MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, June 9, 1999

Council Chamber

Chair Washington called the meeting to order at 1:38 PM.

1.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF MAY 19, 1999

2.  REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR’S UPDATE

Terry Petersen, Acting Director of the Regional Environmental Management Department, gave a summary of the department’s recent activities. (The summary has been attached to the meeting record.) Items included the following.

•  Enforcement to ensure loads are covered at Metro South Transfer Station has begun, with 32 warnings issued.

•  A woman suffered serious injury at Metro South when she fell into the pit. Staff called 911 immediately, but it took the fire department an hour and a half to get the equipment prepared and retrieve the woman from the pit. She was admitted to Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) but has since been released. The station has made several changes over the years to prevent accidents like this. Staff will be looking for changes that still might need to be made.

Chair Washington asked if there were witnesses to the accident. Mr. Petersen said yes; the woman’s mother, some staff, and other customers witnessed the accident.

Councilor Park asked whether Metro had sufficient signage at the station. Mr. Petersen said the station has signs and guardrails. He said he did not know what further changes could be made at the facility.

Marvin Fjordbeck, Metro Legal Counsel, added that everyone had done everything possible to protect the district from liability.

Councilor McLain expressed concern for the woman’s condition and asked that staff follow up. She asked Mr. Moss to investigate and report back to her what might be done on-site to speed up the response time to an accident like this.

Mr. Petersen emphasized that 911 was called immediately and the emergency response team was on-site in minutes. He said staff would be working with the fire department to see what might be done to improve the procedures.

•  Regarding the proposed merger between Allied and BFI, BFI has requested a novation of the contract. However, because this would not be an intra-company transfer, the legal department has said a novation would not be appropriate. BFI has therefore requested approval of the change of control.

•  The Recycling Hotline celebrated receiving its one millionth call on May 24th.

•  Regarding chlorine regulation at the state level, SB 964 did not move out of the House committee. Mr. Petersen has submitted a request to the Department of Agriculture to adopt Metro’s ordinance regulating chlorine disposal. (The letter of request has been attached to the meeting record.) Mr. Petersen thanked the Council on behalf of transfer station workers for its support on this issue.

•  A non-system license application from Waste Connections was received to process waste at their Vancouver transfer stations and barge it to Finley Buttes landfill. Metro has 60 days to review that application and evaluate it according to criteria in the Metro Code.

Chair Washington asked Mr. Petersen to talk about the impact of this application on Metro. Mr. Petersen said diversion of the proposed 75,000 tons would raise the cost of disposal at Columbia Ridge, as the price Metro pays for disposal depends on the amount of tonnage sent to Columbia Ridge. Chair Washington asked if Metro had approved other non-system applications. Mr. Petersen said yes; however, this is the largest that deals with putrescible waste.

Councilor Mclain asked about the 10 percent diversion rule. She noted that 75,000 tons represents a large amount and asked if approval of this would violate any contract provisions. She asked for an opportunity to review that issue. Mr. Petersen said he would do that. He said this was an issue on which he particularly wanted the Council to be kept informed.

Councilor Park asked if Metro would lose the excise tax revenue. Mr. Petersen said no; the company recognizes would still need to pay the fees and taxes.

3.  ORDINANCE NO. 99-806, FOR THE PURPOSE OF GRANTING A NEW COMPOSTING FACILITY LICENSE TO THE RELOCATED CITY OF PORTLAND LEAF COMPOSTING FACILITY

Mr. Petersen said that composting facilities must be licensed by Metro. The City of Portland would like to move its existing leaf-composting operation from one side of the street to another. The City has done a good job with the operation. Metro has received no complaints about noise or odor since operations began in 1991.

Opened a public hearing at 2:55 PM. No one came forward to testify, so he closed the public hearing.

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

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 99-2792, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF RFB #99B-15-REM FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF A SOLID WASTE COMPACTION SYSTEM AT THE METRO CENTRAL STATION

Mr. Petersen said this is one of three compactors at the station. It has outlived its projected life span and hard use has damaged it. Approval of this resolution would allow issue of a request for bids (RFB) and allow the Executive Officer to enter into a contract with the lowest bidder to replace the compactor. This compactor was included in the capital improvement Plan (CIP) and next year’s budget for $888,800. With replacement, maintenance costs will decrease. Also, a new compactor could compress garbage more tightly, thus increasing the payload by about one ton per truckload, which would save money on Metro’s

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

Chair Washington changed the order of consideration, postponing the public hearing until after the informational items had been heard.

6.  STATUS OF WOODFEATHERS, INC., VS. WASHINGTON COUNTY

Marvin Fjordbeck, Senior Assistant Legal Counsel, said the Woodfeathers vs. Washington County appeal was decided last month by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit reversed the trial court’s decision. The trial court had held that Washington County’s solid waste ordinance was invalid in part, and enjoined it. The trial court found the county’s ordinance was pre-empted by a federal statute and also imposed an impermissible burden on interstate commerce. On appeal, the county argued that state court proceedings were underway at the time the trial court was making its decision; therefore, the trial court should have waited for the state’s decision before going forward. The appeals court agreed. It remains to be seen how the state court will handle its proceedings, as the appeal on the Woodfeathers conviction is still pending. The potential exists for a United States Supreme Court appeal; however, the company has not indicated it would seek review of the state decision.

Councilor McLain said this decision would affect flow control and other parts of Metro’s system and thus would be important as Metro decides what the future configuration and ownership pattern should be. She asked for updates on court decisions.

7.  STATUS OF REM IMPLEMENTATION OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Dennis Strachota, Strategic Policy Analyst, REM, briefly explained the history and rationale behind the pilot test of performance-based budgeting. He summarized changes that have been recommended as a result of evaluating the results of the pilot test. (The information Mr. Strachota summarized can be found in the Executive Summary of REM Performance Indicators, attached to the public record.)

Councilor McLain asked about the performance measure on page 4, which addresses the cost per pound for processing hazardous waste. She was concerned about using a single cost target for all classes of hazardous waste. She questioned whether the hard-to-capture waste or more environmentally damaging waste should be measured the same way as other hazardous waste. She suggested using a measure in addition to cost that reflects the importance of capturing that type of waste.

Councilor McLain asked if a performance measure for safety at sites had been included in the set of measures. Mr. Strachota said that was included in a department-wide set of measures.

Councilor McLain asked about the goal at the bottom of page 5 relating to recycling education and outreach. She was concerned about using a blanket percentage rather than taking into account the type of goal. She said some goals have been more difficult to achieve. She thought the performance measure should reflect that. Mr. Strachota agreed, but he said he did not know exactly how to do that.

Councilor McLain suggested dealing with that partly through reviewing only those goals for which money had been distributed that year. She suggested concentrating on the programs that had received the most money.

Chair Washington asked Mr. Strachota to bring back to the committee at the next meeting a complete and revised set of performance goals.

5.  PUBLIC HEARING CONCERNING ALLOCATION OF PROJECTED SAVINGS FROM METRO’S SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEM

Mr. Petersen provided background on how the savings came about. He said that over the past few months, the Council had changed two contracts in solid waste. One was the disposal contract with Waste Management; the other was the transport contract with STS. The disposal contract came before the Council on April 15, setting a new rate that will go into effect January 1, 2000. The transport contract, passed by the Council on May 27, set a new rate that went into effect on June 1. Based on forecasts of the results of those two contracts, it is estimated Metro will save about $69 million over the next 10 years. The amount per year would increase each year as tonnage grows. Savings for 2000-2001 are projected to be about $6.3 million, growing to $6.62 million in 2003-2004. The savings offer an array of possibilities. Mr. Petersen suggested grouping the options into solid waste and non-solid waste areas. Solid waste options might be reducing the tip fee or improving waste reduction. Non-solid waste options might include support for Metro or local-government planning, parks, the zoo, and MERC.

Chair Washington called attention to a schedule for the public hearings and the decision-making process that had been placed at the rear of the room. (This schedule has been attached to the meeting record.)

Chair Washington opened public hearing at 2:20 PM.

Mike Houck, Coalition for a Livable Future and Audobon, 5151 NW Cornell Rd., Portland OR 97210, summarized his written testimony. He urged using the savings to support a variety of planning and environmental activities, particularly those at the local level. (Details can be found in Mr. Houck’s written testimony, attached to the meeting record.)

Mary Kyle McCurdy, Coalition for a Livable Future and 1000 Friends of Oregon, 534 SW 3rd, Suite 300, Portland 97204, supported Mr. Houck’s testimony, particularly in providing support for local jurisdictions to implement the functional plan and do urban-reserve planning.

Britt Parrott, Coalition for a Livable Future, praised Metro’s Housing Technical Advisory Committee’s (HTAC) work with non-profit housing developers and local jurisdictions to design fair-share standards for affordable housing. Money would be needed to implement some of the ideas. Mr. Parrott suggesting using some of the money to help plan and implement affordable housing fair share targets.

Ross Williams, Citizens for Sensible Transportation and the Coalition for a Livable Future, spoke on behalf of the need for transportation planning. He noted the need to provide adequate transportation in the new urban reserves without encouraging leapfrog development. He said local governments need support to address complex problems brought about by long-range planning.

Robert Bole, Enterprise Foundation, 1020 SW Taylor St., #800, Portland, OR 97209, urged the savings be used to support recycling and businesses that support recycling. He said if the tip fees are lowered, there would be less incentive to recycle. He said regardless of whether the fees drop, recycling could be encouraged through supporting the development of businesses--both for-profit and non-profit--that utilize recycled materials. He suggested using some of the money in partnership with the private sector to establish a fund to support such efforts. He said his foundation in partnership with others could offer debt financing and grant money to leverage public subsidy to increase the capacity of those kinds of businesses.

Bob Akers, 40-Mile Look, 1038 SE 224, Gresham, urged that the money be used to meet the area’s need for parks, greenspaces, trails. He said with growth, local recreation will be increasingly important. Open spaces could be made accessible to the public by developing trails.

John Foster, President of the Clackamas County Farm Forestry Association, PO Box 537, Estacada, OR 97023, said illegal dumping is a big problem on private forest land. Appliances and tires constitute a large part of the debris. He said law enforcement cannot investigate and process this. He said the US Forest Service has enforcement, which seems to increase dumping on private forest land. He said owners cannot live on their land, so they cannot be present to protect it. He noted that the hazardous waste collection events had been successful. He suggested Metro sponsor a pilot project to test the idea of a collection event similar to a hazardous-waste event, but for large items.

Councilor McLain suggested Mr. Foster provide an address to REM where illegal dumping occurred. She said Metro has enforcement in Clackamas County that will address this kind of activity. They would definitely take a look at the site.

Barbara Walker, 1891 So. Hawthorne Terrace, Portland, OR 97201, testified in support of Metro’s responsibility to be good stewards of the greenspaces already acquired. She praised the program but suggested that the greenspaces now need planning, management, monitoring, enhancement, and public access. She said she thought some of the savings should be returned to the rate-payers, but said most of it should go for planning and implementation of the master plans on the greenspace properties already acquired.

Councilor Atherton asked Mr. Bole about the project they have going to use recycled materials. He asked how much money would be needed to begin putting them into practice.

Mr. Bole emphasized that nothing should be started before sensible market studies were completed to determine business needs. That aside, he estimated that a $4 million fund, with $2 million coming from the private sector would get things started. He said the Enterprise Foundation would be willing to put up $1 million of the private-sector share. Metro, then, might put up $2 million to leverage the private-sector money, in the form of recoverable grants or low-cost debt financing.

John Griffiths, Chair of the Parks and Greenspaces Advisory Committee, 10245 SW 15th Ave, Beaverton, OR 97007, summarized his written testimony (attached to the meeting record). He asked that all savings go to the parks and greenspaces, particularly to provide access to those greenspaces and complete master plans already adopted but not funded.

Jeanne Roy, Metro Solid Waste Advisory Committee, 2420 SW Boundary St., Portland, suggested two things: 1) that that the tip fee not be reduced; and 2) that at least half the money be allocated to support recycling programs. She said that historically when tip fees have been raised, recycling has increased. The reverse has also been true. She said lower tip fees hurt new programs, such as dealing with organics and construction/demolition materials. She said haulers have no incentive to recycle those materials if the rate that must be paid to attract those materials away from disposal are too low to allow a profit. Likewise, a hauler would have no reason to set up a route to collect food waste if the customers cannot be promised some savings. (Ms. Roy’s written testimony has been attached to the meeting record.)

Susan Keil, City of Portland, 1120 SW 5th, Portland, OR 97205, Manager of Industrial and Solid Waste, City of Portland, 1120 SW 5th , Portland, 97205, urged reduction of the tipping fees as a means of keeping rates to customers flat. She said rates have remained flat over the past seven years only because Metro has twice reduced the tipping fee. Said the rates have been kept flat as a result of the tipping fee reductions. She said a recently completed study on waste diversion and recycling revealed that Portland’s rate was 53% overall, close to the end-of-year-2000 goal of 54%. Commercial and residential sectors have increased diversion and decreased what is being thrown away over the past year. This has happened during a period of growth. This demonstrates that recycling has not been solely driven by the economics, but also by the commitment of businesses and citizens. She said that although the city is interested in planning issues, the city would encourage the savings to be passed on the ratepayers.

Lou Ogden, Mayor of Tualatin, said that devising ways to raise revenue has always been a problem. He said the most popular taxes are those that other people pay. The second most popular are those that are directly tied to the result. Excises taxes are neither, yet they remain the only way so far devised for raising a large part of the revenue cities need to operate. He said he understood the difficulty of justifying excise taxes to the public. He said he could argue both for and against them, so it was with caution he recommended using solid-waste generated revenues to support non solid-waste-related activities.

Mayor Ogden said the smaller jurisdictions have a tremendous planning challenge as they try to implement 2040 goals. None of the smaller jurisdictions has the money to do the needed planning. He said that be even where money exists to do the long-term planning, the money isn’t there to do the implementation, the comprehensive plan changes, and the transportation system plans.

Mayor Ogden said he also understood Metro’s difficulty in doing the planning for or contracting with the local jurisdictions. He noted that Mike Burton, Metro’s Executive Officer, had recommended applying half the savings from the garbage contract to planning efforts, split between regional planning and local planning. He said he hesitated to strongly support this notion, because he understood the political difficulties, but he recommended giving it some consideration.

Chair Washington asked if anyone else wished to testify on this ordinance. No one came forward, so he closed the public hearing at 3:00 PM.

8.  COUNCILOR COMMUNICATIONS

Councilor Atherton asked Mr. Fjordbeck whether it would be it would be legal to use disposal savings to create a revolving fund to purchase greenspaces. Mr. Fjordbeck said there are some restrictions to how solid waste revenues can be spent; however, he believed a revolving fund would be legal.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Washington adjourned the meeting at 3:04 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Emmerson

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF JUNE 9, 1999

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

Testimony Cards

Mike Houck, Audubon Society

Mary Kyle McCurdy, 1000 Friends of Oregon

Britt Parrott, Community Development Network

Ross Williams, Citizens for Sensible Transportation

Robert Bole, Enterprise Foundation

Bob Akers, 40-Mile Loop

John Foster, Clackamas County Farm Forestry Association

Barbara Walker, 40-Mile Loop

John Griffiths, Greenspaces Advisory Committee

Jeanne Roy, Solid Waste Advisory Committee

Susan Keil, City of Portland

Lou Ogden, Mayor of Tualatin