2023-90 Ordinance Amending City Code Chapter 56 Refuse and Recyclables Removal

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City Clerk DATE: 12/14/2023 MEMO: TO: Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe&Decatur City Council Members FROM: Scot Wrighton,City Manager SUBJECT: Ordinance Amending City Code Chapter 56 Refuse and Recyclables Removal SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: The proposed ordinance corrects one scriveners legal error in the Garbage& Recycling Ordinance adopted by the City Council on December 4,and alters the rate schedule ONLY by pushing back the effective dates of the first scheduled increase,and subsequent annual adjustments. BACKGROUND: After almost two and half years of discussions with haulers,input from citizens,research on ways to better clean-up neighborhoods,and internal analysis of how the waste and recycling industry has changed,the City Council adopted a comprehensive update of the garbage and recycling ordinances on December 4. Staff originally expected these changes to be implemented prior to September 1,2023;but hauler coordination,hearing requirements and other delays resulted in this matter coming to the City Council several months later. We failed to adjust the effective dates for rate implementation in preparing the ordinance for council action to reflect this delay. So the ONLY change to the rate appendix is the effective dates of annual adjustments. The September 1,2023 first rate hike is proposed to be pushed back to January 1,2024,and all of the subsequent annual increases are pushed back from July to the following Januarys.Although not significant,this revision will slightly reduce customer costs over time,compared to the rate appendix approved on December 4. There will be no retroactive billing. The city is reviewing the public information Waste Management and GLF are planning to deploy(or have already deployed)to inform customers of the changes.Additionally,staff is creating a separate section of the city's website to explain what is and is not in the new ordinance and rate structure. The city has already received calls from citizens(since December 4)stemming from hauler communications about new rates,cart distribution,rule changes and more. We think it will be helpful for citizens to have an easy-to-reference description of the approved changes and a list of FAQs from the city they can consult so they can more rapidly verify if their hauler is treating them in accordance with the new rules. POTENTIAL OBJECTIONS: No one likes service rate hikes. Some of the media reporting on this matter,however,has failed to focus on all the ways the city improved the Garbage&Recycling ordinance,how we reduced the requests of the haulers,instituted procedures to make the haulers more accountable,improve efficiency,enhance the hardship service offerings, give customers more options,and add other small amenities to the updated service rules. ATTACHMENTS: Description Type Ordinance Ordinance Appendix A Backup Material