MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Tuesday, November 3, 1998

Council Chamber

Chair Morissette called the meeting to order at 11:03 AM.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Bruce Warner, Director of Regional Environmental Management, reported that the compactor replacement at Metro South was going quite well and that one of the machines had already been replaced and tested and the other was in the process.

Councilor Washington asked the life expectancy of the units.

Mr. Warner said they had anticipated getting 20 years out of the old ones and expected the same from the new ones but had better specifications for holding the manufacturer to the agreement with the new ones.

Councilor Washington asked how much more the new ones that were supposed to last 20 years cost as opposed to the old ones that lasted only 8 years.

James Watkins, Engineering Manager, Regional Environmental Management, answered that the first ones were about $550,000 while the new ones were around $700,000. He said they could have continued to have the old compactors repaired to get more life from them but the modifications the manufacturer made on the new ones were so much more beneficial from a maintenance standpoint they chose to buy the new ones. He believed the maintenance costs would go down with the new models.

Councilor Washington asked if Metro had an annual maintenance contract on the compactors.

Mr. Watkins said there were warranties which extended up to 3 years on some parts. He said routine maintenance would be done by the facility and they had a contract with the company for the more involved maintenance

Councilor McFarland said it appeared that trying to estimate the life of a machine by years was less meaningful than estimating its life based on how much it was used. She felt since they had done a lot more business than they had anticipated with the old ones, the fact that they did not last 20 years probably just meant they had done a lot more compacting procedures than anticipated. She felt it was more a question of how hard they worked rather than how many years they lasted.

Mr. Warner agreed with Councilor McFarland’s assessment and continued that DEQ reported the region had achieved a 42% recovery rate for recycling in 1997, up from 41% the year before. He noted a letter from Ed Druback, Solid Waste Manager at DEQ, acknowledging the hard work Metro and local governments and citizens had done to help bring the state rate to 35.8%, up from 34.9% in 1996. He reported that as a result of 1997 legislation Metro had the ability to receive credits against their goals for waste prevention and reuse activities and residential composting. He said that helped in terms of programs and gave Metro credit for a lot of things they were diverting away from the waste stream.

Councilor McFarland asked what the points were used for. She guessed they were used to look better in eyes of people who were judging them.

Mr. Warner said that was appropriate but more accurately they reflected the amount of material actually diverted from the landfill. He said if the material didn’t get into the waste stream to start with Metro didn’t get the credit for the material. This gave credit for that material which never got to the landfill. He said whether or not it was a good estimation of that was debatable.

He reported that Susan Duncan, Metro Waste Reduction Educator, had been awarded the Distinguished Service Citation in the Keep America Beautiful 1998 Nation Awards Competition for Educational Initiatives in the “Government Agency” category. He said Ms. Duncan had been working in collaboration with DEQ and the Oregon Learning Project to provide educational modules for middle and high school students and all interested teachers. He said to date this project had sponsored four workshops for 77 educators, trained 10 new workshop facilitators and presented the solid waste curriculum to 300 secondary students. Ms. Duncan had been invited to be recognized for her efforts at the Keep America Beautiful 45th Annual National Awards Luncheon in Washington, DC, but due to the cost she would not be able to attend.

He said the rate review committee would meet November 5th to discuss recommendations for next year’s rates but that was essentially status quo until the contract dispute that would be discussed later in Executive Session was dealt with.

3.  RESOLUTION NO. 98-2713, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF RFB #98B-63-REM, FOR THE PROVISION OF DIESEL FUEL.

Mr. Warner said the Executive Summary in the agenda packet outlined the issues. Adoption of this resolution would authorize release of a request for bids and authorize the Executive Officer to execute a contract for the provision of diesel fuel for the use of the waste transport services contract at the eastern end of the haul. He said it was necessary in order to take advantage of the excise tax savings of 24¢ per gallon on the approximately 1.3 million gallons of fuel purchased at the eastern end of the haul each year. He noted the current contract expired November 30, 1998 and had to be replaced in order for Metro to continue to receive the excise tax savings. He noted there were some issues and concerns to be aware of. The council had previously approved an RFB in June to secure replacement fuel suppliers for both the eastern and western ends of the route. That procurement resulted in no responses for the western end. He pointed out that about 95% of the fuel was purchased on the eastern end. They had received two non-responsive bids for the eastern locations and issued emergency contracts with the previous supplier until replacement procurement could be conducted. Because of the lack of bidders on the west end they had secured an agreement for the western fueling location under existing contract laws for under $25,000, so the western end of the procurement was no longer on the table. He said the RFP in the packet was constructed with more precise specifications in order to obtain responsive bids and eliminate some of the discussions and problems from the last competition. He said this RFP should result in a contract that would fulfill Metro’s level of service obligations with transportation services regarding the manner in which the fuel was supplied. He said this meant, if adopted, that they would continue to enjoy the excise tax savings which were in excess of $300,000 per year.

Councilor McFarland said this had been before the committee before and she remembered part of the problem was that there were some difficulties in getting the trucks in and out of the place in Arlington.

Mr. Warner said that was correct and elaborated that they had gone to Arlington to visit the site in June with a request for bids. The bidders had been required to submit site plans demonstrating their compliance with truck turning movements, etc. He said both providers were not responsive to that site plan. He said instead of trying to put another requirement for a site plan staff had very clearly articulated their requirements of the site in this document to assure that trucks could get in and out safely.

Councilor McFarland asked if they had to face that consideration this time around.

Mr. Warner said the specifications had been tightened up considerably and hoped that was the case.

Councilor Washington commented that the whole thing had been held up for 4-5 months because of the safety factor. He wondered how something could be made safe by not doing anything.

Mr. Warner explained that this had come before the committee earlier this year to extend the contract with the existing provider on the east side for an additional year. He said the committee had the option then of approving another year under the existing contract with Devin Oil or rebidding. The committee chose to go out with a competitive process. He reported that staff believed Devin Oil was safe and operated well. They had the current emergency contract but that contract expired the end of November. He said they needed to find another provider and a contract that provided a level of service very similar to Devin Oil. Staff looked at the specifications and requirements in the Devin Oil contract and outlined what they believed would allow the requirements of the STS contract to be met as well as the safety issues. He said if a bidder met those conditions they would have a safe site for refueling.

Chair Morissette clarified Council’s obligation to Jack Gray Trucking, now STS. He noted the original RFP had to be redrafted and asked Mr. Warner if he felt the current draft for the RFP met the requirements they were obligated to meet under the Jack Gray/STS contract.

Mr. Warner said he believed that was the case. They had looked carefully at the contract language and believed if the bidder met the specifications the STS contract requirement would be fulfilled.

Chair Morissette hoped Mr. Hattenhauer would take that into consideration and direct his public testimony comments toward Council’s obligations with the current vendor.

Mr. Warner pointed out that an STS representative was present today and could be asked if these conditions concurred with the contract.

Chair Morissette opened a public hearing.

J. Douglas Hattenhauer, PO Box 499, The Dalles, OR, president of Hattenhauer Distributing Co., commented that going out for bids was the right thing to do. He noted that in June he had been the lowest bidder and felt he had been wrongfully disqualified. He said he had not received any response from his letters to the Council regarding that disqualification. He read his testimony to the committee. (A copy of this testimony can be found with the permanent record of this meeting.) He said he felt Metro was only interested in the excise tax savings and not in any savings that would result from an alternate supplier. He said he had responded to Council on the previous RFB in June 1998. He thought the current RFB was designed so that Hattenhauer Distributing could not meet the scope of work required and Council would have the ability to reject his bid even if it were the low bid once again. He wondered why the fuel had to be purchased from a site on the highway when there were alternative sites in Rufus or The Dalles that could possibly save Metro some money. He questioned why there were requirements for branded fuel on the east side but not on the west side. He wondered why there was a requirement for queuing up to four trucks at a time and asked how often that actually occurred. He felt the qualification that the site could not be used by both commercial and non-commercial customers was discriminatory.

Chair Morissette asked Mr. deVries to answer a couple of questions. He asked Mr. Warner if what he had drafted in the RFB was what Metro was obligated to do under the contract with STS which was contrary to what Mr. Hattenhauer had stated.

Mr. Warner believed what they had put together did cover the requirements of the STS contract very clearly.

Marvin Fjordbeck, Senior Assistant Counsel, agreed that the requirements fit within the fuel delivery provision of Change Order 15 which was the contract amendment that described the Metro requirements.

Councilor McFarland said there were standard requirements that everyone had to meet. She

wanted to know, when they asked for a bid as opposed to a proposal and an applicant qualified with the lowest bid, did that not take the matter out of Council’s hands.

Chair Morissette thought the concern was that the request for proposal (or bid) had been changed after council learned more about the contract.

Mr. Fjordbeck said staff had looked at the requirements under Change Order 15 and had attempted to make its best representation of the requirements that would meet that section. He said those requirements were what was in the current request for bid. He said if responsive bidders could meet the requirements, the government would take the lowest responsive bid.

Chair Morissette commented that there was a feeling that maybe they had more flexibility under their requirements with Jack Gray Trucking than what was specified in the bid based on what Mr. Hattenhauer was talking about.

Councilor McFarland said they had changed it.

Chair Morissette felt it was an honest disagreement where staff thought they had drawn what they were obligated to do to meet the requirements with STS and Mr. Hattenhauer believed they had gone above and beyond what they were required to do under their contract with STS. He said that was why he wanted Mr. deVries to comment.

Councilor McFarland understood that but said the ultimate deciding factor was going to be the bid and not their assessment of a whole bunch of pieces.

Chair Morissette said they might be taking one of the bidders out of the competitive process by requiring things that he would argue weren’t necessary. He asked Mr. deVries if his understanding of the modified request for bid was that it contained strictly what was necessary to meet the contract with STS Trucking.

Mr. deVries said yes.

Chair Morissette asked if he believed they had gone above and beyond what he believed was required to meet his needs based on their contract.

Mr. deVries said no.

Mr. Hattenhauer was still concerned why Metro could only purchase fuel in Arlington. He said he had a site in Rufus could be utilized and that would fulfill 90% of the trucks going to Rufus because that was their trailer drop before they went back to Portland. He said it was an alternative site. He did not know of any agreement that said Metro had to buy fuel ex federal tax. He did not think the obligations were being met. He said the scope of work needed to be changed so they could follow the specifications to meet the STS requirements because staff had made it so he might not qualify. He reiterated that his original bid was 2¢ lower than the competition’s which would have saved Metro $20,000 or more in a year’s time based on the million gallons. He said his site had never had an accident and had trucks and cars in and out all the time. He said he also had sites in Rufus and The Dalles, all in the realm of where these trucks went. He found no reason these sites could not be offered as alternatives, and possibly at lesser prices. He said now he had already divulged his pricing structure and Devin Oil knew how he was going to bid when he should have taken the bid last June. The RFP had been changed since then. His company had done everything that was required and were rejected because they did not want him to have the bid. He said STS truckers were professional drivers and had no problem getting in or out when 6 of them had tried his facility for fueling for over 6 weeks.

Chair Morissette said the difficulty was trying to feel like they were honoring their contract with Jack Gray/STS. He said the staff had reread the contract and had created a document following that contract. He had to assume staff had done a good job as he had no expertise in that area. He thought the contractor also agreed.

Mr. deVries said he did agree and commented that they had sent trucks through Mr. Hattenhauer’s facility although not on exclusive basis when they were trying to determine whether the facility was logistically and operationally feasible. On an ongoing basis in its current configuration they found it was a serious safety hazard because there were other than STS trucks using the facilities, grain trucks and hazardous waste trucks for instance. The ability to utilize the facility was found lacking from a safety perspective. They found that trucks could get stuck waiting on the highway. For the record, he said they didn’t care who they used but when it came to issues of safety they had to speak up.

Chair Morissette requested Mr. Hattenhauer to figure out a way to compete or respond to the current request for bid.

Chair Morissette closed the public hearing.

Chair Morissette assigned Councilor McFarland to carry the resolution to the full Council.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 98-2723, FOR THE PURPOSE OF APPOINTING ARTHUR WAGNER, PAMELA AKE, AND BARBARA WALKER TO THREE EXPIRING TERMS ON THE METRO CENTRAL STATION COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE.

Chair Morissette opened a public hearing. Nobody came forward to testify so the public hearing was closed.

Councilor McFarland said these people served an important function and recommended an aye vote.

Chair Morissette assigned Councilor Washington to carry the resolution to the Council.

5.  EXECUTIVE SESSION, held pursuant to ORS 192.660(l)(h), to consult with legal counsel concerning the legal rights and duties of a public body with regard to current litigation or litigation likely to be filed.

6.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

Chair Morissette said there was a strong possibility there would be discussion regarding options with the Waste Management contract at the Nov. 17 meeting.

ADJOURN

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Morissette adjourned the meeting at 12:19 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Acting Council Assistant

i:\minutes\1998\remcom\11038rmm.doc

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF NOVEMBER 3, 1998