly concerned wife Deborah, Independent Voice Newspaper Editor who spoke as a resident, were as informative as council members’ deliberations on the extremely important environmental, health and indoor hazards matter. David and Deborah are parents of four children.
Before public comments a council member asked Recology’s Scott Pardini about a situation where an infirm resident requires a neighbor as a good deed to dispose off waste with use of their voucher. The Waste company official told council members that the Voucher owner must be present to authorize use of their voucher by a neighbor for disposal of waste (It was not specified whether these vouchers are usable for disposal of toxic and dangerous items such as a dildo.)
Former Council member Mike Ceremello who questioned the agreement used a comparison of waste disposal rates at the Vacaville Hayroad landfill, Manteca locations in comparison with the higher rate at the San Francisco landfill as an insightful carte blanche for his disagreement with the Consultant for their rates being cheaper.
“These things all need to be questioned,” voiced Ceremello.
In the past the Hayroad Landfill has been subject of investigations that include a rash of scavengers, embezzlement and bribery scheme that involved at least ($247,000) at the Hay Road landfill east of Vacaville. A 2015 criminal matter was jointly investigated by the County and Alameda County Waste Management Authority. Alameda county is where our son murdered in 2018 was adopted from.
In 2005 there was another case by Carl Ray Harris, an African American and an employee of the Previous management of the Landfill. In an interview with the Tribune published in 2005 Harris says he was racially harassed between 2003 and 2005 and filed a complaint of racial harassment with the California Department of Fair Employment and the EEOC.
When contacted by phone by this reporter in 2005 former Plant Supervisor Greg Prior confirmed Harris had worked for the company, but he wouldn’t comment on his past work record nor the racial allegations.
“I am not able to speak about that now. You would have to talk to our attorney,” said Prior.
“I have worked here for 10 years and this is very unusual. Our diversity policy in a nutshell is to treat everybody equally,`` Nor-Cal Waste Spokesman Robert Reed told the Tribune. In that complaint filed on June 8, 2005 Harris alleged that he was “subjected to unbearable harassment” between November 5, 2003 and December 21, 2004; a situation that eventually led to his termination on March 15, 2005.
Harris, who played for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, approached the Tribune after talking with former Dixon USPS Postmaster John Stalnakerr.
“I don’t know him (Harris) very well but he seems to be a credible guy the few times I have met him. Here we are in 2005 and this kind of garbage is still happening. This kind of ugliness needs to be exposed,” said Stalnaker who noted he also had one of his carriers subjected to racial harassment while delivering mail to a Dixon eatery.
Wel times have changed under the new management which promotes Resources, Respect and Responsibility emphasized Kerry Baxter.
Kay Fulfs Cayler, who said she was opportuned to tour the facility, said public education will certainly help residents understand the new agreement and its implementation better especially as it pertains to use of the green totes.
She described the process as very simple except for one time when she mistakenly put some ribs with some meat still on them. “The next day I had squeaky clean ribs all over the backyard because the raccoons had gotten to them,” she informed the council. She did not explain whether the raccoons we’re also attracted by ants.
“ I realize there are some people who don’t understand what’s going on. All of these things are driven by State law and I think we are lucky to have Recology guiding us through this,” said Council member Jim Ernest. “ They are good at Public Information. They are good at implementing things and undress things that oftentimes some other companies do not foresee. I am glad we have them.”
One of those unmitigated hazards could be as innocuous as disposal of Jeans laced with unregulated toxic items from abroad, a subject which a 2016 article by Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg’s Retail Reporter spotlighted.
This reporter while at CalEPA-DTSC, and as Information Officer for the SCP Environmental Protection Initiative facilitated her research and journey to the SF Market Street Levi Jeans headquarters for interviews for that exclusive investigation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-01/those-nasty-chemicals-in-your-blue-jeans-aren-t-easy-to-replace
Here is another important Bloomberg Enterprise Feature By Lauren Coleman-Lochner on Hazardous Waste https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-20/wal-mart-asks-suppliers-to-remove-eight-chemicals-from-products#xj4y7vzkg
The agreement has also been reviewed for legal sufficiency by the City Attorney Douglas L. White.
NB! A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday July 13 edition of the Dixon Tribune, the newspaper of record for the city of Dixon. The town (Population 21,000) was formerly known as Dickson.
