City of Lawrence                                        

Solid Waste Task Force

January 5, 2012 (6:00 PM) Meeting Minutes

Jayhawk Room, Fire-Medical Administration Building, 1911 Stewart Avenue

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mayor Cromwell, Billy Beeson, Suzi Cammon, Joe Harkins, Sam Porritt, Daniel Poull, Ralph Reed, Jeff Severin, Christine Tomlin, Charlie Sedlock

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Dan Wethington

STAFF PRESENT:

Dave Corliss, Tammy Bennett, Michael Eglinski, Eileen Horn, Craig Pruett, Kathy Richardson

 

GUESTS PRESENT:

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Paul Davis, Kris Hicks, Chad Lawhorn

 

 

CALL MEETING TO ORDER - Mayor Aron Cromwell

 

REVIEW AND APPROVE MEETING MINUTES

 

There was discussion and clarification that the task force had not decided or voted on the specific size(s) of the trash carts in their recommendations. This will be corrected in the minutes.

 

Motion and second to approve the December 12, 2011 meeting minutes (Sedlock/Porritt) as amended. Vote was passed unanimously.

 

Receive draft Solid Waste Task Force report

 

Tammy Bennett provided a draft of the Solid Waste Task Force report for review and discussion at tonight’s task force meeting.

 

Edits to the first page of the draft report were discussed as follows:

·                                   Replace “drivers for” with “factors driving”.  The revised sentence will state, “Even with a high satisfaction rate, there are multiple factors driving continuous improvement in solid waste management.”

·                                   Replace “availability, convenience, and affordability of” with “demand for”. The revised bullet will state “Increasing demand for residential curbside recycling.”

·                                   Add three new bullets that state “Long term stability for customers”, “Local jobs”, and “Responsibly managing local resources.”

·                                   Replace “philosophical goals” with “providing strategic direction”. The revised sentence will state, “The Solid Waste Task Force is focused on providing strategic direction to manage the waste stream to place increasing emphasis on waste diversion over time.”

Motion and second to approve these edits to the first page of the draft report (Cammon/Reed).

Vote was passed unanimously.

 

A couple task force members recommended adding a “findings” section to the report. This section would provide rationale that supports the task force recommendations. Staff was directed to draft “findings” in bullet point format to insert in the report under the “Goals and Findings” sections.

 

Edits to the second page of the draft report were discussed as follows:

·                                   Delete any reference to specific carts sizes (“65 gallon”, “90 gallon”).

·                                   Replace the sentence “A modestly higher rate would be available for a household who wants a 90 gallon roll out cart” with “Other cart sizes may be available for modestly different rates.”

·                                   Delete “(such as $3.00)” from the sentence “Additional roll-out carts would be available for a fixed fee per month to cover the cost of the cart and additional landfill tonnages.”

Motion to approve these edits to the second page of the draft report (Cammon).

The Mayor withdrew the motion stating that any edits to the document would be better left to be approved at the next meeting when the task force will be approving the final draft report.

 

Dave Corliss informed the task force that staff is committed to providing a City trash cart to each residential customer without increasing rates. This may enhance acceptance of the program.

 

On the third page of the draft report, the task force agreed that the recommendations regarding curbside recycling, glass recycling, organic materials diversion, and household hazardous waste disposal were okay as written and did not provide any edits. Slight edits were discussed for the outreach and education recommendation.

·                                   Add “by creating a searchable web page”. The revised sentence will state “Assist residents in ability to easily find information about recycling specific waste streams by creating a searchable web page.”

 

The majority of task force agreed that the “Commercial solid waste services” section on the third page of the draft report needed editing. Members suggested adding specific recommendations (i.e. glass recycling, food waste composting) and a few word changes were discussed. Daniel Poull volunteered to re-write the paragraph summarizing the task force recommendation for commercial solid waste services. He will email the paragraph directly to staff for inclusion in the report.

 

Under the “Public input” section on the fourth page of the draft report, the Mayor stated that he would like public comment common themes listed. Michael Eglinski mentioned that he completed an analysis of the online feedback content. Although the analysis does not state a conclusion, he was able to show how frequently words (i.e. recycling, trash, cost) appeared in the comments.  

 

The task force decided to proceed with scheduling a second public input meeting on Thursday, January 19, 2012. The public will be invited to provide feedback on the final draft of the Solid Waste Task Force report.

 

There was discussion on establishing and recommending a numeric goal within the “Goals and Findings” sections of the report. It was mentioned that a high recycling rate is not necessarily a good indicator since it does not capture source reduction or reuse components but the majority of the task force members were in agreement with recommending a goal of 50 percent recycling rate by 2020.

 

Additional edits to the first page of the draft report were discussed as follows:

·                                   Replace the section titled “Goals” with “Goals and Findings”.

·                                   Delete “not the specific numbers.” And add a sentence that states “The task force recommends the goal of 50 percent recycling rate in 2020.”

 

Edits to the sixth page:

·                                   Include the same two edits as listed above to this page.

·                                   Delete “The graphic below emphasizes the overall goals of increasing recycling over time. A numerical goal is highlighted to facilitate ease of communication.”

·                                   Add “Nonetheless, a numerical target is valuable for communicating community priorities for increasing recycling over time. The Solid Waste Task Force recommends a community recycling goal of 50 percent by 2020.”

 

Edits to the ninth page:

·                                   Add “City” so that the sentence states, “City carts are rolled to the back of the truck and the cart dumpers tip and empty the containers.”

 

Next steps: Tammy Bennett will make changes to the draft report as discussed. These edits will be highlighted under “Track Changes”. The task force will receive the document via email and asked to provide additional edits and comments directly to staff. The final draft will be posted on the city’s website for public review prior to January 19th. The task force will consider adoption of the final draft with any approved amendments at the next meeting.

 

PLANNING FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

 

Date

Topics

January 19, 2012

6:00 – 7:30 pm

Location: Commission Room at City Hall, 6 East 6th Street.

Second public input meeting. Receive feedback on final draft report.

Consider adoption of the final draft report.

 

 

Adjourned at 7:45 p.m.