HAMILTON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
MANAGER'S MEMORANDUM



DATE: March 7, 2002

TO: District Policy Committee Members

FROM: Jeffrey W. Aluotto, Solid Waste Manager
Cory R. Chadwick, Director

I. Introduction/Opening Comments

NOTICE: This memo is for the meeting to be held on March 14, 2002. This meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. at the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.

Policy Committee Information (Agendas, Manager's Memos, Minutes, etc.) now available on the District's Website at www.hcdoes.org.

II. Clerk's Report/Additions to the Agenda

A. Approval of Minutes - January 10, 2002
Minutes from the January 10, 2002 Policy Committee Meeting are included as Attachment A for the Policy Committee's review and approval.

B. Additions to the Agenda
Please contact Susan Schumacher at 946-7734 or susan.schumacher@hamilton-co.org if you have items to add to the agenda.

III. Finance Subcommittee Report
A. Finance Subcommittee Briefings for March 14, 2002
Mr. Graham will provide a brief report regarding the items discussed and reviewed at the Finance Subcommittee meeting of March 14, 2002.

B. Recommendation Regarding District Disbursements - SWR 02/2002
The Finance Subcommittee reviewed the expenditures at their meeting held prior to this meeting.


STAFF RECOMMENDATION: With any alterations or corrections noted by the Finance Subcommittee members or Policy Committee members, the Staff recommends approval of SWR 02/2002.

IV. Policy Items

A. EPP Policy and Review
Per the request of the Policy Committee, the Draft EPP Policy is included as Attachment B in this memorandum.
The Draft Policy has been revised, only slightly, since its first review by the Committee. Since that time, District Staff have reviewed the Draft with purchasing contacts from Administrative Services, Public Works, County Facilities, Jobs and Family Services and Communications. In addition, Staff met with Dave Krings last week to inform him of the Policy. Reaction from these departments has been positive. Four departments have volunteered to sit on the steering committee for guiding the implementation of this Policy.

  • RRI Policy Review

District Staff have forwarded EPA's position on the District's use of RRI funds to the County Prosecutor. As you will remember, the County Prosecutor took a fairly liberal stance on how communities could use District-provided RRI funds. EPA's Planning Division, however, held a much more rigid interpretation. District Staff is still awaiting the latest response from the Prosecutor's Office.

  • ODNR Outreach Pilot Grant

The Hamilton County Solid Waste District has been offered a unique opportunity to improve its outreach programming. The Department of Natural Resources, seeking to improve State recycling rates and to begin a PET outreach campaign, is seeking to provide a pilot outreach grant to a solid waste management district. The grant involves partnering with the broadcasting outlet of the Cincinnati Reds to measure the effectiveness of this sort of advertising on local diversion rates. The grant would provide $75,000 to the District's match of $54,525.

Included as Attachment C1 and C2  is my initial memo outlining this grant opportunity. As stated in that memo, this opportunity could not come at a better time for the District as residential diversion rates have declined each of the past four year.

Although the District did not budget for this grant, sufficient funds are available to undertake the project. Matching funds will have to be secured through a supplemental appropriation at a future meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.

Pending the success of this grant, ODNR is considering making similar grants available to other areas of the State as well. Through this grant, Hamilton County has the opportunity to break new ground in terms of reversing the trend of declining diversion and participation rates.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Policy Committee approve the District's participation in ODNR's Pilot Outreach Grant Program and the subsequent forwarding of the grant contract to the Board of County Commissioners.

D. Environmental Court

A meeting was held on Wednesday March 6 which included Dr. Jim O'Reilly, Commissioner Portune, District Staff and Municipal Court Administrator Tony Upton to discuss specifics of a potential environmental court for Hamilton County. A full report will be given at the Policy Committee Meeting.

V. Informational Items

A. Facility Updates
On Tuesday, February 26, the Cincinnati Board of Health denied Waste Management's license to operate a Transfer Station at the ELDA site in Winton Hills.

B. Scrap Tire Grant and Market Development Grant Updates
ODNR has informed the District that they will provide Cinergy with $35,000 to perform a test-burn with TDF material. Cinergy has agreed to this funding and will begin implementation of the grant this Spring. The District will serve as a pass-through for these funds and thus will have to encumber the funds through a supplemental appropriation to pass along to Cinergy. The District will be completely reimbursed for this expenditure.

In addition, the District has submitted a Market Development Grant Application on behalf of Omaha Paper Stock Company for the addition of processing capacity at their plant. Results of this grant should be made available in April.

  • Yardwaste Site Update

The District will be opening its three yardwaste sites on March 23. The three sites include Rumpke's landfill in Colerain Township, Kuliga Park in Green Township and Evans Landscaping in Newtown. The sites will be open weekends 11:30 - 5:00 and will operate through November 17. The sites will be re-opened for a week in early January 2003 to deal with Christmas trees.

Last year these sites serviced over 35,000 households from Hamilton County.

  • Mercury Collection Program

In cooperation with the Alliance for Chemical Safety, the Hamilton County General Health District, the Metropolitan Sewer District, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the District will hold a mercury collection event in May. Eleven health departments will serve as collection points for old mercury thermometers which can be dropped off and exchanged for mercury-free replacements. In addition, a hotline will be operated which will direct residents to OEPA's mobile mercury collection program if residents have large amounts of material needing disposal. Mercury collected through this program is taken to Bowling Green's reclamation facility (at no charge) and recycled into closed-loop industrial applications.

This program is a part of the District's efforts to ensure that materials with the greatest potential to impact the environment and human health are removed from the waste stream. The second phase of this program, to begin this Fall, will involve mercury containing thermometers from schools being collected at MSD.

  • EPP Vendor Fair and Exposition

The District, Cincinnati's OEM, and the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition continue planning for a Green Products Expo to be held in Blue Ash on May 16. The Expo will bring together vendors and potential purchasers and end-users of environmentally preferable products. The purpose of the meeting is to provide some first-time training on green purchasing, dispel myths of environmentally friendly products, and allow government purchasers to familiarize themselves with many of the products and green purchasing options available to them. A portion of this project is being funded through an ODNR Recycle Ohio Grant.

VI. Tentative Future Agenda Items

VII. Policy Committee Members' Comments

VIII. Public Comments

IX. Upcoming District Meetings
The date and time of the next regularly scheduled Policy Committee meeting will be Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 2:00 pm at the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, 250 William Howard Taft Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.

X. Adjournment (Target Time: 3:30 p.m.)