5-City Pact Proposed on Trash Hauling

While western Ventura County communities fret over whether a landfill should be built in Weldon Canyon, Simi Valley officials have been working quietly on a multi-city contract for taking some of the county’s trash to the Simi Valley Landfill.

Tonight, the Simi Valley City Council is scheduled to vote on a proposed agreement that would bind together five cities and the trash haulers that serve them, stretch the life of the landfill to 2013 and limit its use to mostly trash sources from inside Ventura County.

The joint powers agreement calls for trash haulers working in Camarillo, Moorpark, Ventura, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks--cities that have already approved the plan--to send their trash from those cities exclusively to the Simi Valley Landfill.

The agreement also includes haulers working in unincorporated Ventura County, according to the draft agreement.

The pact would extend the Simi Valley Landfill’s life span by limiting daily dumping there to 2,250 tons, with no more than 200 tons of trash a day coming from outside Ventura County.

The landfill’s operators also must agree to apply for permission from the county government to extend operations beyond the site’s current closure deadline of 2004 to the estimated closure date of 2013.

Also tonight, the City Council is expected to establish the Coordinated Waste Authority and elect one of its own members to the board of directors--which will be made up of representatives from each city. That panel will oversee administration of the landfill and execution of the joint powers agreement.