Respected Supervisors- I am a resident of Covelo for over 30 years. In my opinion, the trash and recycle situation has gotten worse and worse every year. Solid Waste, run by Mr. Jerry Ward, has failed on a number of counts and has resulted in a growing litter problem in our beautiful Round Valley. I would like to recommend that the Board either put out requests for bids from other solid waste companies or else re-work the contract with Mr. Ward. Here are some of the problems: the long term problem of not enough bins, not enough space, not enough proper recycling, not enough drivers (pay them better please) and no buyback, no appliances, and so forth. Also, when the trash haulers come for private residences, they take it to the transfer station, but no extra bins are scheduled for that, and no extra time open. 24 hours a week simply isn't enough time to be open for a community of our size which includes both Covelo, the Tribal lands and all of the surrounding outlying areas. We pay $27.50 a yard, which means it costs $60.00 a pickup load. Not everyone has that kind of money, and the whole system just encourages side of the road trash dumps. I have spoken to Jerry myself about how poorly the recycling is handled. He brushed me off. It is shameful that our beautiful valley does not encourage the recycling of ALL items marked recycle. He doesn't even do buyback for CRV recycling, which is the bare minimum, in my opinion. Dogfood bags, plastic, non CRV glass and cans, all of those items that can be recycled end up in the trash stream, which impacts the land fill. Mr. Ward, with all due respect, has dropped the ball on these important issues for decades. The County could hold him responsible for more and better service, in my opinion.
So here are my suggestions for modification of Mr. Ward's contract:
1) Open the transfer station for an extra day,
2) Open the transfer station from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
3) Open the transfer station one extra hour on Wednesdays, when the residential trash is being placed there by the trucks and put an extra bin
just for that.
4) Put back buy back CRV containers program to encourage recycling.
5) Make a single stream non-CRV bin, so that recyclable items do not end up in the land fill.
6) Restart taking appliances and metal for recycling.
7) Pay drivers more. They have to go through a lot to get the license and deserve a living wage. The fact that they are paid less than other drivers means its very difficult to hire and retain qualified drivers, which is then used as an excuse for poor service.
Thank you for your attention. Round Valley is hurting because of this problem. It's not just me who is upset by this. We have to pay a lot of money to get our trash taken, and we understand that, but the service needs to be a lot better to justify that money. Sincerely, Tekla Broz.
Respected Supervisors- I am a resident of Covelo for over 30 years. In my opinion, the trash and recycle situation has gotten worse and worse every year. Solid Waste, run by Mr. Jerry Ward, has failed on a number of counts and has resulted in a growing litter problem in our beautiful Round Valley. I would like to recommend that the Board either put out requests for bids from other solid waste companies or else re-work the contract with Mr. Ward. Here are some of the problems: the long term problem of not enough bins, not enough space, not enough proper recycling, not enough drivers (pay them better please) and no buyback, no appliances, and so forth. Also, when the trash haulers come for private residences, they take it to the transfer station, but no extra bins are scheduled for that, and no extra time open. 24 hours a week simply isn't enough time to be open for a community of our size which includes both Covelo, the Tribal lands and all of the surrounding outlying areas. We pay $27.50 a yard, which means it costs $60.00 a pickup load. Not everyone has that kind of money, and the whole system just encourages side of the road trash dumps. I have spoken to Jerry myself about how poorly the recycling is handled. He brushed me off. It is shameful that our beautiful valley does not encourage the recycling of ALL items marked recycle. He doesn't even do buyback for CRV recycling, which is the bare minimum, in my opinion. Dogfood bags, plastic, non CRV glass and cans, all of those items that can be recycled end up in the trash stream, which impacts the land fill. Mr. Ward, with all due respect, has dropped the ball on these important issues for decades. The County could hold him responsible for more and better service, in my opinion.
So here are my suggestions for modification of Mr. Ward's contract:
1) Open the transfer station for an extra day,
2) Open the transfer station from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
3) Open the transfer station one extra hour on Wednesdays, when the residential trash is being placed there by the trucks and put an extra bin
just for that.
4) Put back buy back CRV containers program to encourage recycling.
5) Make a single stream non-CRV bin, so that recyclable items do not end up in the land fill.
6) Restart taking appliances and metal for recycling.
7) Pay drivers more. They have to go through a lot to get the license and deserve a living wage. The fact that they are paid less than other drivers means its very difficult to hire and retain qualified drivers, which is then used as an excuse for poor service.
Thank you for your attention. Round Valley is hurting because of this problem. It's not just me who is upset by this. We have to pay a lot of money to get our trash taken, and we understand that, but the service needs to be a lot better to justify that money. Sincerely, Tekla Broz.