INC NEWS - solidly wasted money

[Long, Donald]

The mailing itself does not cost but we have to pay printing costs. I'm
not talking about something "on" the bill itself. I know because we pay
the bills. Also, door hangers, stickers and manpower for delivery of
such add up.

We don't have anymore mulch because we were mandated by DENR clear the
site and we are not allowed to grind. We were efficient enough to finish
a year early.

As far as the costs go, we pick up trash. That's our job. One truck can
only pick up so much. When they get full before they finish their route,
they go to the transfer station and dump. The transfer station is often
crowded and often it takes over 45 minutes to get through. Once they
dump they go back to finish their route. After that they must dump again
because we don't hold trash overnight. We start every morning empty to
be more efficient, further it's a safety concern because sometimes
people put flammables in the trash and we don't need a truck fire. While
your numbers look good on paper, it's simply not good solid waste
industry standards to do what you suggest. You save no money doing what
you are suggesting and it wastes time. Also, the one huge aspect you
fail to address is the people. Your plan calls for putting even more of
a work load in intense summer heat on folks who are already stretched to
their maximum capacity. Not all of our fleet is automated and not all of
our communities are built for automated trucks. Our injury rate has been
cut by about 50-65% as a result of automated trucks. Virtually all of
our back injuries come from rear-loading trucks that use collectors.
Cutting the number of trucks put more stress on them and I guarantee our
injury rate would shoot up. If your theories worked not only would we be
doing it, a lot of other municipalities would be also and I can find no
one who is.

-----Original Message-----
From: RW Pickle [mailto:randy at 27beverly.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 3:34 PM
To: Long, Donald
Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org
Subject: RE: INC NEWS - solidly wasted money

Donald Long said:

"When we send out notices to the public we use more than the City web
page
and free public service announcements. Those mailings that go out in the
water bill are costly."

I don't know who told you this, but it is entirely false. In fact, if
information is included in the Citizen Newsletter that goes out every
time
with the water bill (either in the printed format or the electronic
format), it's FREE. If it is included as an additional piece of paper
information (like the one Solid Waste will be including in the upcoming
water billing for Sept/Oct; you could have saved $1000 by making it 1/3
the size...), the only cost associated by adding an additional piece of
paper with the water billing is the printing (paper and ink). And
according to the City Print Shop, that'll run in the neighborhood of
$2100
(for like what Solid Waste will include in the Sept/Oct mailing). So I'm
not sure what you see as costly relative to running an entire duplicate
waste fleet with manpower. $5200/ day versus $2100 a mailing looks like
a
no-brainer from my end. There is no comparison. Just stopping the
duplication of service for half of a day would pay for the mailing. It
is
in fact CHEAP to get info out with the water billing (70,000 customers)
and the electronic formats the Citys' Information Department currently
utilizes. Especially when it is compared to the duplication of service
we're talking about.

I'm not going to tear apart your logic of one trip to the transfer
station
or driving around town all day being the same. It's obvious that it's
not.
And even with the duplicate service, they still have to go to the
transfer
station as well. So it's easy to see that reasoning doesn't hold water.
Wear and tear on two trucks is twice of what it is on one. Six Solid
Waste
employees on two trucks is twice that of one. Fuel, insurance,
maintenance, trips to the transfer station; it's all doubled effort and
costs twice as much. That's easy to see. And during this time of year,
with as little rain as we have had, yard waste tonnage must be at an all
time low.  I keep comparing this scenario with only two trucks in it on
a
daily basis. But if I'm right, we're really talking about 8 or more
trucks
(4 trucks for yard waste). So it's not like one truck is running around
duplicating the service, it's a fleet of trucks.

I don't recall Mr. Simpson saying he didn't keep records either. I
recall
him saying he didn't keep up with them and that was someone else's
responsibility (when it came to the paying of fines). I'm sure Mr.
Simpson
has records as to what he has been able to accomplish. And I in no way
mean to diminish the work he is doing. But as a citizen who worked
toward
getting a position like his at Solid Waste for so long, I will tell you
again, we wanted an enforcer, not an educator.  We all appreciate what
he
does and only hope it makes a difference.

I also learned today, that even though Solid Waste has offered free
mulch
to non-profits, there is no mulch available. Thanks to Redmill Nursery
for
chipping in 15 cu. yards to continue the progress on the new Senior
Center
garden work. Apparently all the mulch has been transported to Virginia.
I
hope they used it out by the highway there to spruce the entrance to
their
landfill...

RWP
27 Beverly