Minutes 06-03-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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this is good, but he would suggest that the Board pare this down to the priority issues. He said the County is the lead on most solid waste items and should act as the lead. He is open to the suggestion of having more than two residents, but he would suggest that the Board of County Commissioners appoint the residents, not the solid waste board itself. Commissioner porosin said he will not support any group that does not involve residents. He feels this is shortsighted and a mistake. He said the list of bullet points contains some items that are high priority, but he also thinks it would be a mistake to exclude some of the long term items. He said these options keep getting put off. He said there seems to be some consensus on having a broad strategy with different priority levels. He said the idea of a transfer station has been mentioned as a high priority, but treatment of communities impacted by the siting of facilities has not been listed as a high priority. He said these two priorities are linked. He said there are some immediate needs with virtually unanimous agreement; but the recognition of the need for a broader scope seems logical to him. He appreciates the concern with a broad list, but he thinks this group will be required to prioritize based on the timetable and the issues that are pressing. Commissioner Rich asked if one of the Commissioners would be the Chair of this group. Chair Jacobs said this is undefined as of yet. Commissioner Rich said she would like one of the Board of County Commissioners to be the Chair. She said she also agrees that there should be a larger representation of residents. She can see the benefits of both arguments being presented tonight. She said there needs to be a solid waste plan moving into the future. She thinks everything should be on the table, and the group should be allowed to decide on the pressing issues to be brought back. Commissioner Gordon said she agrees with the concerns expressed by Commissioner McKee and Commissioner Pelissier. She thinks there should perhaps be a short term task force. She said there need to be focused goals to include: recycling, interlocal agreement, and the transfer station site. She thinks that the Board of County Commissioners should make the resident appointments, and one of the Board of County Commissioners should be the Chair. She noted that the County will have the budgetary responsibility for this, so it is important to have financial constraint on the charge. She said she worked on a lot of agreements, and this list would take a long time to get through. She said an overall plan is needed, but there should be reasonable phasing with high priority items. Commissioner Pelissier said she would rather there be a work group to come up with a plan to proceed, including plans for what kind of the advisory board is needed to move forward. She would like to see the County work with the municipalities to create an interlocal agreement before doing a solid waste advisory group. She said perhaps this could include some of the immediate short term issues related to recycling. Commissioner McKee asked if Commissioner Pelissier is suggesting that they work on an interlocal agreement first. Commissioner Pelissier said yes. She said this would define the role of an advisory group, as well as short and long term goals. Chair Jacobs said the interlocal agreement was difficult to come up with at the staff level because some of these short term issues are not resolved. He said that is why this proposal was brought forward in the first place. Commissioner Price said this issue keeps coming up, and she likes the idea of coming up with an advisory group that begins to look at the entire picture. She agrees that there needs to be more citizen representation, and if there was a limit to the total number she would rather there be fewer government representatives to allow more citizen involvement.