MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, May 9, 2001

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Bill Atherton (Chair), Susan McLain (Vice Chair), Rod Monroe

Also present:    

Absent:    

Chair Atherton called the meeting to order at 4:09 p.m.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE APRIL 18, 2001 SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Terry Peterson, Director, Regional Environmental Management Department, reported on HB 3909 (the scrap tire recycling legislation), the REM Department’s new hybrid car, the upcoming compost bin sale, advertisements for recycling information, the success of the SOLV event, and negotiations with the City of Portland for the closed KFS Landfill. (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting).

Councilor Monroe commented that once again the legislature had done what it historically does with controversial issues; have another study. He was disappointed because that meant scrap tires would pile up for another 2 years and the problem will get worse.

Councilor McLain commented that the compost bins had been an unbelievable success and there were still lots of people asking for them. She hoped, when the bins reached a saturation point, that they could figure out a good next step. She thought some of the performance measure data would help with that.

Chair Atherton asked if the bins were subsidized.

Mr. Petersen responded that the bins were sold at the manufacturer’s price and were not subsidized. He added that the department paid for promotion and helped with staffing of the bin events.

Chair Atherton asked if there had been any comment from retailers about the low cost of the bins.

Mr. Petersen responded that he had not heard of any problems.

2-A  Update on STS Issues

Chair Atherton asked Mr. Fjordbeck to brief the committee regarding breaking issues on the STS contract.

Marv Fjordbeck, Senior Assistant Counsel, reported that earlier in the day, the president of Specialty Transportation Services (STS) had requested the consent of the Council for an assignment of current STS obligations to a company called CSU Transport, a Minnesota corporation owned by Churchill Environmental Company (who also owns STS). He said the assignment provisions of the contract prohibited the contractor from assigning its rights without the prior consent of Metro. He said there had been a lively discussion with STS legal counsel regarding the contract and that Mr. Hahn would explain the basis of the company’s request to the Council and answer questions at their next meeting.

Councilor Monroe asked if this was a change of ownership under Metro’s contract.

Mr. Fjordbeck said it was not. He said the change of ownership provisions in Article 27, change in ownership, was not implicated, rather it was Article 26, dealing with assignment.

Councilor Monroe asked what would happen if the Council did not approve the assignment.

Mr. Fjordbeck responded that STS would continue to be bound under the obligations of its current contract.

Mike Burton, Executive Officer, added that CSU would also be obligated as the assignee.

Mr. Fjordbeck said that was correct, if the company assigned its rights under the contract without the Council’s permission, but the contractor would not be relieved of any of their duties. He said both parties would be potentially liable and would have to comply with the contract.

Mr. Burton clarified that the session at the Council meeting would be an Executive Session because there would be proprietary information included in the discussion.

3.  STRATEGIC PLAN DISCUSSION (Research Related to the Strategic Plan)

Janet Matthews, REM Policy and Program Manager, reported on the research being done on the strategic plan issues and asked for direction from the committee. (See copy of her speaking points included in the permanent record of this meeting.)

Doug Anderson, said they were looking at current conditions as well as timing. He reviewed the structure of the research being done by the REM Department, and the reasons for each component of the research, using an overhead presentation. (See a hard copy of the presentation included in the permanent record of this meeting.)

Mr. Fjordbeck announced that he had conferred with Mr. Cooper regarding the special council meeting. He said it had not actually been noticed as an executive session, and none had been planned by legal counsel.

Councilor McLain asked if the research would be reported back independently from staff and consultants or if there would be integrated reports from them. She also asked if there would be independent research reports on each individual item in the main categories.

Mr. Anderson responded that they would have stand-alone consultant reports that would be assembled in a technical file, but the assimilation of all of the elements would be the piece directly supporting the strategic plan.

Councilor McLain said sometimes when staff was analyzing, reviewing, and filtering the information, it came across differently than the original consultant or staff had intended. She cautioned that it was extremely important for the assumptions to be laid out very clearly on what the original material was, and gave some examples of her concerns. She said anyone outside doing this work would have to have an intimate understanding of the policies and goals and the management minimums Metro had set for their public facilities.

Ms. Matthews offered to arrange one-on-one briefings for the councilors if they wished.

Chair Atherton asked Mr. Fjordbeck if Metro had the authority to require franchisees to provide these services.

Mr. Fjordbeck responded that Metro had broad power of regulation over solid waste and the Metro charter had similarly broad powers. He was inclined to say that Metro would be empowered to exercise that regulation.

Councilor McLain restated her question: how do you get the consultant to look at the ownership at a level other than financial issues. She said certain responsibilities go along with ownership.

Mr. Anderson responded that the integration of the entire research program was value-added work that staff would be doing and that he would develop it and bring it to the committee.

Councilor Monroe said there were many things to look at, but he was very interested in the overall fee structure (the system fee and the tip fee) and how those worked to impact the recycling and flow control efforts. He said he was ready to move on those issues as soon as possible.

Chair Atherton agreed. He how valuable it would be if Metro was providing assistance to the local jurisdictions as they made their negotiations. He was also interested in the tonnage cap question.

Ms. Matthews said they had come up with a number of options that they were discussing internally that addressed inefficiencies in the system through potential code changes. She said they would be bringing recommendations to the committee.

Councilor McLain said in order to assume underserved areas, research needed to be done. She said they had to be careful about making options in a silo without trying to build the body of the other research as a foundation.

Ms. Matthews had not meant to say that this research was going on in isolation. She said her reference to underserved areas came out of work that had gone on in developing the regional transfer stations, code change to the service plan, and the maps she had seen from the eastern part of the county.

Councilor McLain said there had not been consensus regarding the percentage or kinds of underserved areas on the maps or how real the pockets of underserved areas were so that was a premature assumption.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 5:04 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE

MEETING OF MAY 9, 2001

Testimony Cards: None.