MINUTES OF A WORK SESSION HELD BY THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1996

Mayor Waldorf called the session to order at 7:00 p.m. Council Members in attendance were Julie Andresen, Joyce Brown, Joe Capowski, Mark Chilton, Pat Evans, Richard Franck and Lee Pavao. Also in attendance were Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Manager Sonna Loewenthal, Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson and Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos.

Council Member Chilton noted that Orange County had a tax base which was much larger than the Town’s and produced about half as much trash as the Town.

Council Member Evans noted that approximately fifty-four percent of the waste in the Orange Regional Landfill was controlled by private haulers. Council Member Franck noted that the Town’s budget currently included funds for tipping of 24,000 tons of waste annually. Council Member Evans inquired whether this did not include the University. Mr. Horton said it did not. Council Member Capowski inquired whether or not this 24,000 tons was totally paid

using the Town’s General Fund. Mr. Horton said this was correct.

Mayor Waldorf inquired about the possibility of equitably charging all tipping fees against the County budget. Council Member Capowski said he did not think it was fair for Town taxpayers to pay for Town refuse collection as well as a good portion of rural Orange County’s trash-related expenses. Stating that although Mayor Waldorf’s proposal was an attempt to establish absolute equity, it might have the result of creating chaotic conditions.

Referencing Mayor Waldorf’s point, Council Member Andresen said if this approach were acceptable, the question would be how administratively viable it would be to separate things out.

Stating that a variety of funding mechanisms were available, Council Member Brown suggested that the Council discuss these options in some detail.

Council Member Pavao asked whether or not the Landfill Owners Group had discussed

funding mechanism options. Council Member Chilton said the LOG had briefly touched on this topic.

Council Member Andresen said she wanted to have a broader understanding of how the current recycling program worked and how it fit into the overall program.

Council Member Brown said he recently attended a conference where a presenter had indicated that in the long run it was much more expensive to collect and dispose of wastes than it was to recycle. She added that some communities, such as Columbia, Missouri had historic data which bore out this conclusion.

Council Member Pavao inquired about the overall cost per ton for waste disposal. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said the approximate overall cost per ton was $85-$90. Council Member Chilton said this figure reflected recycling, collection and disposal costs.

Mayor Waldorf suggested that the Council attempt to reach consensus on the matter of governance.

Council Member Andresen said it was important to weigh the impact of the County potentially having decision-making authority over tax rate and related matters.

Council Member Chilton also said it was important to take into account the fact that many items relative to solid waste were capital-intensive. Council Member Brown said matters such as recycling, baling, universal collection and other matters also needed to be taken into account in the decision making process.

Council Member Chilton said some options would be to build a mass composting or some other regional facility. He added that the Town owned the Landfill Fund as much as Orange County did.

Council Member Franck said that the three most likely organizational structure options were:

(1) an advisory board with decisions made by the Orange County Commissioners, (2) a policy

board with the Orange County Commissioners having some measure of control over budget or (3) an independent agency/authority.

In an effort to develop a consensus on the options, the Council briefly discussed and assigned high, medium and low values to various factors related to the three types of organizational structures.

Council Member Andresen noted that only a small portion of the County Commissioners’ time, perhaps ten percent, was spent discussing solid waste matters.

Council Member Franck said that Republican voters in Carrboro realistically had no influence on the Orange County Commissioners.

Tracing a linkage to responsiveness to their constituents, Council Member Brown said that the County Commissioners generally appeared to most strongly identify with residents of unincorporated areas. Mayor Waldorf said she thought that things were changing somewhat in this regard. Council Member Brown noted that all persons served by the landfill were Orange County residents.

Council Member Chilton said that the idea of an independent agency would strike a balance between County Commission control and individual governments being obstructionist in the overall process and would reduce the Town’s exposure in the overall process. Council Member Chilton said he invited criticism of this approach.

Mayor Waldorf said one impediment was the possibility of deadlocks arising on a policy board which would have eight members. Council Member Franck said the board members could be forced to reach agreements. Council Member Chilton said one possibility would be to permit the County Commissioners to appoint a ninth member or board chair to break tied votes.

Council Member Brown said one of the serious problems with the second alternative was that budget needed to be a part of policy. She suggested that there could be a new way of dealing with bonds for capital expenses. Mayor Waldorf said that matters could be handled in a financially proportionate manner.

Referencing the policy board option, Council Member Chilton said the County Commissioners could say no to this issuance of bonds. He said the Town could be granted a lot of security by not having to recommend expensive solutions or large tip fee increases.

Council Member Evans said she believed that decisions such as landfill siting and what waste management plan to go with should be decided prior to making a decision on what type of organization/entity to put in place.

Council Member Capowski inquired whether or not it was correct that the whole matter would be resolved satisfactorily if the Town could determine how not to have for 45% of costs for recycling, collection and disposal costs. Council Member Chilton said that some economies of scale could be achieved from local governments working together on solid waste strategies, including the possibility of having co-mingled curbside collection and a so-called mixed refuse facility. Council Member Capowski asked whether Council Member Chilton was referring to comingling of recyclables. Council Member Chilton said this was correct.

Council Member Andresen said that recycling appeared to be the area in which the best cooperation between local governments was taking place.

Mayor Waldorf said the matter before local elected officials was not so much a dispute as an open question about what governmental structure could be used to make responsible decisions.

Council Member Brown said one possibility would be to have an additional member appointed by Orange County or the Town. She added that the situation for the Town of Hillsborough needed to be looked at in a different way, taking into account State waste reduction requirements. Council Member Evans said that Hillsborough could possibly contract with Durham. Council Member Brown said that the ways of financing the landfill could be looked at in an independent way.

Council Member Pavao said he favored a County authority policy board which could possibly have a ninth member. He added that the concept of an independent authority baffled him. Council Member Pavao rhetorically inquired who would say “no” to local governments on policy matters. Council Member Franck said the other three local governments could possibly serve in this capacity. Council Member Pavao said he did not believe that anyone was going to say “the buck stops here”. Council Member Franck said a way not to participate would be to withdraw from the agency/authority. Council Member Pavao said he favored an advisory board with County Commissioners. Council Member Pavao also stated that he would be willing to look at a policymaking board or a ninth paid professional member on a board.

Mayor Waldorf said she supported either option one or two, but not option three. Council Member Chilton said he favored option two or three. Council Member Capowski said he was happy with option two if wording could be added into a contract to solve the matter of double taxation. Stating that it was not possible to have solid local government representation under alternative number three, Council Member Capowski said that he favored alternative number two a little bit over alternative number one, because more elected officials would be involved.

Council Member Andresen said she had the biggest problems with alternative number one, liked option number two and could see some accountability problems with number three. Council Member Andresen said she liked number two the best of the three alternatives. Council Member Pavao said he liked alternative number one, could live with alternative number two, although a number of points needed to be addressed and was uneasy with option number three.

Council Member Evans said she favored option number one because it was important to have a group which could make a decision and be accountable to all. Stating that alternative number two could be more of what was already in place, Council Member Evans said she did not favor options two or three. Council Member Capowski said option number two was a school board-like model.

Council Member Brown said her first choice was option number three and that she could support option number two. She also said that there needed to be more accountability for a policy board.

Mayor Waldorf said she was concerned about whether or not there would be a punitive aspects to budgets of municipalities if the County were to administer the landfill budget. Noting that there were currently eighty-four counties in North Carolina which currently ran landfills, she suggested that staff could do some research to find out how the balance of other counties handled their operations. Stating that staff could do such research, Mr. Horton said staff could not determine whether or not citizens or elected officials felt satisfied with arrangements for handling solid waste.

Council Member Brown said that there appeared to be a majority of the Council supporting option number two.

Council Member Evans said she thought that one of the process criteria was for Hillsborough to participate. Council Member Chilton said that no assumption had been made about whether or not the Town of Hillsborough would participate.

Council Member Brown inquired who would be owners of what under the terms of alternative number two.

Stating that a number of other counties in North Carolina contracted out their solid waste operations, Council Member Evans suggested the possibility of investigating which made sense on a regional basis. Council Member Chilton said that option number two was a relatively regional solution. Council Member Evans said it was possible to enter into agreements with other counties. Council Member Franck said that none of the options would preclude entering into regional agreements.

Mayor Waldorf said her preference was to have some equitable way for trash disposal fees to be charged against the County’s budget. Council Member Franck said although this was theoretically possible, there was a lot of ground between here and there. Mayor Waldorf said that current Landfill Owners Group was a flawed structure.

Council Member Brown said it would be desirable to address issues such as ownership in the near term. Mayor Waldorf said she would be glad to pass along a list of her own interests relative to solid waste matters. Council Member Andresen asked whether or not a small group of Council Members with staff support could work on developing a list of issues and options. Mr. Horton said although staff could identify a comprehensive listing of issues, it could not make political determinations. Council Member Brown suggested the possibility of Mayor Waldorf and Council Member Chilton working with staff on this matter. Mr. Horton said the matter could be brought back before the Council at the October 28^th regular meeting.

The meeting concluded at 8:28 p.m.