P.O. Box 20444 Indianapolis, IN 46220-0444 Not-For-Profit Corporation Phone & Fax: 317-283-6226 e-mail address: [email protected] September/October 1997 Newsletter Co-Editors: David J. Wintz and Julie L. Rhodes

• IDEM Finalizes New Grants Policy
  

  IRC's Participation in HEA 1339 Policy
  

IDEM Finalizes New Grants Policy

by Bob Gedert, IDEM Source Reduction and Recycling Branch Chief

IDEM's new grants policy, reflecting HEA 1339, has now been approved and is in full implementation. What does this mean to you as a potential grant applicant? The rules have changed if you are requesting funds for equipment. In addition, there is an economic needs test for solid waste management districts. In this short article, I will explain the general aspects of these changes. A copy of the full text of the policy is available to anyone upon request.

Regardless of your organizational structure, if you are requesting grant funds for equipment, you must go through a series of "hoops." If you are planning to provide waste management services (recycling, composting, etc.) and the equipment is worth more than $1,000, you must consider the potential displacement of non-governmental services. To do so requires a public hearing process before submitting your application to IDEM for grant funding.

The process begins with your public notification of the proposed grant application. This process varies with the type of entity you represent. Solid Waste Management Districts are required to follow the existing requirements of SEA349 (1996) for a proper notification of proposed waste management services. For local units of government (cities, towns, counties), the process includes an advance posting of the agenda, listing the proposed service and grant application as a specific line item for discussion. We recommend that the notice of the public meeting be mailed to interested parties, including private companies that might be affected by your proposal. Non-profit organizations must notify non-governmental service providers in their service area at least 14 days prior to the public meeting. In all examples, planned public meetings such as board or council meetings can be utilized, as long as an advance public notice is issued to interested parties.

At the public meeting, you must hear and receive all comments from the public. You must document the discussion in meeting minutes or a resolution. If no objections are raised for the proposed grant, you must document the decision to proceed. For a solid waste management district, this discussion must include a "finding of fact" from SEA349 statute language.

If objections are raised at this meeting, we ask that the various interested parties attempt to work out their differences, prior to submitting the grant proposal to IDEM. In all situations involving equipment grant funding requests, you must document a finding that demonstrates the equipment will not result in the significant net displacement of a non-governmental service comparable scope and size.

If you are given the "green light" through the local public meeting, you can forward the grant application to IDEM. You must include the following information with the grant application:

• copies of the public notice
• description of efforts to notify non-governmental service providers
• copies of written comments submitted
• finding that all written comments received were carefully evaluated

Concerning the economic needs test issue, any grant application submitted by a district must meet the economic needs test. If the district has a non-allocated cash balance at the end of the last fiscal year that exceeds $350,000, the district is ineligible for grant funding without tangible proof that it needs the requested grant funding.

Overall, the grant program stays intact with its multi-faceted approach toward recycling and source reduction education and programming. If you are not applying for equipment funding, you are not required to follow the new public hearing procedure. If you need more information or have any questions about this new policy, contact me or one of my staff at IDEM at 317/232-8172.

IRC's Participation in HEA 1339 Policy

By Janet Fox Neltner, IRC's Executive Director

IDEM recently revised its Source Reduction & Recycling Grants Program, due to legislative changes mandated in HEA 1339. These changes include an assessment of the financial need (of a SWMD) when considering a grant for funding. Another change relates to displacement of private sector services when equipment grants are approved.

What has been IRC's role in this process? As IRC's Executive Director, I serve as IRC's appointed representative on IDEM's Recycling Grants Review Committees. I have served in this role for approximately 2 � years. Since I have this experience, I was invited to be a member of SWPAC's Recycling Grants Review Committee, which began meeting in December 1996. The purpose of this review committee was to take a look at IDEM's recycling grants program and to provide input to IDEM on how to improve the program. Our first task was to ask for a summary of past grants, as this information was needed before we could fully understand the program. After IDEM supplied us with this information, the Committee provided a mechanism to disseminate information about HB 1339, which was being developed.

IRC does not have a formal consensus position on the HEA1339 issue. My role during these proceedings, therefore, was to attend the committee meetings, listen to the issues being raised, and to ask lots of questions about the potential impacts of any suggested or proposed changes. I also reviewed draft language in this manner.

The Indiana Recycling Coalition is an organization equally representing the private, public and individual sectors. My major objective as an IRC representative was to ensure that all sectors of the recycling community who were potentially affected by HB 1339 were aware of the on-going process. Because of the importance of this issue, we provided our IRC membership mailing list to IDEM to distribute information. We also included information on the issues and about upcoming meetings in our newsletter and on our phone message and web page events calendar. IRC's July 12 Recyclers' Roundtable in Martin County included this topic on the agenda. We also discussed it at SIRI and NIRI meetings. Basically, we encouraged anyone who might be interested in commenting to do so, as an individual, to IDEM.

If you want a copy of the finalized grants policy, contact IDEM's Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance at 317/232-8172 or 800/451-6027, ext. 2-1872. IDEM is also offering workshops to explain the new policy.