Monterey County Grand Jury
• 2012-2013
2012 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury Interim Final Report No. 5 Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority Salinas Valley*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 8 findings
F1
Because of the SVSWA's debt, it is regularly challenged to balance its annual budget. Raising rates to cover their operating costs have been very difficult to accomplish and will continue to be problematic as waste volumes continue to decline.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The SVSWA should give proper notice of topics of presentation to County EHB on public meetings so that the public receives correct answers on County questions.
F2
From its investigation of both landfills in Monterey County, SVSWA and MRWMD, the CGJ has found that both are on target towards goal of 75% waste diversion by 2020 as per AB341. The reduction of landfill tonnage and the decrease in revenues has forced SVSWA and MRWMD to look at other sources to gain lost income.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The CGJ recommends that the staff of both SVSWA and MRWMD continue to work on the common area of interest and benefit to address waste in Monterey County to the betterment of its citizens. It is the CGJ's recommendation that a consolidation of the two agencies should occur.
F3
Because of Cal Recycle's reversal of the Plasco RPS certification, SVSWA is unable to proceed with its goal of waste-to-energy conversion.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The CGJ recommends shutting down the residential waste re-handling process at SSTS. The CGJ further recommends that SVSWA cease in its desire to replace the SSTS with a site on Work Street. The CGJ feels the Work Street location is not feasible for this site as it is similar to SSTS. The location has two motels, a car lot, agriculture warehouses, and offices within a 1/4- 1/2 mile radius. Work Street is also a heavily traveled route to Hwy. 101 north and south exits.
F4
The CGJ found on several occasions SVSWA failed to notify or give proper notice to County EHB of upcoming meetings. The EHB plays an important role in SVSWA's monthly county meetings. The SVSWA's lack of notifying the County's EHB and LEA of meeting agenda prior to meeting could affect the future permit process.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The CGJ recommends that SVSWA cease its funding for research and analysis of any type of conversion technology.
F5
The CGJ has found that Waste Management's Madison Lane Transfer Station accepts solid waste from self-haul customers. These are self-haul customers that prefer to go to this site rather than the SSTS or Johnson Canyon landfill.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The CGJ recommends that the City of Salinas and unincorporated NE Monterey County utilize the Madison Lane Transfer Station site as a self-haul and Materials Recovery Center.
F6
The SVSWA's need to use the Recology South Valley revenues to balance its budget has put a strain on future funds for landfill capacity.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The CGJ recommends that SVSWA and the City of Salinas work closely with its citizens and businesses by creating an advisory committee to address issues of the recommended closures of SSTS and the utilizing of a facility already in place, Madison Lane Transfer Station.
F7
The CGJ feels that SVSWA's financial decision making policies affect the well-being of many businesses in its jurisdiction. The SVSWA is not looking out for the citizens of the Salinas Valley and north east Monterey County.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
The County's notice to withdraw from the SVSWA will put a financial burden on the remaining members of the SVSWA.
No recommendations for this finding
No Responses Found 2
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office
Salinas
City
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.