Yes, item number five is the environmental services department.

If we have staff, please introduce yourself for the record and let us know how much time you'll need for your presentation.

Good afternoon.

I need seven minutes for my presentation.

And good afternoon again, Chair Kate and members of the budget review committee.

My name is Renee Robertson.

I'm the director of the Environmental Services Department, and with me today are other members of our management team.

ESD is a mission-driven department full of staff dedicated to reliably managing solid waste, conserving our resources, and protecting the environment.

We are 456 employees strong, and our vision is sustainable communities for all.

Over the last year, we have shown our commitment to providing essential service to our residents while maintaining regulatory compliance.

We have also shown our commitment to our employees by promoting 51 internal candidates, developing creative solutions to address retention and recruitment issues, and bolstering our department culture through a volunteer employee engagement team.

As a part of the implementation of Senate Bill 1383, we ordered 43 new CNG packers and brought forward for council approval the most comprehensive changes to the city recycling ordinance since its adoption.

We are proudly developing and implementing programs to support the city's climate action plan and zero waste plan goals.

In the coming year, we hope to have enough sanitation drivers to roll out weekly organic collection citywide and also approve single vacation days for them.

We are engaging in long-range planning for additional beneficial reuse of landfill gas, and we'll be standing up a free mattress recycling location at our existing household hazardous waste facility.

As you can see in the summary of the proposed changes to our general fund expenditures, the most significant changes are directly related to staffing for 1383 implementation.

1383 is also creating significant changes in our and in our refuse and recycling enterprise funds.

The refuse disposal fund requests also include increased expenditures related to regulatory compliance.

To continue the implementation of SB 1383 organic waste recycling, we are adding 16 new positions and 11 support vehicles.

We are requesting a skid steer and sweeper to respond and support to the 43 new CNG packers that will be performing organic waste collection citywide.

Other NPE requests include funding for food waste kitchen pails, container assembly and delivery, and the uh annualization and additional hardware to install the previously approved route optimization software in the 43 new trucks that will be delivered this December.

Additionally, we are transferring 31 positions and NPE costs from the recycling fund to the general fund as a part of the restructuring to implement citywide organic waste recycling.

This ensures transparency in the department's budget related to 1383 costs for people's ordinance collection since this program is now mandatory as opposed to voluntary.

ESD is requesting the addition of three encampment abatement teams using city forces and our nonprofit partners.

The teams will perform encampment abatements across the city and will have larger city-owned packer trucks, providing efficient daily support to them.

There is also funding to provide sidewalk sanitization five days per week, as well as the flexibility to add non-routinely scheduled locations.

This funding also ensures sanitation requests can be uh handled within 24 hours.

Last year, eight code compliance officer positions were made permanent as a part of the Clean SD program.

So we are requesting the conversion of the supplemental supervisor to oversee that important function.

Wrapping up our general fund request, we have the addition of positions and NPE to support implementation of new sidewalk vending rules.

And we are also requesting three permanent ALMP program positions associated with the ongoing work of maintaining our city-owned facilities.

We've made some adjustments to the automated container fund to show the anticipated increase in customer customer demand for our green and black bins.

Moving into the recycling fund, you can see the restructuring impact of transferring existing green waste collection to the general fund in preparation for that mandatory weekly collection.

We are also adding three recycling specialists to support ongoing technical assistance as businesses and multifamily properties implement 1383 with their franchise waste haulers.

We are excited to show physicians and NPE to support a new mattress recycling program and public mattress drop-off location adjacent to the Miramar landfill.

And you'll see the $500,000 increase in facility franchise revenue is actually a true up of the actual revenue received from our agreement with Sycamore Landfill.

In preparation for receiving and processing the new organic waste stream at the existing greenery, while also building a new organic processing facility, we are adding 15 positions along with equipment and vehicles to support effective composting of this material.

And these positions are being added in the refuse disposal fund.

We are also requesting to convert some limited positions at the fee booth where everybody enters the landfill to support quick processing of our customers at the entrance.

Finally, we're requesting funding to support routine ongoing operation and maintenance of the Myanmar landfill gas system based on the contract that was awarded earlier this fiscal year.

This funding supports both regulatory compliance and our climate action goals.

The office trailers and supporting infrastructure at Miramar have not been upgraded for over two decades.

And as we continue operations, we need to ensure our trailers are functional for the essential staff working out of these facilities.

We also plan to enlist the assistance of a specialized consultant to support the ongoing planning efforts for new or expanded beneficial reuse of our landfill gas in direct support of the climate action plan.

That concludes my presentation, and the ESD team is happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

We'll go to the IBA.

Thank you, Chair Kate.

Good afternoon, members of the budget review committee.

My name is Jordan Moore with comments on the environmental services department.

Please note that our review of the department's budget begins on page 113 of our review, and I will just highlight some of the major changes that could go beyond what Renee just outlined.

Um, so as outlined by the department, the total budget for ESD is almost 155 million dollars, which is a 20 million dollar increase for 2023.

Um it is worth noting, as discussed, the department is primarily funded through three funds, be it the general fund, the recycling fund, and the refuse disposal fund, with the latter two being enterprise style funds that collect fees in order to cover the cost of the services they provide.

The general fund budget overall is increasing by 20 million dollars, which is a 34 percent increase from FY 2022.

Also, there's almost 113 new positions in the general fund budget, although, as we note in our analysis, the large the majority of these positions are either annualizations of the positions that were added in prior years.

This is about 43 positions, mostly for the sanitation drivers, as well as that transfer from the recycling fund of 30 almost 32 positions.

The general fund primarily funds collection services for single family residents under the people's ordinance.

So, similar to last year, the majority of increases in general fund expenditures for ESD are related to activities and programming to prepare the city to comply with the new state law, SB 1383, which, as you are all well aware, requires all refuse haulers and jurisdictions to recycle organics and food waste.

Increases related to this compliance total 11.7 million dollars and 90.82 FTEs.

Now most of the other new positions that are not tied to the transfer or to the annualization of the drivers, but only those positions within the general fund are for other compliance activities and support functions.