MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, August 9, 2000

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Ed Washington (Chair), Susan McLain (Vice Chair), Rod Park

Chair Washington called the meeting to order at 1:38 PM.

Councilor McLain attended the meeting from a remote location by phone.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF MAY 17, AND JUNE 7, 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:

•  Recovery rates at all the material recovery facilities in the region above 25% this past quarter. Some were as high as 30%.

•  The department has been drafting administrative procedures in preparation for receiving applications for new transfer stations. After public review in August, the procedures should be final by the end of August and the department should be ready to process applications in September.

•  STS, the company Metro contracts with to haul waste to the landfill, had another change of ownership and has requested approval of the change. Metro is reviewing pertinent information and will respond within 90 days.

•  The tour of Gardens of Natural Delights, held July 16, took 1200 guests to 16 gardens. More people would have gone had there been room. The tour exhibited natural gardening techniques. Most of the guests were new, indicating a successful outreach effort.

•  The Metro Reycling Information Hotline took in more than 100 thousand calls this past fiscal year. That’s the second highest ever and the highest in a year that did not have a major event such as a flood.

Mr. Petersen asked four new hazardous waste technicians in the REM department to introduce themselves. They were Ronald Hall, a former intern at Metro South; Mike Bondi, a former temporary worker at Metro Central; Shannon Martin, a former intern at Metro South, and Mike Tool, who has worked at Metro South for the past six years.

3.  RESOLUTION NO. 00-2982, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF RFB #00B-31-REM FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A PUBLIC UNLOADING FACILITY AT METRO SOUTH STATION

John Houser, Council Analyst, read new language that needed to be added to the resolution. He said to add to the “Be it resolved” clause in the third line, after the word “contract,” the phrase, “…in a form substantially similar to that attached as exhibit [to be filled in with a number later] with the lowest responsible bidder.”

Chair Washington asked Mr. Fjordbeck if a motion to amend was necessary.

Marvin Fjordbeck, Assistant Counsel, said no, because the addition was only for language had been inadvertently omitted from this copy.

Mr. Petersen explained the need to improve the facility at Metro South. (More information can be found in the Executive Summary and the staff report associated with the resolution and included in the meeting packet that is part of the public record.) In summary, he said that demand on the facility has exceeded the facility’s capacity despite changes that have been made to address the problem. In addition, the improvements would make disposal safer and free up space so that more material could be recovered.

Paul Ehinger, Program Supervisor, Engineering and Analysis, REM, gave a PowerPoint presentation to help describe the improvements, which would primarily serve the public customers. He emphasized that this project would be just one part of a larger improvement plan, and that public customers were being addressed first, because that was where the growth in demand was greatest. (The information contained in Mr. Ehinger’s testimony can be found in the Staff Report and in the hard copies of his presentation attached to the meeting record.) In summary, he said that the facility cannot handle the growth in demand, particularly from the public. The slide titled “Facility Comparison” shows how out of proportion demand at Metro South is in terms of tonnage and loads compared with its square footage and compared with that at other facilities.

Councilor McLain asked what the total cost of the project would be.

He said that total cost for the total project would be $2.2 million. Construction costs to add 27,000 square feet of disposal space and amenities for the scale-house workers, as pertain to this resolution, would total $1.9 million. It would provide better traffic flow as well. He emphasized that great care had been taken throughout the process to control costs.

Chair Washington asked what the total square footage would be after this new phase has been constructed.

Mr. Ehinger said it would be 58,000 square feet, comparable to that at Recycle America and WRI.

Councilor McLain was asked to carry the motion to a meeting of the full Council.

4.  WORK SESSION ON RATE-SETTING CRITERIA

Leann Linson, manager of Business and Regulatory Affairs, REM, explained the background to establishing the rate-review committee and the criteria for establishing rates. Briefly, the Metro Code requires that the rate review criteria be reviewed and approved by the Council every year. She read the current criteria. (The criteria in addition to more information on this agenda item are contained in the meeting packet that is part of the meeting record.) Metro staff recommended letting the existing rate criteria stand.

Councilor Park asked if the criteria were ranked or weighted.

Ms. Linson said no.

Councilor Park suggested that ranking and weighting might provide more structure to help the rate-review committee set rates.

Councilor McLain agreed, but thought a strict ranking of 1 through 10 might not be the end product.

Mr. Petersen said the drawback might be that different situation might assign greater weight under certain circumstances.

Councilor McLain said the ranking and weighting should be flexible—e.g., a category might be weighted or ranked rather than an individual criterion.

Chair Washington agreed with the idea of ranking the criteria and suggested the most weight be assigned to revenue adequacy, as the money needs to be there before anything else can be done.

Councilor McLain agreed and asked that staff work with committee members to further refine a flexible ranking or weighting system.

Mr. Petersen said he would direct staff to develop a system of prioritizing the criteria, then bring the system back to the committee at some time in the future.

5.  PROPOSED COMMITTEE WORK PLAN

Mr. Petersen called attention to the table titled “REM Work Plan,” contained in the meeting packet. He highlighted three of the 20 items on the work plan: 1) the STS change of ownership; 2) the procurement process for the 10% disposal; and 3) resolving questions relating to applications for new regional transfer stations, which might come before the committee as early as October.

Councilor Park asked what KFD stood for in the work plan.

Mr. Petersen said it stands for, “Killingsworth Fast Disposal” (KFD) landfill. Metro had been asked to help close that landfill but the Council decided against it. The city of Portland took over the landfill and requested help in operating the landfill. Discussions were underway concerning how Metro might help in exchange for property or some other service. He said that this would be a fairly major undertaking and represent new territory for Metro.

Chair Washington asked whether the proposed ”green roof” was worth more than KFD to the city.

Chair Washington requested an update at the next meeting on the dike construction at the St. Johns Landfill.

Councilor McLain requested a discussion of the criteria for allowing credit for non-profits and for other groups doing clean-ups. She would like to promote recycling in Clackamas county and other areas where it has not been done as much as it could be.

6.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

Councilor Park asked for a report on the City of Portland’s “green ordinance.” He said that he would like to know about projected costs and about any restructuring of the city’s departments.

Mr. Petersen asked if they would like him to do the update himself or invite someone from the city of Portland.

Chair Washington asked for someone from the city, perhaps Commissioner Salztman.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Washington adjourned the meeting at 2:40 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Emmerson

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF AUGUST 9, 2000