Hold a public hearing and adopt resolution confirming the report of delinquent residential solid waste accounts. (No general fund impact) (Lindbo/Juhler) (Est. Time: 5 min)

This annual public hearing allows for property owners with delinquent residential solid waste accounts with Waste Management, Inc. (WM) to address the Board of Supervisors prior to the attachment of a lien against their property.  There were no affected parcels serviced by Recology Davis for this 2023 lien cycle.  However, 103 parcels in total are being recommended for lien and are as follows: Six are located in District 1, two parcels are located in District 2, 12 parcels are located in District 3, and 83 parcels in District 5.  There are no affected parcels in District 4.

In 2022, under Solid Waste Franchise Agreement No. 19-248, WM provided regular notice to these 103 customers through billing statements, alerting all customers with overdue accounts of the potential for lien.   As shown in the 2023 Lien Process (Att. C.), the procedures are extensive and involve the partnership of the County and the franchised solid waste haulers to resolve customer account issues prior to brining this item before the Board. This process was initiated by WM last November 2022 however payment for these waste collection services will not be paid out to WM until August 2024, due to the length of time the lien process takes. WM bills customers every other month, therefore these customers have received six notices directly from the hauler regarding their past due amounts owed. In addition, the County initiates a 180-day, 60-day, and 15-day notice (Att. D) prior to the final Public Hearing Notice (Att. E) being mailed directly to each homeowner, for a total of 10 notifications.

Many of the potential lien customers have unique circumstances such as homes under renovation, farmworker housing arrangements where waste services are shared, mixed use parcels where a business and residence have separate services and landowners which do not want to comply with the mandated waste segregation programs as prescribed under Senate Bill (SB) 1383.  Each of these situations requires direct follow up by Division of Integrated Waste Management (DIWM) staff, including extensive research on each parcel and in-person site visits to properties being recommended for lien.  These steps are all taken to ensure property owner complaints have been reviewed.   This also confirms that the haulers and DIWM have given each property owner the ability to bring their solid waste account into good standing or apply for the Low Income Discount Program offered by each hauler and/or set up a payment plan prior to this public hearing.   In 2023, only one parcel owner reached out to set up a payment plan to assist in paying off debt and avoiding lien.  Therefore, this parcel has been removed from the lien report even though they have past due amounts owed.   In good faith, we are working with each of them to resolve their account payment issues without liening the property.   The original list of 255 parcels (delinquent accounts) was in the amount of $113,609 has now been reduced to 103 parcels in the amount of $56,076 due to these efforts.   You will find the final recommended parcel list under the Lien Report (Att. B) as well as the Resolution confirming this list (Att. A). 

County Counsel has reviewed and approved the resolution as to form. Division staff internally worked with the Assessor's Office and the Department of Financial Services and externally with WM and Recology to ensure the process was followed per Solid Waste Franchise Agreement Nos. 19-248 and 19-249, Solid Waste Ordinance No. 1529 and Government Code 25828.