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EQE 07/13/2010 - 29869CALL TO ORDER MINUTES ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND ENERGY COMMISSION FRIDLEY MUNICIPAL CENTER, 643� UNIVERSITY AVE NE TUESDAY, JULY �3, zo�o, 6:0o P.M. Chairperson Velin called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. ROLL CALL Members Present Members Absent: Others Present: Anne Andrews, Tina Nelson, Rich Svanda, 7ack Velin, Paul Westby Barb Johns Rachel Harris, Environmental Planner Julie Jones, Planning Manager 7im Kosluchar, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Bill Burns, City Manager Fritz Knaak, City Attorney Scott Lund, Fridley Mayor Ann Bolkcom, City Council Dolores Varichak, City Council Jim Saefke, City Council Bob Barnette, City Council Jesse Davies, City of Columbia Heights Marcia Glick, City of Robbinsdale Roark Haver, City of Blaine Mike Berkopec, Resident and Ace Solid Waste Representative Bill Hoffman, Allied Waste APPROVAL OF TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2010, ENVIRONNIENTAL QUALITY & ENERGY COMMISSION MINUTES: MOTION by Ms. Andrews and seconded by Mr. Westby to approve the May 11, 2010, Environmental Quality & Energy Commission minutes. DISCUSSION by Mr. Svanda. He asked for clarification on a statement by Mr. Knaak. "Mr. Knaak said that we've not seen a change in MN Statute since 1991, because of politics, more than what is in the state statute. A court case has never been analyzed by appellate court. Says cannot eliminate recycling services." Mr. Svanda asked what does "Says cannot eliminate recycling services," mean? Ms. Nelson said it means that no matter if a community offers organized trash hauling or open- hauling, the city recycling services cannot be eliminated per MN State Statute. MOTION to approve minutes as amended, by Ms. Nelson and seconded by Mr. Westby. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON VEL1N DECLARED THE Page 1 MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. NEW BUSINESS Panel Discussion Part 3: Experience of other communities � Columbia Heights, Blaine and Robbinsdale Dr. Burns, Fridley City Manager, introduced Part 3 of the panel discussion. We'll hear from some communities that have established organized garbage collection systems. He listed topics for upcommg meetmgs. Sept 14 Impacts on streets, presented by Foth Engineering for City of Roseville solid waste study Air pollution and noise pollution, presented by Sig Schuerle Nov 9 Comments and Position Statements from Solid Waste Haulers Jan 11 Comments and Position Statements from City of Fridley Environmental Quality and Energy Commission Dr. Burns passed out the outline for tonight's meeting. The three panelists will address contract length, street improvements, monthly fees, additional materials collected, staffing needs, bulky items recycling, customer satisfaction, any frequent problems, politics of beginning an organized collection, and start date of the organized trash collection. Mr. Haver, from the City of Blaine, described Blaine's waste removal system. It is vertically integrated, meaning that there is one hauler for trash and recycling. First contract five years, second contract seven years. Existing hauler has a real benefit, amortize capital improvement costs, city does handle the billing. Recycling & trash unlimited $13-$11-$8, yard waste is e�tra. Only 1% delinquency on monthly billing. Bulk items, appUelect fee is e�tra, pick up of yard waste is free. 45cents per month per household admin fee. Monthly drop offs organized separately. Customer satisfaction 85% above avg or excellent. Political - Must have political will or there will be fall out. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, said the City collects garbage, brush, appliances, and recycling. Enterprise fund rate structure pays for code enforcement and streets. Just bid out a contract for five years. Organized waste services in Robbinsdale began in early 1970's. Recycling Service: Single sort pick up every other week There is a$0 fee for yard waste and recycling. Sale of sticker to residents covers the removal and disposal cost of e�tra items and bulky items. Rate structure varies by garbage container size. Problems: Communicating new yard waste bag law. Staff needs are covered by Utility Billing staff. Mr. Davies, from the City of Columbia Heights, talked about that city's service. Service type- Residential and Apts and City Facilities, just bid out new contract for five years with a three year e�tension. Staff time for program administration is divided between Finance (utility billing) and Public works (program administration). Billing = solid waste/garbage billing is passed through. Cart size, 90 gal - 60 gal - 30 gal. Few delinquencies. Will stop service for snowbirds who request to have their water service turned off. Page 2 Mr. Davies, City of Columbia Heights, also said there are administrative fees, but the garbage costs are passed through. Recycle= 60 gallon cart every other week, if you have trash service you have recycle. Appliance one per property included in fee. Brush — automatically get yard waste at single family homes. Enterprise Fund. Admin Costs =.9 FTE in public works. Promo Costs = two per year brochure. Recycle Center costs =tires, oil, scrap metal, open to public and businesses. Utility billing staff. Street leaves included in recycling/yard waste program. Code Enforcement for Health/Safety violations is handled by the Fire Department. Nuisance type of code enforcement violations are handled by a CSO. Dr. Burns asked the panelists to describe whether yard waste services are included in the monthly solid waste utility bill. 96 �al 64 �al 32 gal Robbinsdale* $26.63/mo $23.64/mo $20.84/mo Columbia Heights* $41.00/3 mo *Both Robbinsdale and Columbia heights provide yard waste collection as part of the monthly solid waste service. Blaine* * $13.65/mo $11.65/mo $8.45/mo **No yard waste service in Blaine. This is the fee for trash and recycling. Mr. Davies, City of Columbia Heights, considered wear and tear on streets when making an innovative recycling change for six dwelling-unit apartments in Columbia Heights. They got rid of the small dumpsters in favor of 90 gallon carts and the carts are emptied by a lighter truck so that saves the streets. Mr. Davies, City of Columbia Heights, talked about resident reactions. Change is hard for some (just changed haulers in 2010). In terms of complaints, some residents complain that they lose freedom of choice. They ask residents to call garbage hauler first. About the satisfaction level, people don't usually call the city to say thank you. Mr. Westby asked the panelists to give their opinion on all the services offered by the three cities, what do you think would be the best? Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, once offered yard waste but only 35% of residents used it and everyone was billed for the service. After realizing that one third of the residents had their yard waste subsidized by all of the others, the yard waste service was discontinued. Mr. Westby asked if Blaine's services were a-la carte? Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, responded "Yes." Mr. Velin asked if it's cheaper now that it was before? Page 3 Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, said rate surveys of neighboring cities in Anoka County show cost/month/resident is lower in Blaine. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, said they cannot answer if the service is cheaper than before as they have always had organized garbage collection. Ms. Bolkcom asked if there is any switching between haulers. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, said they have not switched. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, says there is pressure to keep same hauler as changing out carts in December for 60,000 residents would not be easy. Mr. Svanda asked to the panelists to clarify levels of service. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, has all households, except five, subscribing to yard waste service. Mr. Svanda asked what contributes to higher rates. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, said there is a street subsidy. The Administration, Billing, Streets and Code Enforcement departments receive a combined total of $70,000 a year. Mr. Svanda asked if street costs lesser because of garbage fee subsidy. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, stated residents are assessed 20%. The three panelists said each city picks up recycling every other week. Mr. Westby asked if all cities are single sort. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, answered that recycling is not more expensive, people like one sort better; and participation went up. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, stated that one sort is more expensive because we had to amortize the cost of carts Mayor Lund asked in organized collection if the hauler does the billing and not the city staff? Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, stated the city has accountability and fiduciary responsibility obligation as contractor to bill for garbage service serve as billing agent. The three panelists stated no e�ra staff is necessary. Mr. Davies, Columbia Heights, said Columbia Heights has .09 FTE Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, costs are: 45cents/m/HH admin finance, .25 FTE recycling, and .25 FTE garbage. Mayor Lund asked why collect for private businesses. Page 4 Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, stated residents like less truck traffic. Ms. Bolkcom stated that stickers seems cumbersome. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, stated it is made as easy as possible. They call in and we add fee to the utility bill. Ms. 7ones asked if all three cities still have drop offs and why do they need them? Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, states it is cheaper for residents to drop off than get a pickup at the curb by the trash hauler. Ms. Glick, City of Robbinsdale, says residents can haul to Hennepin County site, drop off cardboard and scrap metal and they drop off all kinds of things. Oil drop off is not a good service. Mr. Davies, Columbia Heights, said Columbia Heights has the site open Saturdays, 9-1, and residents can drop-off the same items that are collected at the curb, plus oil and metal. Ms. Bolkcom was amazed by amount of material that Fridley residents have to dispose of at drop- off day. Mr. Barnette suggests we go to one hauler with a three year contract. Look into Charter restrictions and see if a garbage hauler can bid an increase. Mr. Burns stated the impact of our charter is yet to be determined. Mr. Kosluchar asked the panelists if there was any incentive to recycle? Mr. Davies, Columbia Heights, said Columbia Heights wants people to recycle because although the service costs money, it costs less than garbage disposal costs. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, stated with the carrot and the stick method, how can you afford not to fund the carrot? Mr. Davies, Columbia Heights, said the Anoka County SCORE Grant requires more time to be spent on incentivizing recycling than garbage. Mr. Burns asked for any more questions and thanked everyone for coming. Mayor Lund stated that he heard the haulers are concerned about a monopoly reducing market share for multiple companies. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, says trying to predict the future as well as the political challenge of switching to an organized garbage service will keep many haulers in the market. Mayor Lund asked how many residents call up. Mr. Haver and Mr. Davies said not many. Page 5 Ms. Bolkcom asked why Blaine has a seven year contract. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine responded the seven year contract allows a hauler who doesn't currently hold contracts to make a low offer and they can amortize cost of trucks and equipment over seven years. Mr. Velin asked who are the haulers for each city. Mr. Haver, City of Blaine, and Mr. Davies, Columbia Heights, both use Veolia Environmental. Blaine previously had Waste Management and Columbia Heights previously had Allied Waste. Mr. Davies, City of Columbia Heights, stated they have only ever had organized trash and recycling collection, and do not know if that is better than non-organized trash collection. Mr. Berkopec, an audience member, noted the MN Garbage facts website has information to learn the view of hauler. Dr. Burns said the haulers would be invited to share their perspectives in early winter, possibly at the November 2010 meeting. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business to report. STAFF REPORT There was no staff report. OTHER BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements. ADJOURNIVIENT APPROVAL OF ADJOURNING THE JULY 13, 2010, ENVIRONIVIENTAL QUALITY & ENERGY COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION by Mr. Westby, seconded by Ms. Andrews, to adjourn the meeting. UPON A VOICE VOTE, ALL VOTING AYE, CHAIRPERSON VEL1N DECLARED THE MOTION CARRIED AND THE J UNLY 13, 2010, ENVIRONIVIENTAL QUALITY & ENERGY COMMISSION MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:31 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Rachel Harris Environmental Planner and Staff Liaison Page 6