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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/07/2000 Adjourned Meeting 284 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON March 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING The City Council met in session on this date at .7:30 a.m., in the 2nd Floor Training Room, at the Police Station /Legal Center, 200 South 3rd Street, Yakima, Washington. Mayor Mary Place, presiding, Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, John Puccinelli and Bernard Sims were present. Dick Zais, ,City Manager; Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager; Marketa George Oliver, Administrative Assistant to • the City Manager; Larry Peterson, Assistant City Attorney; Chris Waarvick, Director of Public Works; and Nancy Gaudette, Refuse & Recycling Manager were also present. 1. REVIEW OF DEFERRED REFUSE DIVISION 2000 BUDGET POLICY ISSUES Nancy Gaudette distributed a memorandum regarding Refuse statistics. Chris Waarvick opened the meeting providing background to the policy issues under discussion. The ability to accommodate 400 new accounts in 2000 with existing staff and equipment was discussed and was determined to be possible. Mrs. Gaudette provided a historical comparison of staff and equipment. Council Member Barnett asked why the carry -out service has diminished. Mrs. Gaudette explained that customers have discontinued the service because it is a substantially higher cost. The subject of recycling was discussed. Scott Robertson of Yakima Waste Systems (YWS) said that since there is no residential recycling program, people are bringing their recyclables to work to be commercially recycled. He said in 1997 12 million pounds of waste were recycled and 15 million pounds in 1998. Mr. Waarvick discussed the options included in the staff report. Option 1 is to purchase an additional refuse collection vehicle and increase hours for part -time employees to cover additional services. Option 2 is to develop new policies to contract out service to newly- annexed areas. Option 3 is to develop new policies to limit the City Refuse Division residential service to all but certain recently- annexed portions of the City and leave incorporated territory outside the areas served by the City to be regulated by the Washington Utility Transportation Commission. Option 4 is to re- examine and study the Automated, Single Operator Collection System for future service delivery. 285 MARCH 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING Mayor Place asked if there was a way to clean up areas where there may be only a few City customers, such as in her area. Council Member Buchanan asked about the map included in the information and about City boundaries. Mrs. Gaudette explained that everything shown in white is in the City limits, but that does not necessarily mean that the City is serving that area. Mayor Place asked if the City would be able to handle the Mead /Nob Hill area with existing City staff. Mrs. Gaudette responded that it was possible. Council Member Puccinelli clarified that in 2001, the City would need additional personnel. Mrs. Gaudette responded that they would not need additional people but would increase to full, time the two people are who are currently at 50% time. Council Member Beauchamp asked what is the normal number of accounts per day for a regular route. Mrs. Gaudette said for 1999 the average was between 433 and 516. Mr. Beauchamp asked if the Mead /Nob Hill - area, being more spread out, would be considered a standard route. Mr. Waarvick said that the road layout in that area appears to be amenable to refuse pick up. He could think of no logistical challenge to make this route different from the others. Council Member Puccinelli asked what damage the trucks would do to unpaved streets and alleys during the winter. Mr. Waarvick responded it would be similar to Yakima Waste Systems' trucks going down unpaved streets and alleys; that often the trucks do damage to unpaved streets or alleys. The Street Department works in the summer to repair the worst alleys and streets. Council Member Barnett said in the year 2000, the City can handle the additional accounts with current staffing, but in 2001 the City could not. Mr. Waarvick and. Mrs. Gaudette said yes and that staff was looking for Council guidance. Council Member Barnett said he thought the Council should be looking at Option 2, contracting out, or Option 3, where the WUTC would make a determination. Assistant City Attorney Peterson, said if the City decided not to serve newly- annexed areas, there would need to be some revisions made to the annexation ordinance. Council Member Sims asked if the City could contract out. Mr. Peterson said yes, but the City would need to do it by a public bid. Council Member Sims asked if this was subject to voting requirements contained in Initiative 695. Mr. Peterson said it was unclear until the Supreme Court rules on I -695. Council Member Sims said he is in favor of contracting out until the City annexes enough to create new routes. He then asked about future annexations. 2 286 MARCH 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING Mrs. Gaudette said in 2002 there are few to no annexed areas to be served. Mayor Place emphasized that 2001 is the problem. Council Member Puccinelli asked how much revenue would be generated by the additional accounts versus what the expenses would be. Mr. Waarvick said revenues would be approximately $30,000 minus tipping fees. He reiterated that staff thinks the additional 400 accounts can be accommodated into the existing route structure. Council Member Beauchamp said the goal of the last restructuring effort was to balance the routes. Mrs. Gaudette said that the last truck and crew which were added have not yet met their capacity. In reply to the question as to whether part -time employees receive benefits, Mrs. Gaudette said permanent part -time personnel do. Council Member Puccinelli asked again if the revenue would be enough to cover expenses and asked how much equipment would cost. Mr. Waarvick said refuse vehicles were roughly $190,000 each. He said 400 customers generating $30,000 does not seem like a great deal of money, however, the 5 -7 year gap between annexation and service provision enables the City to build some capital reserve. Council Member Puccinelli asked how many accounts would be added • in the next two to three years. Mrs. Gaudette responded that in 2002 there would be 79; none in 2003; 315 in 2004 and 350 in 2005. Council Member Puccinelli asked if it was possible to contract out refuse collection services until the City picks up everything in 2005. Mr. Peterson said yes, especially if the contract is written with that plan as part of its terms. Council Member Buchanan asked how many trucks the City is planning to replace between now and 2005. Mrs. Gaudette said one is scheduled for replacement this year. She said the new truck can be used by a single operator for bins; it can be used for yard waste; and it can be used for manual collection with two people. The point was to ensure its versatility. Mayor Place asked if it would pick up residential bins. Mrs. Gaudette answered that it would. Mayor Place asked if the City was looking at trucks that one person could operate. Mrs. Gaudette responded that staff was not looking at trucks that were exclusively automated, unless the policy decision by the Council is changed. Council then discussed the issue of automated refuse. Council Member Puccinelli asked if it was fast enough for one person to do a route that two people do currently. Mrs. Gaudette said yes • 3 287 MARCH 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING and talked about the pilot yard waste program. The containers being used for the pilot program can be used for automated pick up. Council Member Mattson asked if automated means that the operator never needs to get out of the truck. Mr. Waarvick said theoretically yes. Council Member Buchanan said people in Yakima want their own garbage cans. He suggested that the Council repeat the public ,hearing held several years ago on the issue. Mrs. Gaudette said automated refuse collection is,more efficient. Not only are there fewer people to pay, but there is also savings generated from fewer industrial accidents. Council Member Beauchamp stated once the City conducts a pilot program, the Council would have some fresh information. Mr. Waarvick summarized his interpretation of Council direction on this issue as Council being amenable to assuming the area south of Nob Hill /Mead and accommodating those 400 accounts into the current .route structure. Next, staff should create a framework to contract out service until such time as the City has annexed enough areas to generate the revenue needed to cover the expense's of adding new equipment and personnel. Council agreed that this was an accurate summation. Mayor Place asked how the ergonomics issue impacts automated refuse. Mr. Waarvick and Mrs. Gaudette indicated that those rules are not yet final and it is unclear how that would be affected. Mayor Place asked what the tipping fees are and if the County plans to put those on the ballot in November. Scott Robertson of Yakima Waste. Systems said there's been discussion about that, but they are not sure yet. Mayor Place asked if the County tipping fees were put on the ballot, would the City also need to put it on their ballot? Mr. Zais said that was tied up with the lawsuit. Scott Robertson introduced Steve Wheatley and Tony Sigali. Mr. Sigali's family owns Yakima Waste Systems. Mr. Robertson said the combination of services provided by Yakima Waste Systems and, City Refuse serves the citizens well. In round numbers, Yakima Waste Systems has lost 3,000 accounts to the City of I/ Yakima within the last ten years. He asked Council to consider curbing growth of the Refuse Division and using contracts and franchises. He said the City utility tax applies on the date of the annexation and Yakima Waste Systems has been vigilant in reporting those dollars. Council Member Sims said if the City contracts out, he does not want the rates raised to the existing City rates if the private rates are lower. Mayor Place agreed. 4 288 MARCH 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING Mayor Place asked about leaf pick up and if people in the City would receive that service if they continue to be customers of Yakima Waste Systems. Mrs. Gaudette said yes and explained that the leaf pick up program is funded by Streets. Tom Barrington, AFSCME Union Representative, said Refuse Helpers work very hard. He said that certainly efficiencies can be made, but if the accounts grow, the City should be the ones providing the service and benefiting from the revenue from it. Council Member Mattson asked when will the results from an automated pilot program start coming in. Mrs. Gaudette said she is working on the project and the containers should go out this month, bringing preliminary results within three months. She will update Council on this periodically. Council Member Sims said he was concerned that the Fire Department was not planning to teach first aid to other City personnel because of budget cuts. Mr. Waarvick said the Fire Department is teaching a very advanced First Aid that is not • technically practical to many staff' members and a reasonable level of training for a reasonable number of people should be decided upon. Council Member Sims felt the City should not have to pay an outsider to teach first aid when the Fire Department could do it. Council Member Sims then said he would like to discuss the letter the Council had received from Fred Porter, regarding the Millennium Plaza. Mr. Zais indicated that because the City has been threatened with litigation, the issue would be discussed in Executive Session. Council Member Sims asked if Council had received anything from the Irrigation Committee. Mr. Zais said there was a letter in the Council information packet. Mayor Place said she has been working with other cities to put some resolutions together and would like Council's support for her to be on the Resolution Committee for the Association of Washington Cities. Other Council members indicated their support for Mayor Place's participation on that committee. 5 289 MARCH 7, 2000 ADJOURNED MEETING The meeting adjourned at 8:45 a.m. to the March 7th, 2000 Council meeting, at 2:00 p.m. in City Hall and afterwards to the March 21, 2000 7:30 a.m. Council Study Session in the Second Floor Conference • room of the Police Station /Legal Center regarding the EPA mandated • i pretreatment program. if READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: � � �, / �! Ce CIL MBER ' �� COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: . Ka),....„, .,?.J ; , , X' tZe_ City Clerk Mary Place, Mayor Minutes prepared by Marketa George Oliver. An audio of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 6