Bear Smart Three Rivers calls out procedural and substantive failures in County’s proposed Bear Management Area ordinance
THREE RIVERS, CA — The Bear Smart Three Rivers team is raising significant concerns about Tulare County Solid Waste’s proposed Bear Management Area ordinance and the process used to advance it, citing process issues that community members say obscure the ordinance’s flaws, misrepresent key facts, and may conflict with state and county requirements.
Attempt to Approve Controversial Ordinance Through Consent Calendar
Three Rivers community members were alarmed to learn that the County placed Agenda Item 57, designating Three Rivers as a Bear Management Area and adopting a new ordinance, on the Consent Calendar, for the November 18, 2025 meeting. The Consent Calendar is a time-saving mechanism that allows the Board to approve multiple agenda items at once without discussion. The Consent Calendar is reserved for routine, non-controversial, and fully vetted items.
“Placing adoption of a sweeping ordinance that raises garbage rates by 30 to 40 percent into the Consent Calendar was an unconscionable misuse of that process,” said Laile Di Silvestro of Bear Smart Three Rivers. “It appears to be a direct attempt to avoid public discussion on an issue that is universally opposed in the community.”
Ordinance Introduced on the Basis of False and Misleading Statements
In a 3-2 vote at the October 28 Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board introduced the proposed ordinance on the basis of false and misleading statements provided by the Solid Waste Department and the waste hauler Mid Valley Disposal, LLC of Fresno, which co-authored the proposed ordinance.
County staff misrepresented the scope of the ordinance, its provisions, and its expected effectiveness. County staff falsely claimed that the proposed ordinance is supported by the existing contractual framework.
When community members pointed out that the ordinance would not mandate any certified bear resistant trash containers and would allow and even mandate the containers that are responsible for the trash crisis in Three Rivers, three Supervisors — Micari, Townsend, Vander Poel — none of whom represent the Three Rivers district, cited the hauler’s purported expertise and its assurances that it would begin providing certified carts.
“Instead of examining the substance of the proposed ordinance, a majority of the Board accepted the word of a company with a profound financial incentive—a company that has actually increased the garbage issues in communities with bears and allowed demonstrably inaccurate claims about its work in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks,” Di Silvestro noted.
Mandated Fees May Not Comply With County and State Law
The proposed ordinance locks residents into substantial monthly surcharges, despite a lack of demonstrated cost justification.
Mid Valley Disposal has publicly stated that its chosen carts cost between $245 and $260 each. At a surcharge of $12 per month with the potential of an additional 10 percent “bear-proof can” fee, the company would recover the full cost of a 96-gallon cart in 12 to 18 months. The ordinance also shifts all replacement and maintenance costs to customers.
Over a 10-year period, these surcharges could generate in excess of $1 million in additional revenue for the hauler, separate from the existing 5 percent franchise fee that the County of Tulare would collect. Meanwhile, the ordinance contains no corresponding requirement that the hauler improve service, reduce incidents, or provide certified equipment.
County supervisors are legally required to evaluate the hauler’s costs and determine what constitutes a fair profit. Several sections of county code and state law, including Section 4-03-1250 of Chapter 3 of Part IV of the Tulare County Ordinance Code, California Government Code §66016 and Public Resources Code §§41901-41902, require transparency and proportionality in setting rates and franchise fees.
The Bear Smart team encourages the Board to seek counsel on these issues.
Development of the Ordinance Excluded Required Community Engagement
The 2018 “Three Rivers Community Plan” identifies bear-management strategy development as a priority implementation program, explicitly requiring stakeholder collaboration. Yet the ordinance was drafted entirely by Solid Waste staff, with explicit direction from Mid Valley Disposal, without any community involvement.
—Numerous requests from the community and Bear Smart Team for meetings and collaboration went unanswered.
—A single (virtual) meeting was held after the ordinance had already been finalized.
—Supervisors themselves noted that this does not meet the standard of community engagement.
“One meeting after the ordinance was already written is called notification, not collaboration,” said Eddie Valero, District 4 supervisor who represents Three Rivers. “We can’t check the box of community engagement after the decision has already been made.”
“This process contradicts both the spirit and letter of the Community Plan,” Di Silvestro said.
Ordinance Fails to Address the Actual Causes of Trash Incidents
The proposed ordinance mandates the use of Mid Valley Disposal’s metal bins, which are responsible for 49 percent of all local garbage incidents. And it does nothing to address recycling or organic waste carts, which account for another 25 percent of incidents. Nor does it require improved and proven gray-waste protection.
“This ordinance would not protect bears,” Di Silvestro continued. “However, it would significantly increase Mid Valley Disposal’s profits while leaving Three Rivers’s trash problems entirely unaddressed.”
A Better Path Forward
The Bear Smart Team urges the Board of Supervisors to reject the ordinance as written and restart the process with genuine community collaboration, consistent with the 2018 Community Plan. “We remain fully committed to partnering with the County of Tulare to solve the garbage problem in Three Rivers,” Di Silvestro concluded. “Let’s work together and do this right.”
About Bear Smart Three Rivers— Formed in 2021, Bear Smart Three Rivers is a volunteer coalition committed to helping the community coexist safely with wildlife. Our mission is to identify and implement proven, affordable strategies, already successful in hundreds of bear-aware communities, to keep people and bears safe. The 13-member team includes expertise in communications, data analysis, education, project management, legal matters, government engagement, and wildlife behavior.
[Images: 1- Photo credit: L. Di Silvestro. This plastic cart is authorized by the ordinance, and it is the same model as the one displayed to the Board of Supervisors during the meeting. The manufacturer states that these carts are not bear resistant, and two Three Rivers bears figured out how to open them within two weeks. 2- Photo credit: Autumn Davidson DVM, Three Rivers resident; used with permission. The metal bins mandated by the ordinance, which accounted for 47% of reported garbage incidents this year, are involved in the community’s most serious incidents and caused at least one vehicle accident this year. 3- Photo credit: L. Di Silvestro. Short-term rental recycling bins are not addressed by the ordinance. They account for a quarter of the garbage incidents in Three Rivers.]
