MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING

Wednesday, March 6, 2002

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Bill Atherton (Chair), Susan McLain (Vice Chair), David Bragdon, Rod Park

Also present:    

Absent:      Rod Monroe

Chair Atherton called the Solid Waste & Recycling portion of the joint committee meeting to order at 3:32 p.m. He continued with the public hearing on Ordinance No. 02-939.

2.  Ordinance No. 02-939, For the Purpose of Amending Metro code Chapter 7.01 to Amend the Metro Excise Tax to Provide Revenues for Metro’s Regional Parks and Greenspaces Programs.

(NOTE: The following public testimony from the Natural Resources Committee portion of the public hearing on Ordinance No. 02-939 is included in these minutes to preserve the total public hearing record)

Chair McLain noted letters from the Mayor of Lake Oswego, Mike Houck, Judy Todd, John Sherman and the Clackamas County Solid Waste Commission. Mr. Burton also entered letters of support and concern into record. (See copies of all letters included with the permanent record of this meeting).

Walt Hitchcock, Chair of the Green Ribbon Committee, presented the recommendations of the Green Ribbon Committee and his testimony in support of the proposed excise tax increase. He said the funding possibilities at the end of two years were likely to be substantially greater, given the change that is occurring in the economy, than they are today, thus he felt this ordinance would be a wise move.

Doug Neeley, Oregon City Commission and Green Ribbon Committee, 712 12^th St., Oregon City, OR 97045, said a fear of the Green Ribbon Committee was that this request would be regarded as in competition with the Green Ribbon Committee proposal. He said he was concerned that the recommendations of the Green Ribbon Committee did not get put on the back burner.

David Manhart, 2024 SW Howards Way, #502, Portland, OR 97201, urged support of the ordinance. He believed the citizens of the region would support the increase.

Aleta Woodruff 2143 NE 95^th Pl., Portland, OR urged support of the ordinance as a way to keep Metro’s Parks Department solvent.

Solid Waste & Recycling Committee testimony on Ordinance No. 02-939:

David White, Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association, Tri-County Council, 1739 NW 156^th Ave., Beaverton, OR 97006, agreed that money was needed for the parks but felt it created an inequitable burden on solid waste. He suggested imposing an excise tax across the board on all of the sources. He noted the ordinance does not address the commercial area or the City of Portland where there are not regulated rates that get passed along. He wondered if they were creating an inequitable situation. He felt there should be citizen input and a clear message from the citizens that this is what they want and the way they want to pay it. He did not think the solid waste industry should be completely saddled with this without that message from the citizens. He said if the citizens did agree, the industry had no problem and would collect the money from their ratepayers for Metro.

Chair Atherton asked about the impact on recycling.

Mr. White said if the tip fee was increased, there would be more and more recycling. He felt the business may disagree because of the economic downturn. He felt it was a balance between efficiencies and cost.

Councilor Bragdon commented that the Council would be reevaluating demand and disposal capacity in the near future with a potential for adjustments related to that. He asked if Mr. White had any preliminary conclusions regarding the tip fee then.

Mr. White said he would be happy to discuss that at an upcoming Tri-County Council meeting and bring back information regarding that issue.

Councilor Park asked what had changed in the market in the past few years that would make people complain about the rates.

Mr. White said the price went down when Metro renegotiated the contract, and folks had benefited from it, and losing that did not feel good. People are buying recycled and recycling so there is a synergy there, and the tip fee is part of that. He said we are in a better place than we were, and we are saving money, and it doesn’t feel good to have the prices go back up. He commented that the make-up of the Green Ribbon Committee, with local jurisdictions so well represented, was good since they established the rates.

There was committee discussion regarding alternative ways to pay for parks including user fees and levies.

Rebecca Banyas, Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces Advisory Committee (MRPGAC) member, 3850 SE 41^st Ave., Portland, OR 97202, read a letter from the committee to the council in support of the ordinance (see copy of letter included with the permanent record of this meeting). In response to a question from Chair Atherton, Ms. Banyas said she did not recall the committee discussing other funding sources. Aleta Woodruff also did not recall any such discussion.

Councilor Park asked if the group would be willing to lobby for this to her local jurisdiction. Ms. Banyas said she certainly would and she would urge other committee members to do the same. They are fully in support.

Chair Atherton closed the public hearing on Ordinance No. 02-939.

Councilor Hosticka commented that he was interested in hearing the Green Ribbon Committee recommendations before considering this issue. He felt consideration should be put over to the next Natural Resources and Solid Waste & Recycling Committee meetings.

Councilor McLain said she was looking forward to the full budget presentation. She also felt it was important to hear from the Green Ribbon Committee. She felt if they were going to do this, it should be done, at least in a general way, by the end of March to signal to the industry and local jurisdictions their commitment to doing it. She added there was much more discussion and review needed. Chair Atherton agreed. Councilor McLain added there would be more opportunity to talk to SWAC now that they had the proposal.

Chair Atherton recapped the budget issues. He said without Mr. Burton’s proposal, the reserves would be drawn down quickly.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 20, 2002, SOLID WASTE

 & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

3.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Terry Petersen, Director, Regional Environmental Management, reported that discussions with Washington County regarding possibilities for expanded cooperation in regulating solid waste facilities outside the Metro boundary had come to an end, presented the tonnage report that sets next year’s excise tax rate on solid waste at $5.39 per ton, distributed a staff report regarding the Regional System Fee credit program (Staff Report: Solid Waste Advisory Committee Recommendations for Improving Post-Collection Recovery in the Metro Region, is included with the permanent record of this meeting), and invited the committee to attend a reception for the winners, honorable mentions and finalists of the Earth Day Billboard artwork contest. (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting).

Councilor McLain was disappointed that the discussion regarding which code would be carried out had never been brought to a policy level. She felt the opportunities missed without that conversation were immense. Councilor Bragdon asked how Washington County’s needs had, as they reported, changed. Dr. Petersen responded that three years ago when they initiated the discussion they were in the middle of a rate setting review with the companies at the two landfills, and since that time they had been able to come to agreement with the companies and set the rates. Councilor Park commented that the fact remains that those two facilities dispose at a significantly lower price than the Metro Transfer Stations. He asked for suggestions about how to overcome the economic incentive not to recycle but to bury the waste there. Dr. Petersen responded that getting that waste through a processing facility so there was some recovery was one of the most important things to do. There are environmental implications as well as solid waste implications.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3165 For the Purpose of Authorizing the Release of a Request for

Proposals for Implementation of the First Year of a Marketing and Communications Plan to

Increase the Salvage and Recycling of Construction and Demolition Debris.

Bryce Jacobson, Waste Reduction and Planning and the Construction Industry Recycling Project Manager, said he was seeking authorization to release an RFP which would solicit proposals to implement the first year of a 3 year plan to communicate construction and demolition recycling and salvage information to the construction industry. (See additional information included in the agenda packet with the permanent record of this meeting).

Councilor McLain said being able to track how well this is working will be difficult. She asked to have language included that would make sure the commitment was there and track the results. She said she wanted to bring an amendment to the council level on this resolution. In response to a question from Councilor Bragdon, Mr. Jacobson said the timeline would be pushed back about 3 weeks.

In response to questions from Chair Atherton, Mr. Jacobson explained that he felt it was less important to give high points for the project work plan and more for if they were qualified. To the Chair’s second question, he said the resolution was trying to make a front end impact. He agreed that the two Washington County facilities received a lot of construction and demolition debris that did not get sorted, just landfilled. He said he would also like to see that changed.

Councilor McLain agreed those connections would make a big difference to the results and they would have to deal with those facilities at some point.

Chair Atherton asked for citizen comments on Resolution No. 02-3165. There were none.

Mr. Jacobson commented that the measurement of their success was not an implicit part of this RFP, but they were going to hire a survey firm to do that measurement separate from this contract.

5.  Ordinance No. 02-937A, For the Purpose of Amending Metro Code Chapter 5.04 Related to

Supporting Markets for Recyclable Materials and Making Related Changes to Metro Code

Chapter 2.19 to Establish a Recycling Business Assistance Advisory Committee.

Dr. Petersen commented that it does little good to separate out some material from the other waste if there’s no recycling market for that material, i.e. tires. He said market development for those materials that need some help in their markets was key strategy of the waste reduction program.

Steve Engel, presented the ordinance, which if approved, would establish an advisory committee to recommend approval or denial of loans for supporting recycling markets, based on staff work, professional lenders, and this advisory committee

There was committee discussion regarding possible amendments to the ordinance, including having a councilor on the committee, a ten day review by the council, and a budget process for the fund money

Chair Atherton opened a public hearing on Ordinance No. 02-937A. Nobody came forward to testify so Chair Atherton closed the public hearing.

6.  October Transfer Station Review – Work Session

Dr. Petersen distributed a staff report which described questions to be addressed in October 2002 regarding review of service areas of transfer stations. (For more detail, see copy of staff report: Policy and Technical Analysis for the October 2002 Review of Transfer Station Service Areas included with the permanent record of this meeting) He said he would report back what information he could for the first report in October 2002. He said this report was a prototype of one that would follow every two years.

Chair Atherton asked if they would also track the facilities in Washington County.

Dr. Petersen responded that those facilities were strictly dry waste facilities and the focus of this report was to address how well the putrescible waste system was working in regard to transfer and disposal.

Councilor Park asked if Dr. Petersen would also be looking at any unintended consequences or benefits from potentially shifting the dry waste from one location to another.

Dr. Petersen responded that the recovery from wet waste was really insignificant. He said the question of whether there was movement in favor or against more recovery because of these policy changes between facilities was a good one. He said they would report recovery rates at each individual facility along with the tonnage changes that had occurred.

Councilor Park felt the intent went beyond monitoring to possibly having an effect on rate setting. He suggested being more proactive on behalf of the public.

Councilor McLain said the report also related to the franchise and wondered if that would be a parallel process.

Dr. Petersen suggested doing a status report on what public services were being provided in the region by private facilities.

Councilor Park commented he was going to be very interested in the relationship between demand and disposal capacity located within each service area.

Chair Atherton reported to the committee that he had received e-mail from a group concerned about electronic waste and how it was disposed of. He commented that there was going to be a huge amount of this material coming into the system within the next two or three years, especially as televisions currently in use became obsolete.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 4:58 p.m.

Prepared by

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the Joint

Solid Waste & Recycling and Natural Resources Committee Meetings of March 6, 2002:

Testimony Cards:

RE: Ordinance No. 02-939

Walt Hitchcock, Green Ribbon Committee

Doug Neeley, Oregon City Commission, Green Ribbon Committee, 712 12^th St, Oregon City, OR 97045

David Manhart, 2024 SW Howards Way, #502, Portland, OR 97201

Rebecca Banyas, MRPGAC, 3850 SE 41^st Ave., Portland, Or 97202

Aleta Woodruff, MRPGAC, 2143 NE 95^th Pl., Portland, OR

David White, ORRA, 1739 NW 156^th Ave., Beaverton, OR 97006

RE: ESEE Request for Proposals

Wayne Kingsley, Central Eastside Industrial Council, 110 SE Caruthers, Portland, OR 97214