San Luis Obispo County’s liberal majority of supervisors conducted a cleanup of their own with a decision to return to the Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA).
Two years after the Board of Supervisors made the decision to pull the county out of the IWMA and manage solid and hazardous waste programs on its own, the new iteration of the board undid that move in a 3-1 vote on Oct. 31. Fifth District Supervisor Debbie Arnold dissented while 1st District Supervisor John Peschong abstained from voting.
Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding urged the partnership with cities and community services districts again, saying it would ultimately reduce the cost burden on ratepayers.
“The fact that we’re having to pay an additional $700,000 a year out of our general fund for a service that we can provide through the IWMA is problematic,” Paulding said at the meeting. “We need to be taking cost-cutting measures especially given the fact that we’re facing a potential $20 million budget deficit next year. It expresses an intent of this board to want to partner with our partner agencies in the interest of regionalism.”
The county controversially withdrew from the IWMA in November 2021 following issues some members of the Board of Supervisors—particularly Paulding’s predecessor Lynn Compton—had with former IWMA Director Bill Worrell and board secretary Carolyn Grace Goodrich. The Board of Supervisors exited the IWMA after the county District Attorney’s Office charged Goodrich with embezzlement and destruction of public records in August 2021. This April, the county asked to reintegrate with the IWMA after supervisors directed an evaluation of cost recovery in January.
While the IWMA resolved the criminal case and hired new employees, supervisors Peschong and Arnold referenced that dark history at the meeting. Peschong added that the fraud incident is the main element that stopped him from casting a vote.
“Since then, other areas in county government … have been accused of fraud,” he said. “So, I will just abstain today and keep an eye on the IWMA over the next year.”
Arnold said she voted against rejoining the IWMA based on the number of seats the county would get on the agency’s board.
When SLO County was still a part of the IWMA, each of the five supervisors held a seat on the 13-member IWMA board of directors, which also comprised all seven cities and some special districts. Now, the county only gets one seat as a whole on the nine-member board and can appoint another supervisor as an alternate member. In addition, all the cities and special districts that stuck with the IWMA must sign off on an amendment to the joint powers agreement that enables SLO County to rejoin the IWMA. That process alone could take an additional month or two to complete.
At the Oct. 31 meeting, Arnold said she didn’t agree with reduced representation for the county on the IWMA board and added that it’s historically skewed power in favor of city authorities.
“We had the [IWMA] body starting to legislate and becoming so powerful that city representatives were enacting laws that encompassed county jurisdiction, and I never felt that was right,” she said.
However, Arnold flipped when it came to a second vote that concerned a resolution to increase the solid waste management fee for county customers. Garbage rates in unincorporated areas are set to increase in December irrespective of the county returning to the IWMA so that the county can carry out its solid waste compliance duties under state mandates.
Rejoining the agency would increase the solid waste management permanent fee amount from 2 percent to 5.4 percent. But for the remainder of fiscal year 2023-24, the fee would only go up to 4.4 percent. Staying out of the IWMA would hike the fees to 8.1 percent come Dec. 1. This fee will be tacked on to the regular customer rates.
Currently, the typical solid waste management fee to operate a 32-gallon solid waste container for a residential curbside is $1 a month. A 5.4 percent increase as an IWMA member would increase it to $2.70 a month, while not joining the IWMA would raise the monthly price to $4.05.
Hot on the heels of voting to return to the IWMA, supervisors also approved raising the solid waste management fee to 5.4 percent that comes with the temporary reduction. This time, the vote stood at 4-0, with Arnold stating a difference of “mere dollars” and Peschong still abstaining.
—Bulbul Rajagopal
This article appears in Nov 2-12, 2023.
I don’t think IWMA ever recovered any of the money they misspent nor money that was embezaled. Why trust them now?