Drafter
Clerk 09/07/2010
Title
A MOTION requiring a study by the solid waste division of the department of natural resources and parks of the availability and utility of portable truck scales for county vehicles carrying solid waste from waste transfer stations to the Cedar Hills landfill.
Body
WHEREAS, the ombudsman's office has completed and forwarded to council a report dated August 19, 2010, confirming the historical practice whereby solid waste has been conveyed from solid waste transfer stations to the Cedar Hills landfill in trucks under the management of the county's solid waste division that are sometimes loaded beyond the allowed vehicle weight standard established by the state, and
WHEREAS, such a practice may carry with it the potential to adversely impact roads and bridges of the region, designed to a specified load capacity, and might additionally represent a risk to public safety, in light of the effect that overweight loads can have on handling characteristics of vehicles, as described by the ombudsman's report, and
WHEREAS, the ombudsman's report notes that there has been significant progress by the division in its efforts to minimize the numbers of trucks that are dispatched in an overweight status, and that drivers confirm this progress, and
WHEREAS, in order to efficiently manage the transfer of waste by minimizing the number of conveyence trips, yet assure that trucks remain within appropriate weight limits, it is necessary to determine the weight of the trucks before leaving a transfer station en route to the landfill, and
WHEREAS, the ombudsman's report recommends that installing scales at all transfer stations should be completed as soon as reasonably possible, and
WHEREAS, a number of the transfer stations that were built decades ago, are not currently equipped with weighing scales necessary to confirm that the trucks are within weight limits before departure, and
WHEREAS, the transfer station system is undergoing a system-wid...

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