MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, August 7 2002

Council Chamber

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

   Rod Park

Chair Atherton called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE JULY 17, 2002 SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING COMMITTEE MEETING.

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S BRIEFING

Terry Petersen, Manager, Regional Environmental Management, announced that Metro’s latex paint recycling facility had been recognized by the Solid Waste Association of North America with a 2002 Technical Division Excellence gold award. He said that the REM department was making an effort to provide more opportunities for minority-owned, women-owned and emerging small businesses to bid on Metro contracts by posting all contracts over $5,000 on the website. He announced that the upcoming Cracked Pots Art Show artists had gleaned some interesting junk from Metro’s transfer stations to create unusual garden art for the show. (For more detail, see the copy of the Regional Environmental Management Director’s Updates attached to the permanent record of this meeting).

Councilor McLain felt the latex paint could be marketed at other facilities, possibly the transfer stations or the private facilities that Metro regulated, so people could get it without having to travel all the way to Oregon City. In response to a question from Chair Atherton, Dr. Petersen said about 80% of the volume of the incoming paint was being sold, and that it depended on whether the goal was to maximize sales or the recovery rate of the paint if increased sales could cover the full cost of the processing. He added that they were not necessarily able to do both at the same time. Councilor Park asked if the 88% cost of recovery included the cost for disposal if it had not been recovered. Dr. Petersen said it included only direct operating costs, not capital costs. He added that the cost would be higher to solidify the paint and send it to the landfill. There was Committee discussion regarding the importance of getting the work on the St. Johns Landfill closure completed.

Dr. Petersen added that they were in the process of doing their annual performance measure review. One of the measures was councilors' rating of the REM Department and he would appreciate any feedback. Councilor Park asked about an incident at Metro South. Dr. Petersen responded that contractual deputies patrolled the transfer station for uncovered load to prevent garbage from being scattered on our highways, and although they normally issued warnings about uncovered loads, yesterday they stopped a person who had outstanding warrants as well as drugs in her car. They arrested the person for the outstanding warrants.

3.  QUARTERLY FINANCIAL AND STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS

Doug Anderson, REM Finance Manager, summarized the second quarterly report on REM’s financial condition that Council had requested (a copy is included in the meeting record). He stated that REM remains in sound health. Councilor McLain asked about page 2. She talked about current policy, caps and the program as it was right now. She assumed that they would be set up to talk about the implications of any changes. Mr. Anderson replied that was correct, he had just met with staff to discuss fiscal impacts of any changes. Councilor McLain was also interested in the changes over the past 3-4 years, the predictions of how much revenue would be gained, what the actuals were, and how close the projections were. She remembered that the last time, the actuals were not as rosy as they had hoped. In response to a question from Chair Atherton about the health of the industry in general and the rates for ratepayers, Mr. Anderson in terms of generators that directly used the disposal facilities, such as a roofer, Metro's rates were the lowest in the west, but in terms of people who had to use the collection system, the rates had to do with the individual municipality and subsidies. He said the service mix and funding sources were difficult to trace. Councilor Monroe commented that he had been tracking the St. John's closure account for years and wondered, now that interest rates were very low, if it would cause a problem with the St. Johns closure account or other capital accounts. Mr. Anderson responded with a cautious no. He added that the reason for the caution was that interest rates and earnings were low in the last year, but they didn't expect that to be a permanent situation. He said they were projecting the account to be about $7.5 million and he thought it would come in above that. He said he was also cautious because they wanted to look very carefully at what they need to do and try to negotiate firmer commitments from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He said they were watching very closely and would keep the Committee informed. Councilor Monroe understood that low interest rates sometimes worked to the advantage but also sometimes to a disadvantage.

Janet Matthews, REM Policy and Program Manager reviewed the Strategic Plan Implementation Report (a copy of the written report is included with the permanent record of this meeting). Councilor McLain liked the fact that the way “B” was described gave an actual yardstick, and that it talked about what the project was and what had been gained from it. She suggested some changes to the report to make it look more like the one on the tool kit. Ms. Matthews said it was a matter of timing. She said they had just received the Year 12 submissions from local governments, but next time she would try to include more of that information.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3209, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ISSUING A FINAL ORDER IN THE MATTER OF THE IMPOSITION OF A CIVIL PENALTY AGAINST SPEYFLY, INC., BDA ROOFGONE AND THE REVOCATION OF ROOFGONE’S SOLID WASTE FACILITY LICENSE

Roy Brower, Regulatory Affairs Administrator, reviewed the resolution which would issue a final order to Speyfly imposing a civil penalty of $3575.00 and permanently revoking Roofgone's facility license. He explained that this was not a contested matter and did not go to a hearings officer. He commented that this was the first time Metro had revoked a solid waste facility license. He reviewed the compliance history and the special conditions. He said the license had actually been revoked on May 15, 2002 and today’s final order was discretionary. He said the General Counsel and his staff felt this would be the best way to close out the old Roofgone matter and set the stage for issuing new licenses to the new owners. It also allowed them to file a final judgement against the Speyfly/Roofgone Company. He noted that this was a success story in that they were able to use their enforcement process working through the Code and ultimately stop a facility from taking materials at a critical time. He said they used several of their regulatory tools to accomplish this and they were able to ensure the site was cleaned up, and then form a new partnership to take over the site. Councilor McLain said it sounded complicated. She said the goal of the Code was not to handle problems but to make sure none were created. She asked about allowing people to do business without a plan in hand and questioned how the administrative work was being done. Mr. Brower said in retrospect, REM should have been more vigilant in shutting them down until they had some assurances that they could operate properly. He said they had learned a lot from this incident.

Councilor McLain commented that there were certain facilities and licenses that had to be done up front so there was a policy review that took it to a higher standard to protect staff. Mr. Brower said sometimes the Code wasn't clear about such things as whether roofing recycling was considered a source separated material, and therefore exempt from the Code, or 100% residual, and therefore it did come under the Code. Councilor McLain commented that the result of this situation was good but they needed to tighten up the processes so they didn't have to deal with the transitional ones at all without having them do their plan first. Councilor Monroe asked if applicants were required to show they had the financial backing to make their operation successful. Mr. Brower said they required financial assurance, but not necessarily to run the operation. They needed to provide assurance that if they accumulated a certain amount of material, they could transport and dispose of it properly. He said Metro provided the companies the same mechanism options that DEQ provided. Councilor Monroe asked if they had ever collected a fine. Mr. Brower said no and did not expect to. Councilor Monroe said at the very least, before they issue a license they should require a bond assure compliance with the regulations of the license. Councilor Park commented that some type of bond to assure cleanup should be required so the ratepayers weren’t stuck for it. He did not feel the amount mentioned would be over burdensome for a legitimate operator.

In response to a question from John Houser, Council Analyst, Mr. Brower commented that forthcoming license applications had operations plans in place and that they were working on finding an acceptable mechanism for financial assurance.

Chair Atherton assigned Councilor Bragdon to carry the resolution to the full council for consideration.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3217, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF RFB #03-1028-REM FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MAINTENANCE BUILDING AT THE ST. JOHNS LANDFILL, AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH THE LOWEST RESPONSIVE BIDDER

Paul Ehinger, Program Supervisor, Engineer, presented a PowerPoint of project goals (a copy of which is included in the meeting record). Councilor Monroe asked about the land swap deal for purposes of providing for this facility. Mr. Ehinger said we leased it for 20 years. and reviewed the history, benefits, and costs of the project. He noted that the water system was a high price due to the distance the pipes had to span. Councilor Bragdon asked who the improvements belonged to at the end of the lease. Mr. Ehinger said if a new lease could not be negotiated, the improvements to the land were part of the real estate and the City of Portland would take possession. Councilor Monroe commented that an 8-inch waterline seemed huge. Mr. Ehinger responded that it was fire protection requirements for water pressure and flow. Mr. Ehinger said Metro would have an involvement in the St. John's Landfill extending beyond the 20-year lease period because of the need to maintain some form of gas system there. Councilor Monroe asked when the lease was signed. Mr. Ehinger said it was finalized in March 2002. Councilor Monroe asked if there were better working conditions for the staff in the building plans. Mr. Ehinger responded, yes. Chair Atherton was concerned that the building specifications were quite fancy and forced a building that was very expensive. Mr. Ehinger responded that the estimate of cost would be validated or refuted by the bids that come in because Metro would take the lowest bidder to do the work. He added that there was very little fancy equipment in the building and the per-square foot cost was lower than any recent project they had done. He said they took keeping the cost down very seriously. Councilor McLain asked about security. Mr. Ehinger said they would fence all the way around it.

Councilor Monroe believed the City of Portland would act and negotiate in good faith. He noted a previous experience with them concerning the Oregon Zoo parking lot, which had caused Metro much grief over the last decade. He said he would support the resolution.

Chair Atherton assigned Councilor Monroe to carry the resolution to the full council for consideration.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee, Chair Atherton adjourned the meeting at 4:54 p.m.

Prepared by

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the

Solid Waste & Recycling Committees Meeting of August 7, 2002

Testimony Cards:

None.