I have 32 slides, so I don't know. All right. Can you just give us the finger puppet? Uh, version. Okay. Could you cut it down to 16 slides? And then I'll Can you do those slides in 30 seconds? Government finger puppets. It's compelling. How can we do that? Did you guys hear the They saved our building. They saved our building. Yeah. We had another close call about a month ago, maybe a month and a half ago, where we had a um actually department. That was damn lithium. Yeah. Yeah. Matt, we're going to get going. All right. So, we are going to open the work session portion of this county board meeting with environmental center planning update. All right. Well, good afternoon. I was going to say good morning, but good afternoon, uh, Mr. commissioners. Uh Brad Hanzel, environmental services uh department manager, and I also have Bill Folks, our environmental center supervisor here. Um here today to talk to you about um our environmental center um planning efforts. [Music] Um so some things I'll just run through this really quick. We'll be touching on EC participation and materials managed, uh current operational challenges, a recap of our future services and facility plan that was completed last year. uh uh site analysis, what has been considered uh to um address these operational challenges, uh pros and cons to each option, and then staff recommendation and next steps. And if we have time uh at the end, I'll give a brief overview of the solid waste uh service fee that the county collects. So, we'll start with EC participation rates. So, as you can see by this graph, uh since opening the building in 2002, we've seen a steady increase um in participation. Uh we did have a short reprieve from 2019 to 2020 uh due to the elimination of yard waste that we collected at the facility as well as the pandemic. We were closed for a 3-month uh time period. Uh since the pandemic, we have seen that uh trend continue to go upward uh mainly due to population growth and then uh cardboard recycling. you know, since the pandemic, before the pandemic, the really the shift in purchasing to kind of the Amazon effect um and cardboard uh generation. So, I as I mentioned on the previous slide, uh we eliminated yard waste from the environmental center in 2019. Um the county board um made that decision. It was based on the amount of material that was being dropped off at the environmental center, the traffic that we were seeing because of the yard waste. Um the lack of space to manage that material and then the need to really um focus on household hazardous waste and problem materials. Uh we were seeing roughly 40% of our customers were coming in with just yard waste. So that we had to address that. the county looked at um citing another yardway site um and the decision was made to not go that route and just encourage residents to utilize the many municipal sites and private compost sites around the area. So this map shows those sites. Um the green dot represents uh yearround municipal compost sites uh in those four cities and those are for those uh city residents to utilize. The lighter blue dots are seasonal sites or drop off or drop off events. Um, and then the darker color is uh private compost sites that are open year round uh for all residents to use. Um, private waste haulers also offer seasonal uh curbside collection uh for a cost to their customers as well. So, just wanted to show you those options available for yard waste. Along with the participation volumes increasing, we also see increase with material volumes. Um in 2024 we collected and shipped over 3 million pounds of materials through the environmental center. Um lots of materials flowing through the facility. Couple items to note material categories to know is electronics. We're seeing a rise in electronics and then cardboard. We keep coming back to this cardboard theme. So cardboard in 2024. So we we served just shy of 40,000 vehicles uh in 2024. Of that number, roughly 40% brought in cardboard and recycling. Um, and then to break it down even further, out of that 40,000, roughly 20% were cardboard only loads that were um brought to the environmental center for a total of just over 400,000 lbs of cardboard. Uh, that amount collected increased from 23 to 24 by 6% or just over 20,000 pounds. And we're expecting that to continue to uh see that trend to continue in the future. Uh the cost to manage the cardboard at the EC was just over $25,000 in 2024 and that is only for the shipment and recycling of the material that does not uh cover any overhead costs, staffing, building costs, etc. So staff sat down and we discussed you know what are our current operational challenges. Um it really re it kind of revolves around high volume of participants on these materials. um peak participation times which causes traffic backups on the PV circle. Um traffic congestion and flow and then this material storage mainly outdoor storage for these larger items, the management of those materials and the associated disposal costs. Uh in 2023, uh staff um the county decided to conduct a future services and facility plan. Uh the reason for the study was to meet the increased uh service needs for our residents to examine our operational processes uh extend the life of the current environmental center and then plan for the future. So we contracted with Burns and McDonald uh waste management engineering firm to uh assess the current service levels, future trends and options for the county. Uh the plan was completed in 2024 and we presented that plan along with uh recommendation recommendations to the board uh at the May 21st 2024 work session. So some of those plan recommendations uh include there was five different steps that uh Burns and McDonald uh recommended. The first one was, you know, fairly simple one but a necessary one is to implement operational improvements for the safe handling of our hazardous waste, the bulking room materials, so gasoline, oil, those items that were bulking, and then lithium ion batteries. Um, and those um improvements were all made in 2024. Step two was to develop a plan to discontinue the acceptance of recyclable materials and cardboard. Um, when we discussed this with the board in 2024, it was decided that we weren't going to go down this uh path and and do this step. We're going to continue to accept the materials and just try to provide other resources for residents to try to drive some of that material away from the environmental center. Step three was to consider uh recommended EC facility improvements mainly for the traffic flow. Um, and I'll get into those further as we get into the presentation. Step four was to host uh an additional special waste collection event on the western side of the county. Uh we currently host three events uh one in Watertown Township, one in Cologne, and one in Hollywood Township. Uh we're not seeing an increase in participation at those events. It's really plateaued. So we'll continue to evaluate that one and if there is a need in the future, you know, we'll look at adding a a fourth uh special waste collection event. And then step five, re-evaluate the need for a new facility in the future. um you know three to five year timeline you know and this is really based on the facility's physical condition and um program growth assumptions. So the site analysis so um nine potential solutions were considered by staff to address uh the operational challenges that we've identified. Um these options were selected based on recommendations from the plan uh from prior discussions with the county board and uh county leader input from county leadership. Uh we evaluated the pros and cons and challenges to each of these options and I'll get into each option as we move through this uh presentation. Staff also met with the city of Chaska on two separate occasions to look at our the site constraints. So really the the property of the environmental center um the property that we have is roughly five just over five acres. Um current footprint that we utilize is about 1.3 acres and we estimate that there's a potential buildable footprint of about 2 acres. U and as you can see on this slide there's a lot going on with the property from you know wetlands to wooded steep slopes and their associated setbacks. Um there's the property line setbacks and then there's also railroad setbacks. So we're dealing with quite a few uh limitations on this site. So the first option that we looked at is widening the entrance and correcting the flow of traffic. Um and this was a recommendation taken from the facility and services plan that Bruns and McDonald put together. So some of the pros looking at this uh option would be to correct correct the flow of traffic but then also make it easier for staff and residents to access the parking at this at the facility. Uh the cons and challenges uh with this option um the proposal from Burns McDonald included eliminating uh recycling uh using this option just to create more space for traffic flow. Then also uh they proposed to add a service kiosk to check PE residents in to correct that flow of traffic and that could potent potentially put a strain on our staffing at the environmental center by dedicating a staff person to that uh kiosk operations. Then also there could be a potential pinch point from the household hazardous waste drop off. So those blue arrows would be the household hazardous waste traffic and if that gets backed up that could be a pinch point there. Um, so those are just some concerns that staff had with this option. The second option that we looked at was an exit road around the building. Once again, this was a recommendation taken from the plan uh provided by Burns and McDonald. Uh the similar pros correct the flow of traffic, easier access to parking. Uh some of the cons challenges this would be, you know, a costly expense to the county. Uh we reached out to a to an engineer for an engineer's cost estimate. Um, and the quote that we got back would be 10 $10,000 plus or - 50% for a tabletop estimate to construct something like this or $20,000 plus or minus 50% for, you know, a field field verified come out and survey and and uh so, you know, if that's a path that we want to go down in the future, there would be a cost to get that, you know, the engineers cost estimate for this. Um, another challenge is city setback requirements. As I showed in that previous slide, there's the wetland and the wooded steep slope u considerations. Uh this option also included discontinuing recycling to create more space for traffic flow. Um this could create a pinch point at the rear receiving area where we accept appliances and other bulky items. And then there's also storm water management uh implications that could would come into effect. Uh the third option, uh this was one that the county board requested staff explore. Um so that's adding a second access to going out to PB Road. Uh once again would correct the flow of traffic and make it easier for parking. Some of the the challenges or cons um this area acts as a flow path for Lake Hazeline. So this there would be definitely a high cost associated with this um option. So, engineering the construction and wetland mitigation costs. Um, in conversations with the city of Chaza, obtaining approval for a second access from the city would be challenging. Um, and then city setback requirements, you know, a variance would be required and making a case could be difficult uh to the city. And then also wetland filling is generally not encouraged by the state, city, and county when other options exist. Another option we looked at was additional outside storage. As I mentioned, this is a need. Um, you know, we're always especially for the cardboard materials. Uh, the pros would be it'd be added capacity for the materials. Some of the cons, challenges, uh, city requirements. Um, as far as outside storage, they want to see storage in the rear of buildings. So, um, currently the way we have things set up in the back, we don't have a lot of room to add any storage in the rear of the building. If we were allowed to locate storage up front, um screen walls must be constructed to match the building. So, we're talking concrete block material, not fencing. And that's if the city would allow us to u have storage up front. Also, if we would look at an upfront storage area, we would have to look at setback requirements for the wooded steep slopes and then also potentially moving the parking lot parking spots um to access that storage area. building expansion, internal storage. Uh so the pros would be add additional space for material storage in the building. Uh the cons challenges we really don't need we don't have a need for internal storage at this point in time. I'm not saying down the road uh we might not need internal storage additional internal storage but it's more the the outdoor storage that's the concern right now. Um and expanding the warehouse space which is kind of that the the east side of the building would reduce our paved area needed for participant and vendor traffic in the back. And then also there would be the city setback requirements that we would have to look into as well. We also considered an appointmentbased system. Uh so you know the pros allows for better planning and reduced weight times for patrons. Streamlines operations by ensuring staff is prepared for each appointment. improve traffic flow during peak volume time traffic times. Uh but the cons obviously we all know the cons. It's less convenient for our residents. Um they could definitely find it cumbersome. Can't just have your drive up. Someone wants to just pop into the environmental center that day. That wouldn't be an option. Um we might not be able to accommodate last minute changes. Missed appointments can cause downtime, you know, etc., you know, it's there's a lot of cons involved with that one. And and I do want to note that if somebody needs to make an appointment with us for when we're not open, we do um accommodate that. So if somebody's moving, they need to drop off some household hazardous waste, we do, you know, accommodate those those residents at at at currently. Another option we looked at is, you know, traffic control enhancements to PB Circle. Uh so this would include cones. So that in the short term and this is something we currently do when there are backups on the PB circle. We do um set out cones. Um temporary and or permanent signage. We do use temporary signage. Uh we have looked at permanent signage on PB Circle. Road striping. Currently PV Circle does not have any striping on the road. Uh concrete median construction long-term and then potentially widening the entrance. So the pros to this obviously it's very costefficient. you know, to put up a couple signs and do some striping on the road if that could help us um with the traffic flow. This is a great option and it's also supported by the city of Chaza. They would they said they would even help help us with a striping plan to get that laid out. So, some of the cons challenges, you know, if we're routing traffic up into PB Circle, we have three neighbors up into the circle, three other businesses, you know, there could be some impacts to those neighbors. Um although most of our backups are probably on a Saturday morning when they're not operational. um semi-trail access if a permanent median uh is installed could um could be a problem, but there are ways to do the curbing on the median so they could drive over it too. So cardboard relief. So we talked about you know the cardboard that's coming into our facility. So some of the considerations we had seven different options we looked at for cardboard relief to try to drive away some of that material from our facility. So the one item was uh add operational days. So currently we operate a Wednesday through Saturday schedule. Staff are on site Tuesday through Saturday. So Tuesday is used for our prep for the week, shipping, you know, that's the day we really utilize for uh getting all those materials out of the facility. So that leaves us with Sunday and Monday. And those are the days that staff are off because that's their their two days off. Um Mondays are also used for u shipping as well. Some vendors do come on Mondays when staff are not around to ship materials. So, we're not recommending adding any operational days just due to the schedule. Increased frequency of hauler pickups. Uh we really don't have a issue with turning away residents. Um if there, you know, for full containers occasionally, maybe on at the end of a Saturday at noon on Saturday, we might have to turn away a few customers for cardboard drop off, but we really aren't seeing that issue as far as adding hauler pickups for those materials. adding outside hours for cardboard only. Uh we think that doing this uh would provide communication challenges. Um if we're allowing people just to come for just uh cardboard only, we're going to be seeing household hazardous waste. We're going to see other items being dropped off. So we don't that's one item we would option we would not recommend an unattended area for after hours drop off. Once again, I think you know the security risk um dropping off other items. Uh we see you know a lot of issues with that um having you know after hours drop off implement additional city dropoff sites. So currently we work with city of Chanhasson and city of Victoria to have cardboard drop off sites. That's a service that we pay for. We have anou with them to use their site. Um but we we manage the material and pay for the material. Uh so our our thought would be to look at you know other cities especially on the eastern side of the county you know Chaza Carver those residents that are bringing that material to the environmental center. We also have options the drop off sites in Norwood uh Cologne and Mayor that residents can use for cardboard drop off in those communities. Uh we've talked about this one before. Promote the use of additional curbside carts. really get that education out to the residents to to get a second cart, third cart if they need um for recycling and then education, you know, disposal alternatives. Talk about these other sites that we have available. Demcon Companies accepts cardboard from residents at no charge uh in Shakipi. And then also just the management of that material. Break it down, you know, cut it up, break it down. Don't, you know, try to dispose of these big boxes without breaking it down. So, uh, then the last option we looked at is the the operating hours. So, our current operating hours, as I mentioned earlier, we operate a Wednesday through Saturday. Uh, it's 23 hours per week, and the hours are listed there. And just for comparison, I put down Scott County's uh, their facility hours, current participation by day and by hour. So we collect a lot of data at the environmental center which is really great so we can really kind of narrow down our participation where people are coming from when they're coming. So as you can see in the upper left uh those are the Wednesdays that the the average EC participants per hour for Wednesdays. So from that two noon to 2 o'clock time period. We're seeing roughly 50% of that day's participation come during those two hours. And that's mainly because that's our first day we're open during the week. And it's kind of that noon rush, that lunch hour rush, too. And then throughout the day, it really tapers off. And then the last hour of the day, we see on average about 10 to 12 uh residents come through that last hour. Thursdays are very similar with about 50 to 51% coming during those first two hours and then tapering down until that last hour of the day. Fridays are consistent throughout the day. That's a good good pace for staff and the vehicles coming through. And then Saturday is a reversal. So we're not seeing those people coming in from 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning, 9 to 10. About 10, 10:30, we start seeing that uptick. People rushing in trying to uh drop off material. Um couple interesting items about Saturdays is that 80 those 80 participants for that last hour. Roughly about 40% of those people are bringing in cardboard only. So we're seeing these people trying to rush in to bring this cardboard in. And if we can have some alternative sites, maybe we could drop that number down and give them that option. They can go on a Sunday when it's open, you know, a different, you know, in the evening uh to drop off their cardboard. Also, it's very interesting. We don't see people backed up at noon. It's pretty much a clean clean break. We don't see people waiting to get in and servicing them from noon to 12:30 to 1:00. We don't we don't see that. So, Mr. Chair, if I may, can you go back one, Brad? Yes, sir. The How late are we open on Saturdays? Till noon. Oh, sorry. That says A.M. So, in your best judgment or your staff's best judgment, what would happen if we in the spirit of customer service, what would happen if we were open till 2:00? You know, I think um first of all, for staffing staffing needs, I think we're kind of up to our Let's just put that to the side because I know there's the perspective of us as county and labor, but if we put it in the perspective of a taxpayer, if we were open till 2 o'clock in the spirit of customer service, Would we get more people in those windows? Have we tried it? Have we tested it? Um, Commissioner, yeah, I guess you know, like I said, we're not seeing them line up at noon. We don't have that. But if we did adjust the hours, I don't know if we would see those. We haven't tested it. We have not tested it. Great. Thanks. I don't know if people try to get everything done in the morning so then they can go and have activities, but no, it has not been tested. So, I think one observation folks are getting there because they know close at two. Think we get there at 1:30. Yeah. Yeah. Some would say is, you know, these are sporadic hours for somebody that doesn't do it all the time, right? This the regular hours for us. And I'm not discrediting the staffing side of it. Um and then if you look at um Redbench for instance, they found out that if they closed on Monday and Tuesday, they'd have the same amount of sales as if they were open on Monday or Tuesday. People just would pile up on a Wednesday or Friday or they'd go get their stuff on a Saturday, right? So being open more doesn't necessarily mean more customers. It just means more labor sometimes. But I think it'd be interesting if again in the spirit of customer service, if we had a period of time where we tested, are we limiting our service because our primary driver is labor or are we open to saying, "All right, what's best for the constituents?" There's a lot of solutions to get there. Thanks. And uh if uh if Paul you're gonna make up maybe you want to sit up here. I think you're gonna maybe be adding maybe both of you guys want to sit at the table and grab the mic. We are filmed or taped both. Yeah. And commissioner you know it I talked about you know we do at times very rare we do have to turn residents away if we're at max capacity for cardboard. So I don't know if would that spread out and we would have more people on Saturday or like we talked about would it just shift that rush from 10 to 12 to you know noon to 2. So uh so we're one thing we're recommending is a shift of um recom hours of operation. So at current you can see here the current hours and then the proposed hours. So really going back to that last slide you know that that opening times we're seeing that m that rush at noon you know part of it lunch hour. We're thinking if we can spread out that that opening time and you know that that would probably help with some backups um for those residents. So looking to go from 12 to 7 on Wednesday to a 10 to 6 on Wednesday similar to Thursday uh from a noon to 6 to a 10 to 5. Then Fridays and Saturdays would say stay the same. Um some of the pros we're thinking would distribute that traffic at the beginning of the hour uh the days and reducing backups on PB circle. um addressing some of those periods of low low activity in the evening. So it's that cost benefit you know having the you know being open for that extra hour for those you know low low amount of customers coming through. Uh talk about consistency consistent weekday opening hours you know opening at 10 during the weekday hours rather than 12 12 and 10 trying to provide a little more consistency and then ultimately we're pro providing an additional two hours of service uh from 23 hours a week to 25 hours a week. The cons uh would be, you know, the reduction of those evening hours. So, we're still open till six on Wednesdays, uh, but we would close at five on Thursday. So, that would be one of the, you know, the challenges or the cons with that option. So, I guess, you know, so staff recommendations on next steps. So, for 2025, what staff is proposing is, you know, a change to those operating hours, which I just showed you. Um, cardboard relief. So education, you know, talk to our residents, educate our residents, work with the cities to add additional drop off sites and then the signage and striping plan and PV circle. The reason we identify these is we think we can really distribute our our residents. This is a very cost-effective solutions. All three of these, there is some cost associated to those drop off sites at the cities. But overall, compared to creating new roads around the building and doing this is like let's try this first and see if we can um spread those customers out and try to drive some of that cardboard away from the environmental center. We'll still accept it at the environmental center but just try a few of these options. Uh the two to threeyear plan would be to continue to analyze the traffic flow and expansion options and then you know maybe conduct a median on PV circle for right in right out if needed. that we would work with the city of JASCA on that. And then five five to 15 years is continuing to look at, you know, the long-term life of the facility, you know, planning for a new site, um how that would look. So, at this time, it's um welcome any recommended, you know, input from the board or any questions you may have. Brad, can you go back to that slide where you compare us to Scott County? The number of hours currently, how is Scott County doing it on 14 hours a week? Bill, can you answer that? That's a it's a very good observation, Commissioner. I think, you know, in light of Commissioner Udman's comment in in regards to providing customer service to Carver County constituents, this is just an example of how in Carver County, we deem this a a high priority. And we've been able to um um maintain our fast, reliable, and friendly service to the tune of 23 hours per week, which is actually um you know, more for a county that doesn't have the population that SC Scott County has. Um, I think the fact that we're located right in between Chaza and Chanhassen, our two most populated cities, is a driver for that. Um, but what I will say is, um, our expansion also, um, includes this will bump us up to, I believe, actually what, 20 25 25 hours per week. So, um I think the fact that we're so convenient, we're so close to people, um you know, it's it's um it's just a function of proximity. I think in Scott County, their their HHW is is located in a in a rural area. It's not located near um a highly populated, highly concentrated area. I think that that might have something to do with it. Um, and I think that if you look at uh the array of Scott County materials that they take at their facility, they're not taking as many materials as we are, too. They're they're simply not as robust and and um functioning to the capacity that we are in terms of the materials that we're collecting. How can you trust them really? Um when we were when Commissioner Anderson and I were out there a week or two ago um um I know that we brought up the idea of a a different building al together. Um this sorry my voice is getting they made me read that proclamation. Um which you know wouldn't be my first uh hey you know I'm not that guy. Um but I know in the area there's buildings for sale. They've been for sale for a long long time. It is a depressed market right now. I don't know what we could get for this building, but this does I think this the maps and I think Brad did it on purpose. Um really shows not optimal traffic management of any kind. Uh you better be a uh a defensive driver when you're in there at certain times. I go there on Saturday mornings, not because I have anything, just it's my social time. But um and it it is pretty light then. Um uh but you you better be careful. You're doing people are doing backing and they're kind of coming around and doing different things. You don't know what they're going to do or where they're going to go. So it it certainly could be better. Um and you know, again, I don't know, selling a building, what does that mean to who? But um I I think it's something we should keep on our radar to make it better. Um, I think we're going to be in this business to a degree. I'm still suffering a little bit from the compost. Um, getting out of that business. I blame Commissioner Lynch when I talk to people. Um, but among other things. So, um, but I I don't know how we would I don't know if we have other staff that should be looking at that. Maybe Lambert before he leaves should uh I don't know who our who our in-house realtor is, but but but a it probably a simple could we sell this building? Could we get a good deal on another building that would be more optimal should be maybe part of the plan. So, Mr. Chair, I I would suggest that u that's going to cost some money. It'd be I think it'd be hard to sell this and come up with something that's as good or better. may be unlikely. If you want to accelerate, I think we should revisit our space plan because we have all sorts of space needs. We do. And we did put on the list here 5 to 15 years out. I don't know. Is the uh mental health center, Nick, First Street Center, is that ahead of this or is that in the same bucket? I think it's ahead of it according to what I saw. And you talk about problems. Look at that building. Have you visited that lately? Well, what are we talking about there? Are we talking about a tear down in a building? Yeah. Yeah. Mr. uh chair and commissioner. So, right now we're focusing on the government center campus here. We did not put a date on the mental health facility at this point, just knowing it's probably at least 10 years out. And the master space plan did not address uh the EC. So, that's not included right now in our long-term financial plan. Yeah. So, I think we need to plug it in uh to the plan, but but you need to be realistic and and at least plan for money, not to come up with it right away, but but to have sort of that game plan because these other needs and prioritize we the board wants to change that. Let's talk about that. But they they stack up, you know, starting with the govern government center, which I think is going to be five years. I mean, Nick's saying three, but we'll see how it goes. So, anyway, that's my perspective on it. the 200 plus tons of cardboard there. That's there, right? Not including uh Victoria and Chanhassam. Yeah, that's correct. Brad, are the city drop off sites working well? Uh Commissioner, yes, we've received very extremely good positive feedback. I believe Commissioner Workman has utilized the the Chanhassen site and I think it's just really easy to communicate those those separate sites. we can have more hours, you know, more, you know, opportunity for residents to use those sites. And like I said, we're trying to drive away that material that's not the hazardous waste materials as problem materials and get those away from our site so we can focus on those really important materials that residents don't have other options to drop off those materials. And Brad, how do the mayor and Norwood sites work? You said the they're not they still work. The city of mayor facilitates those, but then we take the grab the cardboard. How does that work? Yeah, commissioner. So, we have uh a grant agreement with the cities with Cologne Mayor and Nor Young America. And we provide them with $5,000 each year to uh operate the site for their staffing of that site. We ship all the materials out and pay for all that service for the materials. Okay. And then I don't know, I just think that uh having that one day till 7 o'clock, I mean you could even reduce the hours, but I think just having the one evening till 7:00 and stay keep it 23 instead of extending the 25 and then cutting off the evening hours, they should have one opportunity to uh at least go till 7. One other quick question. Um we've been asked this many times. What about someone has an old culture, a chair or something like that? Where do they get rid of that? uh Commissioner Dem companies that's the only place you refer to. It's the closest proximity to you on Facebook Marketplace. They used to have a uh a neighbor passed away, so I'm in the process of taking care of all of her stuff for her daughter who now owns the home and she lives in Tampa. Um but I know that Demcon had at least a $100 minimum to wheel into their transfer station. So, if you thought the couch was worthless, uh, it's going to cost you 100 bucks. It might be a better idea to get a dumpster at that point. Depend on what a dumpster cost. Expensive, too. Maybe ask township where they go. They're always in the ditches as a former township supervisor. Yeah. You go up picking them up out the ditch. Yep. Mr. Sher, as I'm on our website, I think maybe did you you mentioned the communication? Do we have right on the environmental site? I don't see the We used to have a pamphlet that went out. It could be a website based too showing all these locations for compost sites and is that in here? I'm just missing it. Correct. Yeah, Mr. Hamsey, there is probably underneath recycling there's a separate location for the cardboard sites and the rural recycling sites. A little hard to find. Maybe we can make that easier because I remember the painful compost discussion and bailing out in the arborum site and but part of that was people became more educated on all these available options that are out there not only compost but recycling. Right. Correct. Between private haulers or just driving across the river. Right. That's correct. Yeah. So anyway, uh when you're talking to folks I would refer them there. Maybe we can make it stand out more. Sure. Well, the Chan and they're open now, I think, or tomorrow. Maybe Monday they yesterday they were. Okay. Um, but a buck a bag. Uh, and I That's a big pile they got there. So, they've taken that. That's a pretty good deal. I think we're probably subsidizing that, aren't we? That's correct, Mr. Chair. We do. Um, all the different municipal sites, uh, they use the city township grant funding that we provide to operate those programs. So Brad, the NYA compost site, we don't supply money for that site, do we? In the industrial park. Yeah, commissioner. We do. We that's part of their their city grant funding that they receive, and they can elect to spend that how they see fit as far as, you know, waste reduction, recycling, compost, and they do use a portion of that on for that site. At at times they have they have done some other collections as well. Okay. Because I think if I recall that was 247 and now it's been so abused that they're down to one day. What do you mean by that? They throw unwanted things furniture. So it's unmanned that was Yeah. But there were commercial tree guys that were dropping huge logs trees in there. It really maybe reach out to Andrew and she can give you the story but it's I think it's down to one day just a few hours and the residents are pretty upset but there is do they have a recycling roll off of some sort that is unattended? Not in NYA because they you they used to but yeah they have those are usually a trash heap too. Yeah but it's really clean in NYA. It's open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but somebody's there. Yeah. But that's for recycle, not for compost. The leaves and trees and pumpkins and coaches. Um, what other um if we can go back to the the new hours. Um, thank you. I think I recall when we when we had our little visit there um that the proposed dollar starting at 10:00 a.m. because when I when we were there um there's quite a line at noon, you know, it it takes a bit to get in. Um but I think you recall, Bill, that you you people are your staff is already there at 10 a.m. Yes. So it's not uh it's not going to increase any kind of staff cost. No. by opening at 10 a.m. No, you're correct. You're correct, Commissioner. The our proposed hours of operation change will will result in a no net increase in terms of what we're spending to do this. Okay. And and and I love the consistency because I'm not going to lie, I'm a high user of this facility and it's like, okay, is it noon? Is it 10? Is it 11? Like that was annoying. So, I love the it's 10:00 a.m. um on the weekdays and and then 8 to noon. Um I am one of those that, you know, I'll bust it to get it there at noon on on on uh Saturdays, but I do think whenever you end, you end what is your communication plan for changing these hours and when is that starting? Uh Commissioner, I think what we would shoot for is maybe a June 1st. give ourselves plenty of time to give those communication efforts, you know, putting together a postcard and handing it out to our residents. Um maybe those residents that are using those some of those evening hours, make sure we really target those residents as well to make sure that we communicate, you know, signage on site, uh social media posts, you know, the big communication, work with Ari and her team to to get communication out. What is there a possibility? you know, so the big change is Wednesday. Um, not closing at seven. You know, it will there be a transition time where you'll keep people staffed on on Wednesdays. It just in for a period of time for those people like maybe myself who would forget that maybe it's closing at 6 or Yeah, Commissioner, that's definitely something we could look at. We could just have a few staff available, you know, maybe we have a rotation and have them available if there there is that need ju just for that need. Yeah. I another another thing that we've discussed too, Commissioner, is not only kind of helping people by updating our um our website and our hours and all that, but actually identifying who is coming in between 6:00 and 7. Um we've seen those um that participation just fall off the table. We're really not seeing that participation during that last hour on Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, um if given the opportunity, instead of doing just a mass broadcast, we can tailor our message and figure out who's using that facility and when and let them know that we're going to go be going through a schedule change and maybe identify if it is a problem for them. Like Brad said, we've we've made um in the past, we've opened our doors to people when they're not traditionally open to help them if they're moving, if there's a death in the family, if their schedule doesn't allow it. So, we'd be willing to do that in this case as well. No. Oh, that that's that's a beautiful customer service option because that's what we're balancing here, right? The costs with customer service and and that piece. I mean, this is such um an important service that we offer our community and um it's absolutely vital and and I appreciate the work you do and I think the proposed hours make sense and I know for for me there aren't a lot of other options um to go um for this to take on to Bill's comments too, you know, really tailoring it like Bill said, those people coming in from six to seven, let them know a lot of them just have cardboard. Hey, you can go utilize these other sites. And we did look at who's coming, where they're where are they coming from for that last hour. Is it from Watertown? Is it maybe they need that those evening hours to come in? No, it's generally Chaza, Chanhassen residents. So, they're close by to the facility. So, I think and people have been so pleased when we've been telling them they've been rush rushing in to get in on Saturday if they're from Chanhassen or Victoria and if they have cardboard, we let them know that there's a site that's open Monday through Friday. You should see the look on their faces. They're so happy that they don't have to wait in that line anymore, that they don't have to wait until Saturday, that they have more of a a regular opportunity to drop that material off. Like you can do 24 hours a day in Chan, right? Yeah. Those aren't the sites those aren't the hours that we advertise, but that site is accessible 247. And and as far as the building plans, I mean, it would be interesting to look at the master base planning. Okay. Uh to Commissioner Workman's point, and I always hate to agree with him, but there is I don't want to miss out on opportunity um if there is something that comes up. So, we need to know our plan, have a plan, um but also consider being nimble enough to make changes if we see a great opportunity. I don't know if that's I'm just saying optimist here. Mr. Chair, a couple thoughts. Yes. Uh we've, you know, this been on the table for a couple years and thank you for the work on it. And I agree, Bill, when you get there, the customer service, nobody, you would get high ranks if there was a rating, right, when people interact with our staff. I think the 10 a.m. cleans up stuff because there's always confusion around in the community. And I also think the 23 hours versus 14 hours also paints a parallel as well. Um, so in the lens of customer service, I think we're also buying 20 years of time if we do this right without having to scale back services because of capacity this that the other thing. And you know, Tom keeps us honest about what what does the public sector do, what is the private sector do, and where those areas are there's overlap or whatever. In the vein of customer service, I still continue to be a huge advocate for exploring or piloting what it might look like over the course of two years to have shoulder season um drop off. I think we're uniquely equipped to handle um lawn refuse um and the shoulder seasons um out at public works. I also think that gives us an opportunity to socialize to um to um residents um that that that could be a future facility. Uh it is the geographical center. I know it's not the population center and won't be for a few years, but it's a geographical center. And I think I heard maybe it was your predecessor Brad that shared this. I think it's something like 9 to 12 miles people are willing to travel at an environmental center. So Cologne puts it within that 9 to 12 miles. If we're looking at Chanhassen and Chaza, I think that it's prudent for us as we consider all the land or the um the holdings that we have, not just buildings, but land if it makes sense for us if there's an opportunity to be prepared for um potentially acquiring land around public works for future use. And that's not in the next two or three or four years, but it's in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years. That land is only going to go up in price. And so I would like us to explore a pilot, multi-year pilot to have um lawn stuff. And then the last thing is I've seen other models like this. I was at a mini storage recently and um we went there on somebody else's behalf. They gave us a code to get in and so we got in, we grabbed the stuff, we left. Maybe it makes sense for at least cardboard and and and um and compost that if somebody, you know, got online and got a reservation code that they can scan in with cameras there and we don't have to staff that. we can continue to provide service, minimal cost on technology, high potential impact for the the services for the county. We're testing something like that in library and I know it's not pound-forpound, but it's if you're authorized, if you're good to go, you can scan in an expanded hours and we have we maximize our service without increasing our costs. So that might be a consideration for Cologne. it might be a consideration for CHASA to say okay what would it look like if in a year or two years we come back and Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday are 10 to six every single day and then you're actually there from 10 to whatever and there's the option if somebody comes in after those hours that they could scan in if they had gone onto the portal so thinking through the lens of customer service less through the lens of the operational cost for max impact definitely yeah commissioner I I live in Jordan we uh for our organic site there's a key fob access to access you have to sign up and there's cameras there, but yeah, on a smaller scale, but yeah, it's definitely an option. Thank you. Well, I think we need to get it rolling. I don't know if you've heard uh what you wanted to hear from the board here. I think the you guys know the best hours. That sounds to me pretty reasonable. You got the customer at at heart. So, um keep up the good work and appreciate the update. We delayed you a month or so here, too. So, thank you. That's right. in several hours today. So, thanks for your flexibility. Thank you. Do we have to adjourn work session?