PREPARED BY: AMANDA BOOTH DATE OF MEETING: 02/18/20
SUBJECT:
TITLE
CITY COUNCIL POLICY DISCUSSION REGARDING TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS ON POTENTIAL MULTI-YEAR STRATEGY ON ADDRESSING LITTER AND ILLEGAL DUMPING FOR FY 2020/21 PROGRAM IMPLIMENTATION
Label
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Provide staff with direction
Body
Compliance statements
FY 2019-21 Council Priority Workplan Compliance Statement
Improve Public Safety Item 505 “Keep San Pablo Clean Litter Control Initiative” is an adopted policy item contained in the FY 2019-21 City Council Priority Workplan, effective March 1, 2019.
CEQA Compliance Statement
Operation, repair, maintenance and minor alteration of existing facilities is categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15301. If components of the program to address littering and illegal dumping go beyond the scope of this exemption, further review under CEQA will be undertaken.
SUMMARY QUESTIONS AND REQUESTED DIRECTION FROM COUNCIL
In March 2019, the City Council identified litter and illegal dumping (Priority Workplan Items 505 and 506) as a priority area for FY 2019-2021. In July 2019, the City Manager developed an Internal City Employee Litter and Illegal Dumping Task Force to understand the issue and identify programs that could be developed and proposed to the City Council for future program implementation.
This staff report identifies the current programs and recommendations for new programs, outreach, infrastructure and enforcement titled, “Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy”. After reviewing the information in this staff report and presentation, staff requests City Council to consider the following questions:
1.) Does the Council want to move forward with a Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy to address litter and illegal dumping?
2.) Are there any requested changes from the City Council on the proposed Multi-Year Policy Strategy?
Public Safety Standing Committee Recommendation:
On February 11, 2020, the Public Safety Standing Committee (Cruz; Xavier) reviewed the policy recommendations, funding options and potential new fee mechanisms via future proposed ordinance(s) under the proposed Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy. Following their review, the Standing Committee recommended the Policy Strategy be forwarded to the City Council for formal consideration and adoption for program implementation in FY 2020/21.
This evening, City staff requests direction from the City Council (Council) to further develop and implement the policy recommendations (or a subset) and explore potential cost recovery or funding options under the proposed Multi-Year Policy Strategy for FY 2020/21 program implementation.
BACKGROUND
Litter and illegal dumping have been identified as a major issue of concern for City of San Pablo staff, residents and elected officials. A 2019 City-wide Community Survey conducted by the City’s consultant, Strategy Research Institute, Inc. (SRI, Inc.), found that the number one identified concern for residents is “cleanliness of the City/garbage collection” (SRI Inc. Survey, August/September 2019).
Current Services/Programs
The City of San Pablo currently has several programs in place for residents-some in coordination with Republic Services-to help reduce litter and illegal dumping, meet water quality requirements and alleviate the role the Public Works Department plays in collecting litter and illegally dumped items. Programs for residents include dump vouchers, dumpster days, curbside clean-ups, bulky item collection, mattress recycling and household hazardous waste drop-off. A complete list of the current waste programs is provided in Attachment 1.
In addition to these programs, the City also performs the following services to reduce litter and illegal dumping:
• The City’s Maintenance Division empties Citywide garbage cans twice per week and removes illegal dumping five times per week. These tasks require two workers and takes up to eight hours per day.
• The City uses 1-800-NO DUMPING (1-800-663-8674) line for residents to report illegal dumping. Since 2016, this program has identified over 1,870 tons of illegal dumping on San Pablo streets for removal.
• The City uses the County Court’s Work Alternative Program to pick up litter at Davis Park every Friday.
• The City has a contract with Contract Sweeping Services for street sweeping services to remove litter from local roads.
• The City has a partnership with the non-profit organization Earth Team where local youth are hired to pick up litter and collect data on the location and type of litter. This program has been successful in removing over 34,000 pieces of litter and identifying problem sources and areas.
• Through the County, San Pablo utilizes the Coordinated Outreach, Referral, Engagement (CORE) program to conduct homeless outreach and facilitate connections to shelter and services. The CORE teams help to prevent homelessness and provide trash services for these residents.
• The City has installed 118 full trash capture devices to prevent litter from entering the creeks.
Potential Future Programs
Even with the programs provided in Attachment 1 and the services listed above, current staff efforts have not been enough to address this growing issue that San Pablo (and the entire Bay Area) faces. For that reason, the City Manager developed an internal Litter and Illegal Dumping Task Force (Task Force) to understand the issue and identify programs that could be implemented in San Pablo. This Task Force has been staffed by various departments (Police, Community Services and Public Works) to ensure different perspectives and unique solutions. An estimated budget was developed for each recommendation to provide an order of magnitude, but costs will need to be refined as a recommendation is implemented.
After discussions with various City staff, the Task Force identified a need for a holistic approach-Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy-that addresses litter, illegal dumping and homeless encampments through:
• Programs to help educate and engage;
• Outreach to ensure residents know about all the available programs and opportunities;
• Infrastructure that will encourage good behavior; and
• Enforcement to ensure ordinances and laws are followed.
Policy Recommendation: Programs
The Task Force reviewed the current waste programs and explored options for new potential programs. It was determined that the current programs provided to residents are useful and well-utilized; however, staff identified two areas of improvement for existing programs and three recommendations for program expansions:
Existing Program Improvement Opportunities (no new cost)
§ Some opportunities listed in the Current Services/Programs section above are not available to residents in multi-dwelling units (units of three or more), such as the bulky item collection program. To help address this gap, staff will change the dump voucher program to provide a higher value voucher for multi-dwelling units starting in FY 2020/21. Currently, the entire budget for the dump voucher program is not utilized. Staff intends to keep the voucher value at $60 for residents of single-family and duplex homes but increase it for multi-dwelling units while keeping the program within the approved budget amount.
§ While many of the current waste programs are well-utilized, some are not well-known throughout the community. Therefore, staff suggests an outreach campaign that includes information about the current programs. This is addressed further in the Outreach section.
New Recommended Programs (Cost estimate: $67,500)
Staff identified a lack of opportunities for residents to be engaged in City beautification and pride. Therefore, staff has identified three ways the City can involve residents and encourage engagement and pride in San Pablo:
§ A community-based litter pick-up/volunteer program ($7,500): This program would work with local community groups to provide resources and education about litter removal. With this funding, the City would help to organize litter pick-ups and provide trash grabbers and bags.
§ A school grant program ($35,000): This could be an expansion of the current Team for Youth Program, which is the City’s current school-based funding strategy. This funding could be used to educate students about the harmful effects of litter and dumping and provide opportunities for schools to sponsor clean-up events in San Pablo.
§ A one-time community grant program ($25,000): These grants would subsidize the cost to businesses to remove blight and add additional trash bins near commercial areas.
The Task Force estimates the Year 1 (FY 2020/21) costs to be $67,500 for all new programs. If City Council approves a multi-year approach, the Task Force anticipates the programs to cost $42,500 in Year 2 (FY 2021/22) and $40,000 per year in Year 3 and beyond.
Policy Recommendation: Outreach
Current efforts to advertise waste and removal programs in San Pablo include bilingual content in flyers at City facilities, website information, e-news articles, “El Portal” articles and social media posts. While a good starting point, the Task Force identified many gaps in these outreach strategies. To ensure the programs listed above are successful, staff recommend a campaign be developed to inspire community pride and beautification:
New Recommended Outreach Campaign (Cost estimate: $65,000)
§ Develop a beautification/trash reduction campaign logo and slogan ($25,000): Staff recommend hiring a marketing/media company to develop images, logos and a slogan for name recognition about this City effort. Hiring an external company is recommended to ensure that program deliverables resonate with the community, translate well into multiple languages and are intergenerational. Staff aims to create a campaign to engage and educate residents on this topic in a fun and inspiring way.
§ Community Mailers ($5,000): After the campaign logo and slogan are developed, staff will create a citywide mailer to inform residents about current programs and encourage engagement. Owners of multi-dwelling units will be provided additional information about their requirements as rental owners in addition to programs offered to other owners and tenants.
§ Social Media Campaign ($10,000): As part of the outreach campaign, the Task Force recommends a social media “push” campaign where targeted social media ads are “pushed” to profiles in the San Pablo area. These ads will be designed to engage and educate residents on this topic in a fun and inspiring way.
§ Encouraging Participation ($25,000): The Task Force recommends that the City dedicate funds to encourage participation in community beautification projects. Participation could be encouraged through a community volunteer day hosted by the City and may include providing volunteers with shirts and other items that have the new logo and slogan.
The Task Force estimates the Year 1 (FY 2020/21) costs to be $65,000 for outreach programs. If City Council approves a multi-year approach, the Task Force anticipates the outreach to cost $50,000 in Year 2 (FY 2021/22) and $40,000 per year in Year 3 and beyond.
Policy Recommendation: Infrastructure
As part of this project, the Task Force analyzed the City’s infrastructure (e.g. number and location of trash bins, fencing, cameras, etc.) and its ability to provide safe and accessible opportunities to reduce littering and illegal dumping. The Task Force identified the following recommendations for infrastructure improvements:
New Recommended Infrastructure (Cost estimate: $519,000 spread over multiple years)
§ New Citywide Trash Bins ($314,000): The City currently has 103 aging trash bins in the public right-of-way, primarily located in parks, major thoroughfares and adjacent to shopping centers. The Task Force recommends purchase of 50 new trash bins and replacement of all current bins with a new design that will provide outreach opportunities, encourage recycling and provide an easy opportunity to reduce litter. As part of this project, the Public Works Department will analyze areas with high litter volume and/or limited trash bins and install the new bins in the most effective areas across the City.
§ Fencing and/or cameras to reduce dumping ($200,000): The Public Works Department has been working with the Police Department to identify locations across the City that have repeated issues with illegal dumping or encampment activity, in cases where the encampment site creates a safety risk to encampment residents and/or adjacent residents. City staff have identified areas, many of which are along the creeks, that may facilitate a reduction in illicit activity and/or improved safety through the installation of fencing or cameras. The Task Force recommends piloting fencing at a few of these locations, in conjunction with increased police presence and site monitoring, to understand if these strategies provide a reduction in illegal dumping, trash in the creeks and/or improved safety to residents.
§ Public phone booth removal program ($5,000): To encourage beautification throughout the City, the Task Force recommends the removal of phone booths in public rights-of-way. Phone booths in San Pablo no longer have operating phones and frequently serve as a target for graffiti, dumping and other illicit activities. Any phone booths on private property are recommended to be removed through the community grant program (see “Policy Recommendation: Programs”).
The Task Force estimates the Year 1 (FY 2020/21) costs to be $314,000 for the installation of new trash bins and some fencing. If City Council approves a multi-year approach, the Task Force anticipates minor remaining trash bin installation, fencing and public phone booth removal to cost $75,000 in Year 2 (FY 2021/22), and $60,000 per year in Year 3 and beyond for other infrastructure improvements and maintenance.
Policy Recommendation: Enforcement and Maintenance
As part of a holistic approach, the Task Force prioritized outreach, education and programs to encourage residents to reduce litter and illegal dumping. However, the Task Force also recommends the following ordinances and enforcement actions:
New Recommended Enforcement and Maintenance (Cost estimate: $324,000 spread over multiple years)
§ Enforcement/Ordinances & Programs ($30,000)
o Enforcement of Waste Ordinance- San Pablo Municipal Code Chapter 8.12 “Garbage and Rubbish” requires every owner to have garbage service and to maintain the receptacles in a manner to prevent overflowing. City staff plans to continue enforcing the ordinance with greater emphasis placed on: 1) multi-family dwellings with undersized dumpsters or frequent overflows, and 2) commercial centers where some businesses lack service due to space or lack of a centralized garbage account.
o Waste Hauler Ordinance- Contra Costa County recently passed an ordinance that requires non-franchised waste haulers to obtain a business license through the Contra Costa Environmental Health (CCEH) Division. A non-franchised waste hauler is a person or business, not previously approved by a local government, that charges a fee to collect and/or haul waste for others. An example of a non-franchised waste hauler would be a “1-800-Junk” hauler. For San Pablo, and all of West Contra Costa County, the only franchised waste hauler is Republic Services. The Task Force recommends enacting an ordinance that requires all non-franchised waste haulers operating in or using San Pablo roads to obtain this permit from CCEH. This ordinance would aim to reduce illegal dumping and other unsafe, potentially hazardous, practices. Contra Costa County provides a sticker decal for all licensed haulers, thus making compliant businesses easily identifiable to San Pablo Code Enforcement.
o Explore a Fee/Rate/Assessment- The Task Force recommends exploring the possibility of a cost recovery mechanism to offset the ongoing costs of these litter and illegal dumping reduction and removal programs. Once Council has provided direction on the scope of the litter and illegal dumping reduction efforts, possible cost recovery mechanisms would be evaluated as appropriate to the services provided.
§ Additional Personnel and Equipment (Cost estimate: $294,500)
o Hire one additional Police Service Technician (1.0 FTE): The Task Force recommends funding one additional Police Service Technician (PST) to conduct parking enforcement, assist with Waste Ordinance enforcement, assist with tactics to reduce illegal dumping and other code enforcement work. San Pablo Code Enforcement does not currently have adequate capacity to constantly address illegally parked cars, which limits the ability for the City’s current street sweeping program to remove litter on the streets.
o Hire one additional Maintenance Worker I (1.0 FTE): The Task Force recommends that the City hire one additional Maintenance Worker 1 to maintain the proposed additional infrastructure, including servicing City trash bins, removing illegal dumping and maintaining new fencing.
o Additional support staff (0.5 FTE): In order to organize and manage all of the proposed new programs and budgets, the Task Force recommends one additional part-time support staff member that will develop community outreach events, manage necessary contracts and oversee public outreach.
The Task Force estimates the Year 1 (FY 2020/21) costs to be $303,500 for the development of new ordinances, hiring of additional staff and necessary equipment for new staff. It is assumed that the new employees would take at least four months to hire and onboard; therefore, this Year 1 cost assessment only includes partial year funding. If City Council approves a multi-year approach, the Task Force anticipates ongoing annual costs to increase to approximately $330,000 for the fully-loaded cost of the staff recommended above.
Program Evaluation
The implementation of the above recommended actions is expected to educate San Pablo residents about waste programs and inspire residents to take pride in their community. The Task Force designed all the elements to be trackable, such that elements may be evaluated after each year of implementation. Prior to program implementation, City staff would collect information such as:
§ Surveys of businesses, schools and residents about their current knowledge of waste programs offered;
§ Number of volunteers at City cleanup events;
§ Tonnage of illegal dumping collected;
§ Number and frequency of overflowing trash bins;
§ Pieces of litter collected;
§ On-land visual trash assessments;
§ Litter hot-spot assessments; and
§ Number of parking citations issued.
After the first year of implementation, the same survey and statistics would be collected to analyze the impact of the program. City staff would use these results to update the program to improve effectiveness.
Direct Discharge Plan
The above recommended actions are expected to reduce litter and illegal dumping throughout San Pablo. However, these actions will also provide the additional benefit of assisting the City in meeting their trash reduction goals, as required by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) through the City’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
Potential Funding Options
The recommended Multi-year City-wide Policy Strategy has one-time budget implications for capital improvement actions and ongoing annual costs to provide programs, outreach, enforcement and maintenance. There are multiple options for cost recovery of these programs including, but not limited to:
• Option #1: City Annual General Fund Allocation (FY 2020/21 - Future)
• Option #2: One-time Funding Allocation: RecycleMore JPA Reserve
Disbursement ($562,000 of one-time restricted funds)
• Option #3: Leverage External Grants (e.g. CalRecycle, etc.)
• Option #4: New Fee Mechanism Program*: (i.e. Fees/Rate/Assessment
District):
• A new parcel-based or franchise fee-based smaller fee that is City-wide; or
• A new City business fee that is larger for high-impact businesses or areas
*Note: Any proposed fee programs would need further evaluation and/or studies to review legal (e.g. Proposition 218) and administrative requirements. If Council provides direction to pursue program implementation of the Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy, staff would explore all cost recovery options and provide information to Council throughout the Policy Strategy implementation beginning in FY 2020/21.
Staff Recommendation
This City Manager is recommending the City Council approve program implementation of the Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy for FY 2020/21. This would include the evaluation of new potential funding mechanisms and prioritization of program efforts.
|
Multi-Year Costs |
FY 2020/21 |
FY 2021/22 |
Ongoing |
|
Programs |
$ 67,500 |
$ 42,500 |
$ 40,000 |
|
Outreach |
$ 65,000 |
$ 50,000 |
$ 40,000 |
|
Infrastructure |
$ 314,000 |
$ 75,000 |
$ 60,000 |
|
Ordinances |
$ 9,000 |
$ 21,000 |
$ - |
|
Enforcement/Upkeep |
$ 294,500 |
$ 310,000 |
$ 310,000 |
|
Total |
$ 750,000 |
$ 498,500 |
$ 450,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Potential Cost Recovery |
FY 2020/21 |
FY 2021/22 |
Ongoing |
|
WCCIWMA (RecycleMore) |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|
Fee Mechanism Program |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|
Grants |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|
Enforcement |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|
General Fund |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
|
Total |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
FISCAL IMPACT
There are no fiscal actions or budget appropriations requested at this time. However, if Council decides to approve the above policy recommendations under the proposed Multi-Year City-wide Strategy, or a subset thereof, staff will return to Council to establish scope, timeline and cost recovery mechanisms. If the Multi-Year City-wide Policy Strategy is implemented as recommended, Year 1 estimated costs would total approximately $750,000; Year 2 costs would total approximately $498,500; and Year 3 and beyond costs would total approximately $450,000. Any external grants received during FY 2020/21 by the City would also offset program implementation costs and potentially minimize budget impact to the City’s Annual General Fund Operating Budget.
All proposed FY 2020/21 program implementation costs will be further evaluated and recommended for City Council consideration by the City Manager under the proposed Year 4 update (FY 2020/21) to the Quadrennial Budget later this fiscal year.
ATTACHMENT: 2020 Waste Service Programs Handout