ORDER-2022-16 : Amending Chapter 198 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Solid Waste and Recycling Ordinance Update and Schedule of Fees

Transcript (~21 min @ 44:25)

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▶ 44:30 Jen Grigoraitis: president's no yes six yes okay six yes so the motion carries and now we'll move

▶ 44:40 Jen Grigoraitis: on to order 2022-1 16 amending chapter 198 of the revised or city of Melrose solid waste and recycling ordinance update and schedule of fees and I believe is Reese is leaving us thank you for joining us and we're going to be joined by miss Scott as well we can bring her in ah and we found council

▶ 45:11 Speaker 10: McMaster excellent well Lisa's joining I believe she was going to give a brief presentation and so Andrew if you're able to give her the ability to share or else if you're able to share the presentation I believe it was posted on

▶ 45:32 Speaker 10: iqm too can you all hear me just barely yeah can you hear me now is that better much better thank

▶ 45:47 Speaker 1: you we can't see you though okay oh oh there you go how's that i have the presentation on my

▶ 45:51 Speaker 7: computer if you want me to run it through mine andrew yes i've made you a presenter so you

▶ 46:07 Speaker 7: should be able to share it okay great okay are you able to see that great okay

▶ 46:14 Speaker 7: Thank you, Councilors, for your time tonight. My name is Lisa Scott. I am the Environmental Outreach Coordinator for the Melrose Department of Public Works. The following slides are going to show proposed changes to the City of Melrose Ordinance Chapter 128, Solid Waste, Article 2, Collection and Disposal. These changes are designed to update language to reflect

▶ 46:43 Speaker 7: current practice. There are a number of fees associated with curbside pickup services, city yard drop-off items and special yard events two of these fees are currently mentioned in city ordinances the metal goods item pickup fee and the annual trash fee many other fees are not included in article 2 like those for disposal of electronics tires and propane tanks at the city yard we propose the adoption of a comprehensive schedule of fees to be maintained by the dpw Director and published on the DPW website for transparency. The fees are designed to cover vendor costs, not generate income. Currently, Article 2, Section 198-3C2 lists the metal pickup fee as $20, when in practice the fee is $25 and has been since late 2016 or early 2017.

▶ 47:46 Speaker 7: Thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and in preparation for a statewide waste disposal ban on mattresses, the DPW has begun a mattress recycling program. We offer curbside pickup by a vendor or drop off at City Yard. We propose adding the language shown on this slide, which is similar to that of the existing metal item pickup.

▶ 48:19 Speaker 7: In practice, the City limits residents to four barrels or bags of trash per week, and each are 45 gallons or less and 45 pounds or less. We propose including that language in Article 2, Section 198-3, Part B. The Council may decide to leave this determination up to the City at this time, so that is up for discussion tonight could be a variable. The city does not currently provide recycling containers to residents and hasn't for about five years since the old supply ran out. We propose changing the language in Article 2 to reflect current practice, and there is no limit to the number of recycling

▶ 49:16 Speaker 7: receptacles that may be placed curbside. Article 2, Section 198-4A3 currently defines what is considered acceptable recyclable waste to be put out for residential curbside collection. In practice, details of what materials are acceptable are determined by current recycling markets, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the city's contracted Materials Recovery Facility, or MRF. We propose removing language from the ordinance that defines the specifics of what is acceptable recyclable waste and leaving the determination to the Director of Public Works with guidance from MassDEP and the contract in MRF. The recycling bin can be a confusing place. Are pizza boxes recyclable? For a while, they were not accepted, but now they are. What about plastic takeout containers? Clear, white, and orange plastic containers are recyclable, but black plastic takeout containers are not accepted. Why? They aren't sorted properly at the MRF because they blend in with the conveyor belt. Because of these quirks of the recycling system, we recommend removing the specific language out

▶ 50:38 Speaker 7: article 2. these are recommended changes meant to reflect current practice relating to solid waste and recycling thanks for your time and now i'd like to turn it over to director proakis ellis

▶ 50:53 Speaker 10: who will provide an update to our proposal hey lisa that was very helpful um in conversation earlier today with chair Grigoraitis and um in review of the of the language one last time while speaking to the chair um we did identify again three very minor items um that i'm proposing should be updated from the language that's that's in the draft ordinance um the first item is incredibly minor in section 198 3a just to eliminate the capitalization of um curbside pickup services drop-off items and special events so city art would still be capitalized but all the other items would not um secondly we have another his or her that i'd like to change to there in item g 198 3 g and then lastly with regard to the the types of receptacles that are allowable um we had said we'd use the word may so residents may use plastic or metal barrels under both the solid waste section and the recycling section there's that same language that says may and we'd like to change that to shell in those two places because um to clarify that you know it's not really a choice it's not an option that they may use those or they may use something else of their like to their liking like a plastic bag for recyclables or or um or the like so we're proposing to make those changes um in addition to

▶ 52:50 Speaker 10: that as lisa mentioned the the specifying of the types of containers and of the limits that we presently do have and we do enforce um whether to include those in the ordinance or not is really up for debate and um you know subject to the the will of this committee uh they've never been in the ordinance before and they've always just been city policy and posted on the city's website and that may provide added flexibility for future changes um

▶ 53:34 Speaker 10: But on the flip side, it may behoove us to slightly revise this language, leave the limits and the sizes and the barrels in, and take out the word bags. If the will of the committee is to recommend not allowing bags without a barrel, especially for trash, but also for recycling, nothing should be in a plastic bag anyway. so these are these are slight um changes that could be made that are up in the air and we could either strike those sections all together we could modify those sections to just specify the type of receptacle and not the limits um or we could just keep it as proposed change may to

▶ 54:25 Jen Grigoraitis: shell and take out the word for bags thank you uh miss proicus ellis and to miss scott as well and i believe i have uh counselor mcmaster thank you good evening thank you both for being here

▶ 54:35 Shawn M. MacMaster: miss paracas i'm wondering with respect to um striking the word bags if we might want to consider keeping the word bags in there but uh specifying that bags would relate to yard waste um responded your thoughts on that before i guess i wouldn't want to send a mixed message to the public with respect to the next order that comes before us filed by consular gregarious and i that somehow bags that contain yard waste would have to be put inside of a barrel

▶ 55:10 Speaker 10: so the first reference to bags is specific for solid waste collection so in that instance that would be 193 B in the proposed language so that is instance if we wanted to take out the words or bags that would be clear that it pertained to solid waste the second instance pertains to recycling and so that could be construed to include yard waste and so maybe and actually we have the word bags right now in that one um let me see lisa do you know is there a reference to specific to yard waste on what type of receptacle i'm looking for that right now um

▶ 56:03 Speaker 10: it's possible we didn't include that section because it was not being changed oh here okay wait

▶ 56:21 Speaker 7: um 198-3 ashes and rubbish yard waste metal goods collection fees and then um

▶ 56:36 Speaker 7: fee under that calendar all leaves and grass clippings provided that such materials do not

▶ 56:45 Speaker 7: violate any regulation um leaves and grass clippings shall be placed at curbside for city pickup in plain brown paper bags or barrels subject to such reasonable limits as may be set by the director of public works no loose materials will be collected the director of public works shall operate a drop-off yard waste collection program in conjunction with this subsection

▶ 57:09 Speaker 10: so i guess the only place we'd be removing bags then would be in reference to solid waste

▶ 57:15 Speaker 8: specifically. That sounds like a thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other

▶ 57:29 Jen Grigoraitis: questions from the council? Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Ms. Parikas-Allis

▶ 57:34 Leila Migliorelli: and Ms. Scott. Can I just, I don't know if I heard you correctly, Ms. Parikas-Allis, did you mention something about enforcement i just wanted to to get that or no okay no other

▶ 57:51 Speaker 10: than i may have said you know that the the limit that we enforce right now is the four barrel limit we don't pick up if someone puts out 10 barrels at their property jrm does not pick it up if it's a single family home it's supposed to be per household so presumably if it was clearly a two-family home they would pick up more than four barrels but if it's a single family home and someone puts out 10 barrels jrm will skip that address they end up calling and then uh our office will explain to them why they've been skipped thank you counselor Tramontozzi

▶ 58:33 John N. Tramontozzi: yes i thank you uh i miss uh miss ellis um what is the what's the rationale for uh are the thoughts behind eliminating bags in the solid waste ordinance because right now the ways the way it works is we can put out barrels with or without lids we can have trash bags put out on the on the curb in or out of trash barrels so what is right now the way it is worded the solid waste collection you can have plastic or metal barrels or bags so you can put bags out so you are suggesting that we could if we wanted to eliminate bags and just require the use of barrels and I wanted to know the rationale for suggesting that so this

▶ 59:35 Speaker 10: came up subsequent to our submitting this order and these proposed changes and there was an order that I believe you're hearing next submitted by the council that relates to public health concerns and rodents and the like and so the potential requirement of covered receptacles would then preclude the use of bags and so i wanted to ensure that the language that we were presenting tonight for our needs doesn't conflict with whichever way you ought to vote on the the subsequent order so when we put this forth and our language it was all reviewed by the city solicitor um as was the all the other language in the prior order that we discussed i forgot to mention that um you know this all passed muster for everybody in the city but then having seen the proposed order for the covered receptacles the use of bags is just somewhat contradictory and and we didn't want to hold up the voting of these necessary changes for that other discussion so the city can uh the staff can adjust whichever way the council decides right so i that's that's a good

▶ 1:00:59 John N. Tramontozzi: point um uh miss ellis because um uh through madam's chair through you to the makers of these the third order on the agenda this evening um because i think that order also addresses uh that uh that issue and um and i know we haven't discussed that yet and we will uh the issue of the bags barrels lids and so forth so um and so it seems to me that if we choose we could change that language as a result of adopting the next order uh so my thinking is at this point would be to um to recommend the order as as made of the the after this particular order um leave it as is including the language of the bags and then we can address that with this third uh subsequent order uh and see where that goes but um my suggestion would be just to leave it as you as as you have done uh in your um amendment to this particular uh proposal in this particular order and then just move on and then see where it goes with the next order how's that so um with that in mind i'll make a motion to recommend as as a as written um amending chapter 198 of the revised ordinance the city of mero solid waste and recycling when it's updated uh and motion to recommend as most recently amended this evening by the minor amendments uh that you've suggested and then open it up for discussion so i'll make

▶ 1:02:53 Jen Grigoraitis: that motion at this time so we have a motion to recommend order 2022-16 um for passage uh with the three minor amendments that were proposed tonight um do we have a second counselor mcmaster

▶ 1:03:14 Shawn M. MacMaster: thank you madam chair just point of information um through you to consulate or point of clarity um just so we understand the rest of that i understand the motion that's on the floor um are you suggesting um council chairman tizzy that the word um trash bag or bags uh not be removed uh until we know what's going to happen with the next order uh before us and if that order uh passes favorably that when the order before us now goes before the full council that a motion could be made to eliminate the word uh backs yes thank you that thank you for that clarification

▶ 1:03:52 John N. Tramontozzi: council mcmaster that would be my intention for the motion okay thank you do we have a second

▶ 1:04:07 Jen Grigoraitis: i'll second that manager okay so we have a motion made by councillor Tramontozzi to uh recommend as is second with the three amendments seconded by councillor mcmaster is there any discussion

▶ 1:04:23 Jen Grigoraitis: okay seeing none madam clerk sorry i knew i was going to do that tonight mr clerk can you please

▶ 1:04:30 Speaker 2: call the roll the chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes councillor Tramontozzi yes

▶ 1:04:47 Speaker 2: councillor mcmaster yes councillor eccles yes president simelo

▶ 1:04:55 Jen Grigoraitis: yes that's six yes six yes so the motion carries so this will be recommended with those three amendments um and i believe that concludes um your the portion of the city thank you and if you could just send the um a written draft of those amendments to the clerk that would be really helpful because i think only you have them right now yes thank you all right thank you very