March 29, 2006 |
2006-R-0261 | |
QUESTIONS FOR CRRA NOMINEE FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS | ||
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By: Paul Frisman, Principal Analyst | ||
CONNECTICUT RESOURCES RECOVERY AUTHORITY
• The authority's board of directors consists of 11 members appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. The governor appoints three members and the Senate president pro tempore, the House speaker, the Senate minority leader and House minority leader two each.
• Three directors must represent towns with a population of fewer than 50,000 and two must represent towns with populations greater than 50,000.
• Five members represent the public. Three of these must have extensive, high-level experience in finance, business or industry; one must have high-level, extensive experience in an environmental field; and one must have high-level, extensive experience in an energy field.
• Members serve four-year terms and must be confirmed by both houses. The governor designates one member to serve as chairman, with the advice and consent of both houses. The chairman serves at the governor's pleasure.
• CRRA plans, designs, builds, and operates solid waste disposal, volume reduction, recycling, intermediate processing, and resources recovery facilities. The chairman appoints the president of the authority, who supervises the authority's administrative affairs and technical activities. The authority is a quasi-public agency.
QUESTIONS
1. CRRA has announced plans to close the Hartford landfill, but your agency and the city have disagreed about who should bear the costs of closure and monitoring. Who should pay and why?
2. Do you anticipate increasing or decreasing tipping fees? On what would that depend?
3. Please describe CRRA's policy on awarding new contracts and re-bidding expired contracts. Under what circumstances would you renew a contract outside of a competitive bid process?
4. CRRA has said it favors a statewide electronics recycling plant. How would this be financed? Do you favor a one-time advance recycling fee paid at the point of retail purchase, such as has been adopted in California, or one that would place more responsibility on manufacturers? Should such recycling include only computers and televisions, or be expanded to include cell phones and other smaller electronics?
5. CRRA's main responsibilities include assistance and coordination of certain recycling efforts. Connecticut continues to fall short of its statewide 40% recycling goal. How can CRRA increase the rate of recycling?
6. Legislation has been introduced in previous years that would have allowed CRRA to spend proportionally more money on outside consultants as its full-time staff decreased, and less money on consultants if its full time staff grew. What are CRRA's current staffing needs?
7. Inner-city residents believe they have historically been overburdened by the siting of landfills and incinerators in their neighborhoods. What is CRRA doing to alleviate this?
8. Under current law, unclaimed bottle deposits return to distributors. There have been many attempts to direct that money to the state instead. Where does CRRA believe that money should go and how should it be distributed?
9. Do you favor expansion of the bottle bill to include bottled water and noncarbonated juice and sports drinks? Is curbside recycling reducing the amount of redeemed soft drink and beer bottles and cans? Should the state consider increasing the five cent deposit?
10. What's the best and safest way to dispose of ash generated by CRRA facilities?
11. You have been nominated to represent a municipality with a population of more than 50,000. What special needs or requirements does a municipality of that size have concerning recycling and solid waste?
PF: ts