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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Clean City Advisory Committee - 04/02/2009 • RECEIVED Clean City Advisory Committee MAY o$ 2009 Minutes of April 2,2009 Meeting opened at approximately 3:10 p.m.in the 6th floor Conference 'C•ANS 't��� OFFICE The following members were present: Brian Cornelius, Paige Dinn, John Elford, Teresa Klein, Daiquiri Richard, and Mikell Smith. The following members were absent: Anthony Castorena, Brenda Cuvelier, and Joan Veith. No ex-officio members were in attendance. The following City staff was present: Paul Bass and Cara Myers. Regular Business: Daiquiri Richard made the motion to approve the March minutes. Paige Dinn seconded the motion,which was voted on and passed by the committee. Public Comment: Daiquiri Richard reiterated that the Open Meetings Act prohibits the Clean City Advisory Committee from responding to and discussing the public's comments at length. The law only authorizes the committee to make a statement of factual information, recite an existing policy in response to the inquiry, or advise the citizen that this subject will be placed on an agenda at a later date. No comment was made by the public. Discussion over the committee absences was initiated. Brian Cornelius and Joan Veith had excused absences for the previous meeting. Daiquiri Richard made a motion to approve the absences. Mikell Smith seconded the motion, which was approved. Brenda Cuvelier and Anthony Castorena were both reported to have provided prior notification of their absence on this day. Joan Veith had not notified the committee that she would be absent for this meeting. Shelley Parks with HEB discussed the company's environmental programs. HEB has had an environmental department for about 10 years. The State is currently trying to pass a bill that requires businesses to have trash and recycling receptacles in front of their establishments, a practice already adopted by HEB. HEB, for several years, has also implemented other recycling practices, such as recycling plastic shrink-wrap from the products they receive from manufacturers. HEB believes it is important to educate the public on issues such as recycling. Shelley passed out information from the American Chemical Council regarding the myths associated with the banning of plastic bags. HEB takes the position that, if plastic bags were banned, they would be forced to pass additional costs of paper bags on to their customers. Daiquiri Richard suggested that the committee add a discussion item on the next agenda in regards to the bill that requires businesses to have trash and recycling receptacles in front of their establishment. Discussion resumed regarding the current bill going through the state requiring fixed trash and recycling receptacles outside of businesses, and the requirement of permits for such receptacles. SCANNED Daiquiri Richard suggested that as a committee, they may not want to duplicate efforts if the State already plans to pass such a bill. Daiquiri Richard made a motion to request staff look into placing fixed trash receptacles outside of City Hall entrances as a starting point for the committee. The motion was seconded by Paige Dinn, and was approved. Mikell Smith provided an update regarding the upcoming Keep America Beautiful (KAB) Litter Index Survey. He stated that the survey teams will use the five established City brush collection areas, and brush collection route maps to conduct the survey. Each of the five brush areas will be divided into 10 sub-areas that will take up to 15 minutes to survey. Therefore it's estimated that the total survey time will be approximately 10 hours split between 2 groups. Consideration of land use was factored into the selection of the individual sub-areas. The committee discussed how the survey results would be used to address litter problem throughout the city. Teresa Klein agreed to be the contact, via e-mail, for volunteers that want to participate in the survey. The starting time for the survey was rescheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. It was agreed that the Litter Index Survey will take place on Saturday, April 25th, from 8:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The committee and volunteers will meet at St. John's United Methodist Church at 5300 South Alameda Street, where the group will review the KAB instructional video. Refreshments will be provided. Paul Bass updated the committee over the draft resolution to council in supporting state legislation requiring electronics manufacturers and retailers to participate in state-wide recycling programs. Paul passed out a draft that was based from Dallas' resolution. Daiquiri Richard made a motion to forward the draft to the City's Legal department for review. The motion was seconded by Teresa Klein, and was approved. Paul Bass updated the committee on the proposed Solid Waste Operations recycling program changes. Solid Waste Operations is currently working on their budget. They are trying to provide the same services for less money. The goal is to avoid increasing residential Solid Waste fees, and switch to once-a-week garbage and add a single-stream recycling program. With the election of new City Council members, Solid Waste Staff has received direction to wait until the new council is settled in before recommending significant changes to Solid Waste programs. Staff is still looking at the City of San Antonio's single-stream contract. If City Council approves program changes, then the current City recycling contract holder, Dolphin Recycling, will need about 10-12 months to complete construction of a single-stream sorting facility. By that time, staff believes the recycling commodities markets will rebound to more normal levels. The motion to adjourn was made by Daiquiri Richard and seconded by Teresa Klein. Meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.