MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, March 22, 2000

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Ed Washington (Chair), Rod Park

Members Absent:  Susan McLain (Vice Chair)

Others Present:    David Bragdon (Presiding Officer), Rod Monroe

Chair Washington called the meeting to order at 1:35 PM. He announced that Councilor McLain was out on an excused absence.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF MARCH 8, 2000

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Terry Petersen, Director of the Regional Environmental Management Department, gave a summary of the department’s recent activities. (The summary is attached to the meeting record.) Items included the following:

•  The annual SOLV-IT community clean-up event for the year 2000 is scheduled for Saturday, April 29, at a site yet to be chosen.

•  Earth Day Billboard Artwork winners for this year have been picked, and on March 29 the billboards will be unveiled.

•  Metro will be cooperating with PSU engineering students on two studies: one on the ergonomics of the current bulking process use in the hazardous waste collection program, and the other on a similar study of the aerosol puncturing process.

Chair Washington asked about the bulking process.

Mr. Petersen explained that bulking is the process of combining smaller portions of hazardous waste into 55-gallon drums. The lifting and twisting action required causes most of the work-related injuries in the hazardous waste collection program. The purpose of the study would be to try to find ways of reducing the number of injuries.

•  Gary Goldberg, the CEO of Specialty Transport Services (STS) has been moved up to the CEO’s post of the parent company, Asche Transportation Services. An audit uncovered that Mr. Asche had made $1 million in unauthorized payments to relatives for contract work.

•  A public customer at Metro South recently fell into the pit while unloading his pickup.

Mr. Petersen said that the transfer station has tried different approaches to preventing these types of mishaps and will continue to review its safety measures. However, he doubted whether these types of mishaps could be entirely prevented as long as people dump into a pit.

Councilor Monroe asked if Metro had considered having residential customers dump outside the pit and have machinery push the material in later.

Mr. Petersen said that option had been looked at and instituted it in some cases—for example, with clean wood loads. However, there isn’t enough space on the public side to do that with all types of waste. He said a new public dumping area is being designed with a flat floor. If that is completed, the problem will likely not recur.

Councilor Park asked how deep the pit is.

Mr. Petersen said the depth varies between about two to ten feet, depending on how much garbage is in it. He said the danger is not the depth but the things people fall on.

Councilor Park asked whether OSHA requires safety harnesses for people working on the edge of a pit like that.

Mr. Petersen said no. He said Metro transfer stations are in full compliance with OSHA regulations.

Councilor Park asked if the rates for residential customers should be raised to reflect a retail rather than a wholesale service. That might encourage more people to use drop boxes, thus avoiding much of the danger in self-haul.

3.  ORDINANCE NO. 00-851, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE REGIONAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN REGARDING GOALS, OBJECTIVES, AND RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTES

Mr. Petersen introduced the ordinance. (The history and rationale for this ordinance can be found in the Executive Summary and Staff Report in the agenda packet that is part of the meeting record.)

Scott Klag, Senior Planner, REM, recalled that last December he had presented a new proposed strategic direction for the program along with the changes that would be needed to implement that direction. He said the substance of today’s ordinance would be the amendments that would need to be made to the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan (RSWMP). He noted that the budget that reflects the new plan direction would be coming in the near future.

He said that the new direction emphasizes risk reduction to public health, safety, and the environment over disposal issues. The public message would focus on preventing the need to dispose of so much hazardous waste. Another aspect of the new direction has to do with making the service more accessible to people in more parts of the region. The new program will include measuring the effects of the efforts.

Mr. Klag reviewed the strategies that would be used to implement this new direction. Those would include an increased education effort, smaller collection events held more often and in more parts of the region, and modifications to existing facilities. (More details can be found in the staff report that accompanies the ordinance included in the meeting record and in the projection hard copies attached to the meeting record.)

Councilor Park asked about Section 1 of the Ordinance. He expressed concern about the language, “…eliminating or reducing the risk from use, storage, disposal of hazardous materials by households…” He said he understood the storage and disposal part, but he questioned Metro’s authority to reduce the risk of use. He thought that was regulated by the pesticides division of the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Klag said the intent was not to question the manufacturer’s label or to interfere with consumers’ use. The intent was to educate people on alternative, less toxic products or ways of reducing the amount that needs to be used.

Councilor Park said he did not interpret that passage as educational. He asked legal counsel for interpretation.

Marvin Fjordbeck, Senior Assistant Counsel, said the educational purpose was not clear in that section. He suggested adding the words, “by educating the public concerning eliminating or reducing the risks.”

Councilor Park said his concern was that the section called for reducing use.

Mr. Fjordbeck said he thought the words “use or storage” clearly applied to risk, but he did not think the educational intent was clear. He said that he would work on the clarifying language.

Chair Washington opened a public hearing on Ordinance No. 00-851. No one came forward to testify. He announced that action would be postponed until the next meeting, to allow legal counsel time to fix the language.

4.  DISCUSSION OF EXCISE TAX SYSTEM

Chair Washington said that the proposed changed to the excise tax system had been discussed at the SWAC meeting that morning. He noted that because most of those in attendance at this committee meeting had been there, only a brief summary of that discussion would be repeated here for the record.

Councilor Park summarized the issues an ordinance on the excise tax would address. Those issues include devising a system that takes into account the current conditions in the industry while promoting recycling and still generating sufficient revenue for Metro to carry out its charter-mandated missions. The new system would also specify procedures should a windfall occur and provide a simpler way of calculating the tax. To address those issues, a proposed ordinance would 1) convert the current percentage excise tax to a per-ton tax; 2) establish a methodology for calculating the tax rate annually, based upon solid waste tonnage forecasts; 3) set the initial tax rate for the fiscal year 2000-2001 at a level that would raise an amount equal to the amount that would be raised by the current percentage tax—i.e.$5.05/ton; 4) place the amount to be raised in the ordinance and allow that amount to increase based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI); 5) include a provision that if actual revenue exceeds the amount calculated on the ordinance, all excess funds to be placed in a special account the would require Council action to spend; and 6) establish a discount or tax-credit recycling facility to encourage more recycling. He referred people who wished more information on the discussion to the SWAC minutes.

Mr. Petersen said his staff supported the direction this was taking and offered to help.

Councilor Park said the SWAC had expressed support for the general concept but wanted to see the details. He said that once the details are fleshed out, an ordinance would then be prepared for a first reading at Council on March 30. It would then go back to the REM Committee for more work.

Councilor Monroe thanked Councilor Park for taking on the problem of promoting recycling while retaining sufficient revenues for Metro to carry out its charter-mandated missions. He asked what would happen if recycling increased to the point that the tonnage going to the landfill declined, thus creating a need to increase the per-ton rate. He asked if the Council would need to vote on the increase—potentially every year.

Councilor Park said rate increases would be taken care of through voting during the budget process.

Councilor Monroe said his understanding of Oregon tax law was that when a tax rate is increased, even when it generates the same amount of revenue, must be done by a public vote and receive a 90-day referral period. He asked Mr. Fjordbeck for his legal opinion on that.

Mr. Fjordbeck said that is indeed the law. He said that is why earlier drafts of this legislation had been questioned by legal counsel. He said Councilor Park was correct in that the rate increase could be handled through Council votes during the budget process.

Councilor Monroe said the problem would be with the 90-day referral requirement. The budget work normally is not finished at Metro until late April and not voted on until late June, the vote on the excise tax rate would have to take effect so that the 90-day period would run out at the beginning of the next fiscal year. That vote would then need to take place by the end of March in order to drive a rate that corresponded to the budget year. If it did not, then the rate change could be pushed back by as much as three months into the next fiscal year.

Mr. Fjordbeck said that was correct. He said he would be sure to address that issue as the details of the ordinance are being worked out.

Councilor Monroe said one of the concerns this budget year has been that the general fund reserves have been completely depleted. He said the tip fee had been artificially lowered with the intent of buying down the reserves. Now the depletion of the reserves jeopardizes our bond rating. He said that between $800,000 and $1 million would be needed to rebuild that account. He wondered if that had been taken into account in drafting this legislation.

Councilor Park said his intention was to keep the effects revenue-neutral. He corrected the notion that the buy-down came out of the general fund account. He said that came out of the rate-stabilization account, which is not a general fund account. The spend-down of the general fund was through the budgeting process of the Council.

Presiding Officer Bragdon asked again about Councilor Monroe’s first question about the annual adjustment of the tax rate—i.e., whether it would be subject to referral year after year as well as subject to misinterpretation as a tax increase. He asked if there might be a way to structure the tax similar to the way the property tax system worked prior to measure 5. Before measure 5, districts voted on an overall levy, with the actual rate being a mathematical function of the assessed valuation within the district. The overall levy was restricted to growth not exceeding 6% a year. But the assessor could figure out what multiplier was needed to generate the needed sum and that would be the rate.

Mr. Fjordbeck said that was close to what the staff was trying to do. The challenge was to ensure that if that method were employed, more recent local referendum requirements would not be violated. In addition, rather than having the amount increase by the former statutorily permissible 6%, under this proposal the amount of the tax levy would increase by an amount equivalent to the CPI. Those are two issues that would need to be addressed in order to comply with the referendum requirement.

Councilor Monroe said the Oregon Constitution prior to Measure 5 allowed voters to create a tax base that could grow by 6% a year without additional votes. He questioned whether Metro could adapt that system to solid waste under current tax law. He said he would need to get more legal interpretation to feel comfortable about it.

Councilor Park said if the rates were delayed by three months into the next fiscal year, the main concern would be to make sure that the local partners had the necessary information to set their rates.

Chair Washington reminded everyone that this ordinance was open for amendments. He emphasized that no discussions on any amendments to this ordinance had yet taken place, either at this committee or at the Council.

5.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

Presiding Officer Bragdon said he had had two letters from neighborhood associations praising the bulky waste pickup program. He noted that individuals had testified in favor of supporting that program, and he wondered if funding for it had been cut in the proposed budget.

Mr. Petersen said $100 thousand had been allocated, as it had been in the past. That is actually a waiver of Metro’s disposal fees for this event. The issue is that the City of Portland recently considered expanding its bulky waste pickup program. If Metro were to fully waive all fees on all waste collected through that program, it would use up more than the $100 thousand just for the City of Portland. One of the issues the Council wanted to address was the cost of expanding the program region-wide.

Chair Washington said he, too, had received several calls on this issue from people urging Metro to make sure sufficient funds were available for this program. The program seems to be needed and appreciated.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Washington adjourned the meeting at 2:35 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Emmerson

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF MARCH 22, 2000