Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

Zero Waste Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes April 13th, 2022 The Monthly Meeting of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission convened through Video Conference on Wednesday, April 13th, 2022, due to COVID-19 Disaster Declaration for all Texas Counties. The following are the meeting highlights. For detailed information please visit: https://austintx.new.swagit.com/videos/167441 CALL TO ORDER Chair Acuna called the Commission Meeting to order at 6:05 pm Board Members in Attendance: Gerry Acuna, Cathy Gattuso, Amanda Masino, Jonathan Barona, Ian Steyaert, Ethan Myers, Albert Swantner, Kaiba White, Board Members not in Attendance: Melissa Rothrock, Ingrid Powell Staff in attendance via WebEx: Ken Snipes, Tammie Williamson, Richard McHale, Amy Slagle, Gena McKinley, Andy Dawson, Donald Hardee, Dwight Scales, Jason McCombs, Brent Paige, Blanche Quarterman, Victoria Rieger, Amy Schillerstrom, Shana Riviello, William Purcell, Carina Hanson, Marcus Gonzalez, Memi Cardenas and Bill Huck Chair Acuna opened with comments, 1. APPROVAL of the February 9th, 2022, Meeting Minutes Chair Acuna entertained a motion the February 9th, 2022, Meeting minutes. Commissioner Ian Steyaert made the first motion for approval of the minutes. A second motion was provided by Commissioner Jonathan Barona to amend and deffer Item deferred to the ZWAC May 11th, 2022 meeting Zwac Approved 2a.Officer Elections- Commissioners- Gerry Acuna Commissioner Amanda Masino entertained a motion to recommend appointing Gerry Acuna Chair of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission (ZWAC). A second motion was provided by Commissioner Jonathan Barona Recommend unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote Chair Gerry Acuna entertained a motion to recommend appointing Cathy Gattuso Vice-Chair of (ZWAC). A second motion was provided by Commissioner Ian Stayert Recommend unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote 2b. Joint Sustainability Committee Representation Selection- Gerry Acuna Chair Gerry Acuna entertained a motion to recommend appointing Melissa Rothrock as a representative of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission (ZWAC) and Cathy Gattuso as the alternate. A second motion was provided by Commissioner Kaiba White Recommend unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote 2c. Discussion and Action: Amendment to Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) Administrative Rules 4.1 RCA- Jason McCombs Administrative rules are created and adopted by the City Manager and their appointed executives to administer the policies established by the City Council. Austin Resource Recovery is the only department within the City that operates under a unique code [15-6-3] requiring administrative rules to be approved, modified, or disapproved by the city council. This amendment intends to correct inconsistent language related to department services and residential dwelling units within the administrative rules. These types of administrative edits are needed to ensure that City staff can implement City policy. Jason McCombs program manager with ARR presented an amendment to the administrative rules related to multifamily properties. This amendment will be correcting an inconsistency in language between what's in the code and what's right. What we have in our rules right now, broadly speaking, is the code that's the law and then the admin rules instruct staff on how to carry out that law. As of today, the code is saying that anything with five dwelling units or, greater will receive private service and if they become part of the URO fourplex or less receives a city service. What we have written in the rules is in the conflict is it says three dwelling units or less and so it's an important demarcation line. it's an error that we've been aware of for a while and, we've been operating under the five, the five units or more being under the URO so really this is just to fix this language, there's no change to the budget operations, it's just a text error, just aligning the language and both documents. so all our documents are in alignment. Chair Gerard Acuna entertained a motion to support the change as noted by Commissioner Jonathan Barona, the first motion for approval, A second motion was provided by Commissioner Ian Stayert Recommend unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote Zwac Approved 2d. Discussion and Action: Budget Forecast for FY23- Victoria Rieger ARR Finance Manager Victoria Rieger presented the council with the FY23 Budget Forecast and the city's overall budget process. She provided a brief overview of the department's performance, an overview of the results of our key performance indicators, and, the department's five-year financial forecast. As part of the forecast, she presented a summary of our residential rates, as well as talked about highlights of our capital improvement program or (CIP) as it's known. The budget development process began with ARR's internal budget kickoff meeting in January where detailed guidance was given to the department in preparation for the budget season. On March 11th, we submitted our forecast to the budget office, and that forecast is scheduled to be delivered to the city council. This Friday, April 15th, the proposed budget is due in may followed by the city's manager's presentation to the council in July after a series of work sessions, beginning in August, the official budget readings and adoption will occur on August 17th through the 19th. Chair Gerard Acuna entertained a recommendation to approve the budget forecast but, with the statement after reviewing the forecast. Whereas while the budget forecast did include a small wage and salary in clean increase, it did not include a sufficient increase to address the need to offer a competitive wage to drivers and other ARR hourly staff and whereas market forces indicate that the need for skilled drivers will continue to be a significant pressure that limits ARR's capacity and whereas there continues with high vacancies and turnover, be it so resolved that ZWAC recommend and a higher proposed wage increase in the ARR FY23 budget. Whereas to support the change as noted. Commissioner Ian Staeyert Barona, the first motion for approval, A second motion was provided by Commissioner Kaiba White Recommend unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote 2e. Discussion and Action: Development of a Concise Guide for Third-Party Servicing and Collection Operators- Gerry Acuna Chair Acuna stated this item is in regards to developing a concise guide for third-party servicing and collection operations within the ARR territory or jurisdiction, I should say. Tonight we had a couple of presentations from some of the boutique providers that have entered this market and I would think that there's probably going to be more than just these two that presented today he would love for staff to maybe look at what is actually is required and will be required in the future for anyone who wants to enter this market and provide a diversion opportunity for the citizens of Austin, what guidelines do they need and if we could work on something like that, be again, just, just to help many, many people avoid some of the pitfalls that, uh, we have encountered this past a few months, but I mean, is that possible? Ken Snipes replied we can certainly take a look at, uh, any, any sort of language. There's an opportunity for us to, to kind of look at what's there now and enhance some of the languages we've talked about what that might look like, I think is still preliminary right now. so we can, we can certainly take a look. Zwac Approved Director’s Report ARR Staff provided updates on Solicitations Update, Performance Reports, Statistical Reports, Earth Day Plans, Annual Customer Survey Results, Annual Report and Current ARR Organizational Chart Future Agenda Items: • • • • • • Future FM 812 Landfill Potential (May) Open Gov Demo (May) Small Minority Business Resources (SMBR) Future Opportunities and Involvement Budget Recommendations (May) 2022 Annual ZWAC Retreat (June) Keep Austin Beautiful Update (August) Meeting Adjourned at 8:09 pm Zwac Approved  Zwac Approved