CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Adopt the resolution approving the intergovernmental agreement between the City of Naperville and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to operate a long-term household hazardous waste collection facility.
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DEPARTMENT: Department of Public Works
SUBMITTED BY: Dick Dublinski, Director of Public Works
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The city currently has funding agreements in place with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), DuPage County, Will County, Kane County, and the City of Aurora for the Regional Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Program operated at the Environmental Campus on Fort Hill Drive in Naperville. The HHW Facility was originally permitted in 1992 in cooperation with the IEPA as the first permanent Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off in the State of Illinois. The city and its funding partners are responsible for operational costs of the HHW Facility. On an annual basis, the funding partners contribute the following amounts toward operation of the Facility: DuPage County - $100,000; Will County - $25,000; Kane County - $10,000; and the City of Aurora - $20,000. The City is responsible for capital costs as well as a share of the operational costs of the Facility. The IEPA is responsible for hiring and paying for a contractor to pick up, transport, and dispose of the household hazardous waste collected at the Facility. The current intergovernmental agreement between the City and the IEPA expires on June 30, 2018.
DISCUSSION:
In September 2017, the IEPA notified the City that for the first time in the history of the Naperville HHW Facility, it intended to impose a $250,000 cap on the IEPA’s responsibility to pay for waste hauling costs from the Facility. Current disposal costs are approximately $516,000 a year. Since a new long term agreement between the IEPA and the City could not be accomplished by December 31, 2017 when the agreement expired, the IEPA and the City agreed to a six-month extension of the current IGA in the form of an Addendum which was approved by the City Council on December 19, 2017.
During the six-month extension, City staff have worked collaboratively with the IEPA, our funding partners, and the other permanent HHW regional facilities to identify best practices and solutions that maximize services and allow the IEPA to fund the permanent HHW facilities in an equitable manner. As a result of those discussions, the IEPA agreed to remove the funding cap originally proposed at the end of 2017. However, there are provisions in the new Agreement, as there are in other permanent HHW facility agreements, that allow the IEPA to suspend or terminate the Agreement at any time if it determines that it has insufficient funds available to continue to pay for waste hauler services.
The proposed 5-year Agreement will be in effect from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2023.
City staff will continue to monitor disposal expenses at the Facility and will work closely with the funding partners and the IEPA to continue to look for ways to control costs at the Facility.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The City’s CY2018 annual budget for HHW operations is approximately $278,000 for staffing the program and maintenance of the building. The City’s funding partners contribute $155,000 annually toward operational costs of the Facility.