County Council Works to Preserve Exchange

At the meeting of the San Juan County Council on Orcas Island, Feb. 7, the audience filling the Outlook Inn’s Victorian Room heard assurances from Council members and county staff that the intention is to continue to work with the Exchange to sustain the “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle” commitment of Exchange supporters and other islanders.

County voters rejected a plan for the county to continue to fund solid waste operations last November, and the county is now working to formulate a plan for private enterprise to take over operations of the sites on the three separate islands.

County Public Works Utility Manager Ed Hale gave an update of the County’ s Solid Waste plan for Orcas Island, showing aerial photographs of the current site and pointing out where the weigh station, fee collection booth and Exchange may be situated. Part of the criteria was a Request for Proposal (RFP) process that would “be consistent with support of the Exchange,” Hale said.

Council Chair Patty Miller, who represents the Orcas East voting district, brought up the concern to make the Exchange more accessible; it is now limited to operation during the hours available to the County.

Council member Richard Fralick of Orcas West said that the weighing station house won’t need to be so close to Orcas Road, where most of the current traffic congestion occurs.

Miller summarized Hale’s presentation, saying the intent of the proposed plan would be:

• divide the entire County property site midway between the Orcas ferry landing and Eastsound village into five parcels;
• put out Requests for Proposals (RFP) to private enterprise for a building to house the self haul or transfer of waste.

Included in the plan, Miller said, is the understanding that the Exchange parcel and “Z-wall” would not be part of the RFP; and the process would move forward to continue operations of the Exchange. She noted that the historical lease of the Exchange has expired and there would need to be discussion regarding use of public property which could be construed as a gift of public funds.

County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord clarified the Request For Proposal (RFP) process, saying that any individual or organization that submitted a proposition would need to qualify under nine different items such as capital requirements, financial soundness, experience, plans and timelines.  The proposal would be accepted contingent upon the applicant providing the necessary permits and liability insurance.

Council member Lovel Pratt of San Juan Island asked if a non-profit business could be newly formed and submit a RFP. Gaylord responded that as long as the entity was a registered corporation or individual, and met the other requirements, an RFP could be submitted.

When asked what would happen if there were no proposals submitted that would make use of self-hauling to the waste disposal site, Miller reminded the gathering that if the Nov. 11 ballot measure to fund county waste disposal operations failed, there could be no county funding source available. Miller said that” We are not telling responders [to the RFP] that they must provide X, Y and Z… but we want to keep open to economical viability.”

Council member Jamie Stephens of Lopez said that Council discussion concerning formulation of the RFP were not mandating exactly how it should be done. County Administrator Pete Rose said that under state law, the County could be flexible in consultation and negotiation with the proposals, with some “give and take so that values are respected.”

Miller later clarified that the “historical debt” of $800,000 in operational costs over the last several years would be borne by the county.

During the public question period, Frank Stratton asked the council why it had not charged franchise haulers the same rate as self-haulers, claiming that process would have collected $1.5 million over the last five years.

Miller said that the Council had evaluated that prospect, and the compounding problem was that the decline in waste volumes made the deficit in operational costs untenable.

Stephens backed Miller up, saying that more tipping fees would only come from disposing of more trash. “It’s the wrong economic model; we’d have the same problem, trying to find some base level of funding. ”

Erroll Speed spoke of self-haul as the “lifeblood” of Orcas waste disposal.

Miller said, “With an $800,000 debt, [the County] can’t continue self haul; that depended upon an ongoing future revenue stream. The vendor or operation will have to bear the cost of operating the site and delivering services.”

Fralick said, “The reality is you’ll pay less to San Juan Sanitation [for route collection] than what you’d pay in self-haul.”

Stephens and Miller reiterated that County staff and officials are working with the franchise hauler to work out route collection options.

The county will continue to fund litter pickup, noxious weed and hazardous waste disposal and the BeachWatchers program.

Following the hearing, Elizabeth Anderson present the review draft of the Solid Waste Plan, which is available online at the county site: Solid Waste Management Plan/REVIEWDRAFT_020312.pdf. A hard copy of the draft Solid Waste Plan is also available at public libraries on Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Islands.

The County Council will further discuss the RFP process at its Feb. 28 meeting, and it will be discussed at the Solid Waste Advisory Committee meeting on Feb. 23.

The RFP will be issued April 11, following a 30-day review period where there will be public meetings.