2006 Code of Virginia § 15.2-930 - Regulation of garbage and refuse pickup and disposal services; contracting for such service...

15.2-930. Regulation of garbage and refuse pickup and disposal services;contracting for such services.

A. Any locality may by ordinance impose license taxes upon and otherwiseregulate the services rendered by any business engaged in the pickup anddisposal of garbage, trash or refuse, wherein service will be provided to theresidents of any such locality. Such regulation may include the delineationof service areas, the limitation of the number of persons engaged in suchservice in any such service area, including the creation of one or moreexclusive service areas, and the regulation of rates of charge for any suchservice.

Such locality is authorized to contract with any person, whether profit ornonprofit, for garbage and refuse pickup and disposal services in itsrespective jurisdiction.

B. Prior to enacting an ordinance pursuant to subsection A which displaces aprivate company engaged in the provision of pickup and disposal of garbage,trash or refuse in service areas, the governing body shall: (i) hold at leastone public hearing seeking comment on the advisability of such ordinance;(ii) provide at least forty-five days' written notice of the hearing,delivered by first class mail to all private companies which provide theservice in the locality and which the locality is able to identify throughlocal government records; and (iii) provide public notice of the hearing.Following the final public hearing held pursuant to the preceding sentence,but in no event longer than one year after the hearing, a governing body mayenact an ordinance pursuant to subsection A which displaces a private companyengaged in the provision of pickup and disposal of garbage, trash or refusein a service area if the ordinance provides that private companies will notbe displaced until five years after its passage. As an alternative todelaying displacement five years, a governing body may pay a company anamount equal to the company's preceding twelve months' gross receipts for thedisplaced service in the displacement area. Such five-year period shall lapseas to any private company being displaced when such company ceases to provideservice within the displacement area.

For purposes of this section, "displace" or "displacement" means anordinance prohibiting a private company from providing the service it isproviding at the time a decision to displace is made. Displace ordisplacement does not mean: (i) competition between the public sector andprivate companies for individual contracts; (ii) situations where a localityor combination of localities, at the end of a contract with a privatecompany, does not renew the contract and either awards the contract toanother private company or, following a competitive process conducted inaccordance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act, decides for any reasonto contract with a public service authority established pursuant to theVirginia Water and Waste Authorities Act, or, following such competitiveprocess, decides for any reason to provide such pickup and disposal serviceitself; (iii) situations where action is taken against a company because thecompany has acted in a manner threatening to the health and safety of thelocality's citizens or resulting in a substantial public nuisance; (iv)situations where action is taken against a private company because thecompany has materially breached its contract with the locality or combinationof localities; (v) situations where a private company refuses to continueoperations under the terms and conditions of its existing agreement duringthe five-year period; (vi) entering into a contract with a private company toprovide pickup and disposal of garbage, trash or refuse in a service area solong as such contract is not entered into pursuant to an ordinance whichdisplaces or authorizes the displacement of another private company providingpickup and disposal of garbage, trash or refuse in such service area; or(vii) situations where at least fifty-five percent of the property owners inthe displacement area petition the governing body to take over suchcollection service.

C. Any county with a population in excess of 800,000 may by ordinance providecivil penalties not exceeding $500 per offense for persons willfullycontracting with a solid waste collector or collectors not licensed orpermitted to perform refuse collection services within the county. Forpurposes of this section, evidence of a willful violation is the voluntarycontracting by a person with a solid waste collector after having receivedwritten notice from the county that the solid waste collector is not licensedor permitted to operate within that county. Written notice may be provided bycertified mail or by any appropriate method specified in Article 4 (8.01-296 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 8.01.

D. Any county with a population in excess of 800,000 may by ordinanceauthorize the local police department to serve a summons to appear in courton solid waste collectors operating within that county without a license orpermit. Each day the solid waste collector operates within the county withouta license or permit is a separate offense, punishable by a fine of up to $500.

(1968, c. 419, 15.1-28.1; 1970, c. 219; 1978, c. 251; 1984, c. 763; 1994,c. 458; 1995, c. 660; 1997, c. 587.)