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Posted by: thepinetree on 04/15/2015 09:20 AM Updated by: thepinetree on 04/15/2015 09:20 AM
Expires: 01/01/2020 12:00 AM
:



Pine Needle Removal In Calaveras County ~ By David Carr

Arnold, CA...As most of you know by now that we have a problem disposing of the pine needles this year. From what I understand on or about March 25, 2015 the co-generation plant has stopped/reduced the amount of pine needles they will be accepting. So this affected all of us business owners that do lot clean up as well as landscapers and anybody who has dealings with yard debris. This also affects the local residents as well...



Gene Miller stopped taking pine needles on March 26th while he searched for a solution. All of the lot cleaners were told on March 26th that he would not be taking them at our annual CDF meeting. Is it a coincidence, that all of this was done on the same day as our lot cleaning meeting. On Wednesday April 1st Gene Miller started taking pine needles again.

Gene Miller is a private facility and he raised his price from $6.00 per yard to $8.00 per yard which is a 33% increase to us lot cleaners and to the local residents. This is no fault to Gene Miller because he has to do whatever it takes to stay profitable and in business. He is currently hauling all of the pine needles to Rock Creek Quarry which is further than the cogeneration plant which is why he increased his prices to pay for his fuel and time.

We the residents, lot cleaners and landscapers do have another choice. That choice is Red Hill Transfer Station down in Angels Camp. This facility charges $4.00 per yard to dump at this facility. It is open from Friday – Monday. I believe the hours are from 9 to 5:30. Call to verify business hours. This facility is funded through our local taxes and we the residents pay to have it hauled to Rock Creek Quarry through the disposal fees we pay each time we dump.

Since this dilemma, our newly elected supervisor of district 3, Michael Oliveira and I have had a couple of e-mails back and forth regarding this topic (more than happy to share them with interested parties). His solution is to raise prices to the consumer to pay for additional costs. As a business owner here in the Calaveras County, also a local resident I’m tired of having to raise prices (which I have not done in years due to the local competition) to pay for some ones else price increases when it is not necessary. I can haul my customer’s pine needles to Red Hill now and not increase their price. However, from what Michael Oliveira says, we business owners/commercial haulers which pay taxes to this county are no longer allowed to use this facility because of a permit issue. It’s funny that none of this was ever an issue before. There have been commercial haulers dumping there for years and nothing ever has been mentioned until now. I believe I have the right as a resident and business owner to see this permit and read it for myself to see if there are any conditions set forth in this document. I was also told by Michael Oliveira which I have in writing that we lot cleaners and landscapers could haul the material to Rock Creek Quarry free of charge. I called and talked with them myself this morning and talked with Dora at (209) 754-6403 and this is not true. Rock Creek Quarry is charging $4.00 per yard to dispose of the yard waste. I have heard excuse after excuse why we can’t dump there. The first excuse was the county can’t afford to haul it to Rock Creek Quarry. So I asked, where did the funds go! No, answer to this question. I stated that we pay taxes to have this transfer station in Angles Camp and that every resident as well as every business owner has the right to use this facility. I was told then that there was a permit issue for commercial haulers/lot cleaners/landscapers. The county’s solution is to either haul it to Gene Millers at double the price or haul it to Rock Creek Quarry. Neither of these options is viable to the residents of Calaveras County. Some of us might be close enough to Rock Creek Quarry that this may not be a big deal but for the residents of Angels Camp, Vallecito, Douglas Flats, Hathaway Pines, Avery, Arnold, Blue Lake Springs, Big Trees as well as Dorrington this is a 3 hour plus round trip to Rock Creek Quarry so this option would be very expensive to the consumer. Then Michael Oliveira stated that there was a 2 yard limit on all yard debris. I asked what the difference would be if the resident hauled in 2 yards at a time or if they hauled in 10 yards at one time. The cost to remove it will still be the same. There is nothing that I have seen either at Red Hill Transfer Station or on the flyer date 4/1/2015 that they made up 5 days after Gene Miller said they were not taking pine needles anymore, that states you can only dump 2 yards at time. All the county has done is cause a larger problem. Now we have residents having to drive five times down to dump their pine needles, spend more money on gas, expel more pollution and cause a huge carbon footprint. I thought we were working on reducing greenhouse gases.
The residents of this county are mandated by the state to clean their lots according to CDF Rules and Regulations. Most residents would agree that this is a good thing however the county has made it where we are forced to use a private entity or haul it to the local landfill. In this person eyes this is price fixing and real close monopolization. There is not another facility within our county to compete with these two options except the Red Hill Transfer Station. Once again, as a resident of Calaveras County all of us pay taxes to use Red Hill Transfer Station so if the county has a problem then they need to figure out how to make it work. The County set the disposal fee we the residents accepted the fee so why can’t we dump? The county should be off hauling the debris during the time they are closed so they do not run into any issues with their permit. All of this seems to be excuses for the county so they don’t have to expend any money and they want us residents and business owners to pick up all additional costs even though we already pay taxes and disposal fees for this facility.
This is one resident/Business Owner that is feed up with our local government. People in office need to be held accountable for miss managing our funds. They have robbed Peter to pay Paul so much they can’t cover up their misuse of the funds anymore. It’s time for all of us to join together and say this is enough. The government is out to take as much money from each of us that they possibly can so we can’t resist or fight back for our rights.
If there are residents, yard cleaners and landscapers that feel the same as I do lets from a rally and take back our rights.

Best Regards,
D & L Cleaning Services
David L. Carr (Owner)

P.S. The intent of this message is not to but blame on Gene Miller or Michael Oliveira. Gene is a private business owner doing what is in his best interest so that he can stay in business and be profitable. This is not Michael Oliveira’s fault either. He inherited this mess from his predecessor. But it is time for all representatives of this county to be responsible for their actions.


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