MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, April 7, 1999

Council Chamber

Chair Washington called the meeting to order at 1:38 PM. He welcomed Judge Laura Pryor from Gillam County, who was in the audience.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF MARCH 17, 1999

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Bruce Warner, former Director of Metro’s Regional Environmental Management (REM) Department, announced that since Monday, April 5, 1999, he had been the acting Chief Operating Officer for Mike Burton, Executive Officer. He emphasized that this was an acting position pending Council approval of the budget in June. He introduced Terry Petersen, who would be the interim director for REM and who would be giving the REM department updates in his stead.

Mr. Petersen gave the following summary. (A more complete summary is attached to the meeting record.)

• Announced a hazardous-waste collection event in Gresham to be held Saturday, April 10, 1999.
• Said the bulky-waste collection pilot project the City of Portland initiated would be re-evaluated before it continues.
• Announced that billboards displaying winning posters from the Earth Day Poster Contest had been put up last week.
• Said construction improvements at Metro South have continued.
• Said staff had made progress on its study of the possibility of new transfer stations in the region. The team was preparing a survey to obtain feedback from commercial haulers. Some of the results would be presented to this committee in June.

Mr. Petersen offered to bring his workplan for the REM department during this interim period.

Councilor McLain clarified that regarding the study of new transfer stations, no plan has yet been made. At this stage, the needs are being assessed and issues relating to transportation, the efficiency of existing configurations of facilities, and the effect of recent mergers are being studied. She asked that Mr. Petersen make it clear that no new stations are actually being planned.

Mr. Petersen said that she was correct. He said this study makes no assumptions that new transfer stations are even needed. The study would determine that.

Councilor McLain said she also thought the study should look at other elements of services the existing transfer stations offer--who does recycling and who does not--compared with services they might offer in the future. She also suggested the study assess the overall efficiency of commingling recyclables at the curbside before adopting it as policy.

Chair Washington suggested that Mr. Petersen provide the REM committee with periodic updates as the needs assessment part of the study proceeds. He thanked Mr. Warner for his outstanding service as director of the REM department and welcomed Mr. Petersen to the interim position.

3.  RESOLUTION NO. 99-2766, FOR THE PURPOSE OF APPROVING CHANGE ORDER NO. 8 TO THE WASTE DISPOSAL SERVICES CONTRACT.

Mr. Warner referred to the staff report on this resolution (contained in the meeting packet), which contains more details. He said this change order came after six months of difficult negotiations, but resulted in a good agreement that would benefit everyone. He turned the floor over to Mr. Petersen to present highlights of the change order and summarize how it would relate to the franchise operation of the Forest Grove transfer station.

Mr. Petersen said the two action items on today’s agenda--Resolution No. 99-2766, which deals with the change order; and Ordinance No. 99-800, which deals with the franchise--were related. With permission from the Chair, he included information on both items in one slide presentation. Highlights from this presentation follow. (Hard copies of the slides have been attached to the meeting record.) He noted that the change order would result in considerable savings, which the Council would decide how to use and determine the effect on Metro’s tip fee.

Change order

• Metro negotiated the change order with several objectives in mind, among them to lower disposal rates and keep them within the current market. The old rate was the highest of all northwest metropolitan areas; the new rate is the lowest. The new rate will save $60 million over 10 years over the original contract.
• Metro sought the ability to investigate alternative transportation modes for waste should they become available. The new contract would allows alternatives to be investigated if they cost no more than trucking.
• Metro sought to protect the price regardless of where the waste is delivered. The new contract would determine price based on 1) the tonnage Metro transfers from its own transfer stations; tonnage delivered to any Waste Management general-purpose landfill; and the residual from regional materials recovery facilities. The current contract has based prices only on the waste delivered to the Columbia Ridge Landfill. In the new contract, up to 10% of the waste could go to landfills not owned by Waste Management.
• The change order would extend the terms of the contract five years, until December 2014, and offer the option of five more years beyond that if certain conditions are met.

Forest Grove contract

• The original contract required 90% of the waste that leaves the transfer stations go to the Columbia Ridge Landfill. With the merger, this restriction came to be applied to Forest Grove, also. The new contract allows 90% of the total waste to go to any and all Waste Management Landfills. This eliminates the need for the 10% restriction on waste leaving Forest Grove. This translates into much greater transport efficiencies.

Mr. Petersen thanked Paul Ehinger of the REM staff for his hard work during the negotiations and said he deserves much of the credit for their success.

Presiding Officer Monroe asked if the time extension on the Waste Management Contract also applied to the contract with the transportation service. Mr. Petersen said no, that contract would expire in 2009.

Chair Washington invited Judge Pryor to address the Council.

Judge Laura Pryor, Gillam County, addressed the Council. She thanked the REM committee and the Council for the courtesy extended to Gillam County during this process. She said the relationship with Metro had worked very well over the past ten years, and she praised the results of the recent negotiations.

Councilor Park asked Judge Pryor if the Gillam County still had plans to send gravel back on the trucks that hauled waste to the landfill. Judge Pryor those plans were still in the works.

Mr. Scott Bradley, Division Vice President, Waste Management, Inc, said he was pleased with the way the negotiations were conducted and he was pleased with the outcome. He his company looked forward to continuing to be Metro’s partner in Waste Management.

Chair Washington thanked Mr. Cooper and the rest of the staff at Metro who worked on these negotiations.

Dan Cooper, Metro Legal Counsel, said credit for the success of these negotiations also belonged to Mike Burton, Mr. Warner, Mr. Petersen, Paul Ehinger, Marvin Fjordbeck, and the Metro Council.

Councilor Park said Councilor Don Morissette deserved credit for this achievement, also.

Councilor McLain spoke to Ordinance No. 99-800. She praised the new contract as a “win-win” situation. She said taking the 10% tonnage out of the contract was a positive move. She said some people still mistakenly believed that the 10% restriction applied to the tonnage that came into the Forest Grove station. She said that even though that was incorrect, the perception was important. Removing this would correct that misperception. She thanked everyone involved with the negotiations.

She said this transfer station must address problems that arise from its location, which is close to a residential area. Nearby residents have been working with the station to do that. She submitted into the record an e-mail message from a neighbor of the Forest Grove transfer station, Mark Oberzil, speaks to some of those problems.

Chair Washington recognized John Houser, Council Analyst, for his work on this. He also thanked Mr. Greg Nokes from The Oregonian newspaper for his coverage of the issue.

Chair Washington opened a public hearing at 2:20 PM.

Eddie Westmoreland, District Marketing Manager for Rabanco Companies, said his company had been following this issue for some time. He praised the professionalism of the Metro staff who had been involved with the negotiations. He said his company was a competitor, and it had been encouraged by the 10% set aside. He thought the introduction of competition into the market would be healthy for everyone, especially the rate-payers.

Merle Irvine, President of Willamette Resources, a materials recovery facility, asked if the residual from his facilities would now need to go to a Waste Management landfill. He said it is currently sent to the Coffin Butte landfill in Benton County. Chair Washington said no.

Chair Washington closed the public hearing at 2:23 PM.

Chair Washington will carry the motion to a meeting of the full Council.

4.  ORDINANCE NO. 99-800, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING A SOLID WASTE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO USA WASTE OF OREGON, INC., DBA METROPOLITAN DISPOSAL AND RECYCLING CORPORATION, TO OPERATE THE FOREST GROVE TRANSFER STATION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY

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

6.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

None.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Washington adjourned the meeting at 2:25 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Emmerson

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF APRIL 7, 1999

The following have been included as part of the official public record.

Testimony Cards

Merle Irvine, Willamette Resources, Inc.

Eddie Westmoreland, Rabanco Companies