Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

Zero Waste Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes April May 11th, 2022 The Monthly Meeting of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission convened through Video Conference on Wednesday, May 11th, 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/171642 CALL TO ORDER Chair Acuna called the Commission Meeting to order at 6:06 pm Board Members in Attendance: Gerry Acuna, Cathy Gattuso, Amanda Masino, Ingrid Powell, Ian Steyaert, Albert Swantner, Kaiba White, Board Members not in Attendance: Melissa Rothrock, Jonathan Barona, Ethan Myers 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, Maddie Morgan and Yahel Baranovicht Chair Acuna opened with comments, 1. APPROVAL of the April 13th, 2022, Meeting Minutes Chair Acuna entertained a motion to approve the April 13th, 2022, Meeting minutes. Commissioner Ian Steyaert made the first motion for approval of the minutes. A second motion was provided by Commissioner Ingrid Powell 2. APPROVAL of the February 9th, 2022, Corrected Meeting Minutes Chair Acuna entertained a motion to approve the corrected February 9th, 2022, Meeting minutes. Commissioner Albert Swantner made the first motion for approval of the minutes. A second motion was provided by Commissioner Ingrid Powell 3a. Discussion and Action: Ratification for Emergency Brush and Bulk Removal RCA- Brent Paige ARR Finance Manager Victoria Rieger presented the council with the Ratification for Emergency Brush and Bulk Removal RCA. On behalf of Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) is seeking a favorable recommendation on a Contract effective on 4/4/2022 (the date executed by the City and shall remain in effect until the earliest of when the deliverables outlined in the Contract are complete or the City terminates the Contract). The contract is not to exceed the amount of $1,195,000. Funding was available in the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Operating Budget of Austin Resource Recovery. The contractor, DRC Emergency Services, LLC, provided emergency brush and bulk debris services for the City of Austin, which comprised hauling and disposal of brush and bulk debris removal from public property and public right-of-way (ROW) within the City limits. The work consisted of all labor, equipment, fuel, and miscellaneous costs necessary to clear, remove, load, and haul debris from public ROW areas to debris management sites and approved landfills. Due to COVID-19-related absences and ongoing vacancies within the department, Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) has suspended the collection of bulk and brush routes to dedicate resources to the department’s core services, which include trash, recycling, and compost collection. ARR has experienced a sharp increase in several difficult to fill and high-turnover positions. Currently, ARR has an unprecedented number of vacant driving positions and is working with our Human Resources Department to increase driver salaries and become more competitive as an employer. If brush and bulk removal services continue to remain suspended, the city would see an increase in illegal dumping of materials. This creates health, safety, and wildfire concerns for citizens and the environment as dumpsites attract vectors, mosquitoes, and other pests. A lack of brush removal could create an increased wildfire threat to the community. Chair Gerard Acuna entertained a motion for deferral as noted by Commissioner Ian Steyaert, the first motion for deferral, first motion for deferral was provided by Commissioner Ian Steyaert A second motion was provided by Commissioner Kaiba White Deferred unanimously by the Zero Waste Advisory Commission on a 7-0 vote 4a. OpenGov Presentation- Brent Paige ARR Finance Manager Brent Paige presented the commission with a brief demonstration of ARR’s new budget planning and performance management software. Brent briefly touched on some history about how we got here and to where we are today with OpenGov, what it is and why we chose this system. He wrapped up by giving a brief overview of how the department will utilize the system as well as how ARR envisions the future of the ZWAC statistical reports and ZWAC Directors report. OpenGov is a cloud-based solution that is designed exclusively for use by government entities. OpenGov will help continue to push and modernize the budgeting practice from creation to monitoring at all levels of the organization to reporting and beyond. Since OpenGov is designed exclusively for use by government entities, it is especially important because OpenGov takes user feedback into account when they're looking to design new features or functionality and when they make enhancements to the current features with all users being government entities and all of us looking to accomplish similar tasks, so much of what they put together, the enhancements that others recommend will likely benefit ARR. Our goal is to eventually have our budgeting performance measure information all in one place with easy access for the commission or anyone in the public to access and peruse at their leisure. OpenGov provides a transparency portal that we can link directly to on our austinrecycles.com website Director’s Report ARR Staff provided updates on: Resumption of Brush and Bulk Collections ARR Monthly Job Fair TxSWANA Rodeo Update Reverse Pitch Update Solicitations Update Performance Reports Statistical Reports • • • • • • • • • Future Agenda Items • • Future FM 812 Landfill Potential (TBD) Small Minority Business Resources (SMBR) Future Opportunities and Involvement Presentation (TBD) Keep Austin Beautiful Update (August) 2022 Annual ZWAC Retreat (June) Meeting Adjourned at 7:17 pm