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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 05/17/1993UTILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Port Angeles, Washington May 17, 1993 Call to Order: Vice Chairman Hunt called the meeting to order at 4:35 p.m. II. Roll Call: Members Present: Jim Hallett (arrived at 4:40 p.m.), Thomas Hunt, Joe Michalczik, and Richard Wight. Members Absent: Gary Braun. Staff Present: J. Pomeranz, C. Knutson, B. Upton, 'B. Titus, K. Ridout, B. Jones, and C. Hagar. III. Approval of Minutes: Joe Michalczik moved to approve the minutes of the April 12, 1993, meeting as written. The motion was seconded by Thomas Hunt and carried unanimously. IV. Discussion Items: A. Tony Kapetan Re: Garbage Rates Mr. Kapetan requested to address the UAC regarding solid waste rates. He feels the current billing method is unfair to people who recycle. Everyone is charged the same rate despite the amount of solid waste picked up from their homes. He feels the City should offer people the option of having weekly, biweekly, or monthly garbage pick up and bill accordingly. Single people, retired people, and small families should be given a rate break, as they do not generate as much solid waste as large families, or people who do not recycle. He felt color coding the dumpsters would be the answer to this problem. A certain color would designate weekly pickup, a second color would designate biweekly, etc. It was explained to Mr. Kapetan, that all the solutions to the problem would cost the taxpayers more money to implement. The only way the color coding could work, would be if each family had its own trash barrel. In order to implement this program, the City would have to purchase a large number of barrels for distribution to individuals. This expenditure would have to be passed on to the taxpayers. -1- Utility Advisory Committee May 17, 1993 Mr. Kapetan went on to state that he felt the City should offer incentives to the citizens to recycle. He pointed out that the landfill would last a lot longer if everyone did their part in the recycling effort. The landfill savings should then be passed on the consumers in the form of lower solid waste rates. Mayor Hallett pointed out that yard debris separation and recycling were the next two items on tonight's agenda, and invited Mr. Kapetan to stay for these discussions. City Manager Pomeranz explained to Mr. Kapetan that there is a correlation between State and Federal mandates, and the way the landfill is run. Manager Pomeranz went on to inform Mr. Kapetan that City Council has hired an engineering firm to work with City and County officials and other members of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee over a 90 day period, which will probably begin next week. They will be studying what the City's collection and disposal options are as far as landfill, hauling, alternate methods of disposal, etc. Within 90 days, the Committee must come up with a decision as to how we can be handling our garbage for the next four years and beyond. If we have to develop some alternate technology, we need to know now, we can't wait another four years and find out we have no landfill, and no place to put our garbage. The Solid Waste Advisory Committee is currently taking applications from individuals who are interested in serving on that Committee. Manager Pomeranz invited Mr. Kapetan to apply for a position on that Committee Mr. Kapetan went on to state that the current recycling methods are not practical. He suggested that people from every block bring their recycling to the end of their block and have a truck drive only north and south to pick up the recyclables instead of north and south then east and west. It would save time and manpower. Manager Pomeranz again invited Mr. Kapetan to apply for a position on the Solid Waste Advisory Board. D. Review and Approval of Cost of Service Analysis Request to Set June UAC Meeting for June 28 to Accommodate Presentation by BPA Area Office Manager on BPA Rate Increase Manager Pomeranz requested that Item D be pulled from tonight's agenda. City Light Director Titus has been working with the Industrial customers on setting industrial rates for electricity. ITT and Daishowa sent letters raising some questions about the composition of the rate, and being Manager Pomeranz has not had the opportunity to meet with them, he suggested this particular item be postponed until the City can better understand their concerns and convey them to the UAC. This may require a special meeting of the UAC. Director Titus reminded the Committee that he has already -2- Utility Advisory Committee May 17, 1993 requested a UAC meeting for June 28, when the BPA representatives will be here to give us information on what the numbers from them are going to be. As Thomas Hunt will be out of town on June 7, the date of the next regularly scheduled UAC meeting, it was decided to have a special meeting on June 14. This was fine with Director Titus. A special meeting will also be held on June 28 to meet with the BPA representatives. B. Discussion of Yard Waste Manager Pomeranz explained to the Committee that after meeting with Superintendent Jones and Public Works Director Pittis, they felt it would be a more positive approach to start out with a program of education, public information, stickers on the cans, and the offering, at City expense, of compost bins. A sample of the compost bins was shown to Committee. The bin itself is compostable and affordable to the City. The City could start out with 1,000 bins, plus instruction guides, stickers on the bins, newspaper information and newsletter information and begin with that sort of program. Superintendent Jones explained that banning yard waste from the collection containers would take a lot of material out of the collections bins and compost it. However, on the down side it might be less convenient for the customer and it would increase the amount of material that our recyclers pick up. The increased cost would be reflected in the new recycling contract for 1994. The enforcement would also be difficult. Customers could perceive this to be a decrease in service. The advantages include the fact that yard debris would not be in the containers, and would not be in the landfill, and we would have more material to compost. The compostable containers would be available at the landfill, and given out upon request. The bins will last about one year, and cost approximately $5.50 each. The ordinance making it mandatory to separate the yard debris would not have to be amended if we go with the free compost bins. It would be better to put the emphasis on the yard debris program. Manager Pomeranz would like to see this added to tomorrow's Council agenda to get this program underway at a time when there is so much yard debris going into the collection bins. A discussion ensued on the difficulty of enforcing an ordinance regarding putting yard waste in the dumpsters. It was decided to put stickers on the dumpsters asking that yard waste not be placed in the collection bins, and to offer the compost bins to the citizens to do their own composting. -3- Utility Advisory Committee May 17, 1993 C. Environmental Waste System Contract The City is in receipt of a letter from Environmental Waste Systems, Inc., requesting a change in their contract. Currently, the monies collected for recycled goods is divided between the City and EWSI on a 75/25 basis. EWSI would like Council to consider changing the contract to allow them to keep 100% of the revenue from the recycle materials. The current contract expires 7/1/94. Superintendent Jones reviewed theletter from EWSI, citing their reasons for making this request. He pointed out that the recycling market has gone down, and it costs EWSI money to recycle. The more recycling they do, the more it costs them. Manager Pomeranz felt that amending the contract now would put the City in a bad position when it negotiated for contract renewal. Councilman Wight felt this item should be referred to the City Attorney for study and taken up at a future meeting. Superintendent Jones pointed out that the City did not direct EWSI to do the extra work they are performing. Councilman Wight moved that this item be put on a future agenda after study by Counsel. Joe Michalczik seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Consideration of Letter to Congressional Delegation Expressing Concerns about Proposed Energy Tax Mayor Hallett reviewed the letter supplied by Director Titus to Senator Slade Gorton. This letter will go to all of our delegates. Joe Michalczik was concerned over the use of the phrase "Voodoo Economics of the 80's", he felt that if an incumbent was in office during the 80's, they would take offense over this phrase. Director Titus will see about changing that phrase. The Committee recommends that this be referred to Council tomorrow night. G. Cable Television Rate Regulation Update Attorney Knutson explained that this was just informational at this point. He has not had an opportunity to talk to the City's consultants about this yet. More information will be provided to the Committee at a future date. Attorney Knutson feels sure that the City will be able to regulate rates and the competition question is favorable to the City. The City will have to go through a -4- Utility Advisory Committee May 17, 1993 certification process. The consultants will help with that. More information will be forthcoming on this issue. Next Meeting: The next meeting of the Utility Advisory Committee will be held on Monday, June 14, 1993, at 4:30 p.m. VI. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m. Deputy city Clerk -5-