Reconsidering recycling

Curbside recycling in Portland is back on the table. 

Portland City Council has asked for a new recycling ordinance to be drafted after it repealed the previous ordinance earlier this month. 

However, council has not made a decision on whether to reinstate the program. 

At its Dec. 3 meeting, at the request of Portland Board of Works, council voted to repeal the recycling ordinance that had been in place since curbside recycling began in the city in 1993. 

Best Way had previously provided recycling pickup for the city at a rate of $4.24 per household per month, with residents paying $4.25 per month for the service. Best Way’s contract expired this year, and had been on a month-to-month basis. 

In August, the board of works selected a bid from Rumpke for service in Portland at a rate of $4.50 per household per month the first year, $4.59 the second year and $4.73 the third year. But in light of rising costs for residents and a slowdown in the recycling market, the board voted to end the program on Oct. 11. Curbside pickup ceased at the end of October. 

At Monday’s city council meeting, council member Kent McClung questioned the authority of the board of works to end the program, which was mandated by an ordinance originally passed by council in 1993. 

“They do not have veto power over ordinances. So if this council passes an ordinance that asks you to enter the contracts to make curbside recycling available, then it needs to be done,” McClung said. “If there was a problem with costs, it’s not the board of works’ decision to say that’s too expensive.” 

He said the board — which consists of Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman, council member Bill Gibson and Jerry Leonhard — should have brought the contracts to city council for guidance. 

McClung suggested revisiting the topic of recycling, and requested that city attorney Bill Hinkle draft a new recycling ordinance, based on the one council repealed two weeks ago. Council members Judy Aker, Judy Hedges, Michele Brewster, Donald Gillespie and Gibson, absent Janet Powers, agreed unanimously. 

“I’m not asking to pass an ordinance on first or second reading,” McClung said. “I’m just asking that we look at this, have him draw up an ordinance — it can be identical — and then bring it back to the next meeting. And then from there should this pass we can send it back to the board of works.” 

Then, McClung said, the board could seek out new recycling contracts and bring them before council. Council could decide whether to move forward with a contract or if it would be too expensive to restart curbside recycling. 

“I don’t have a problem with that,” said Geesaman. 

The original ordinance addresses the issue of non-participation in recycling, which Geesaman pointed out in his prepared remarks. According to the ordinance, recycling was mandatory; any person who didn’t separate their recyclables from the trash could be fined. 

Hinkle said he wondered if that clause was realistic, and how council would plan to enforce a fine for not recycling. McClung wasn’t sure, but said it was something council could discuss when revisiting the ordinance. 

“Nobody wants to do that, but a gentle reminder to the citizens that this is mandatory because it helps reduce costs for trash pickup,” McClung said. “I think we have all the answers in this ordinance before us. And had we studied it a little closer maybe we would have come to some conclusions differently than what we did.” 

Also on Monday, Geesaman addressed the issue of the more than $52,000 in grant money awarded by the Jay County Solid Waste Management District that is sitting in the city’s recycling fund. According to a report from the management district, the yearly $10,000 grant has not been used since 2013. The district voted to cut the grant earlier this year as part of a budget trim for 2019. 

The waste management district board — which includes Geesaman and Gibson — voted unanimously Nov. 26 to ask Portland to return the $52,649.83 in unused funds. 

Geesaman said the city’s financial consultant, Umbaugh and Associates, has advised the city to keep reserves in each account.

“Their comments have always been to the city council and to (clerk-treasurer Lori Ferguson) and I is that you should always keep a minimum balance on all of your 69 line items,” Geesaman said. “Reserves between 20 and 25 percent. So in this case we do have somewhere between 10 and 11 months of funds to go towards a three-year contract which we could have signed with Rumpke.” 

In other business, council: 

•Heard a year-end update from Brad and Pat Daniels, owners of Jay County Antique Mall. The mall is on track to have $300,000 in sales this year, an 11-percent increase from last year and a 300-percent increase from when the couple took over the business in 2015. There are 100 vendors on the waiting list to open a booth in the mall, Brad told council. 

•Tabled a request for state revolving loan fund distribution of $19,381 to Jones and Henry for continued work on the wastewater treatment plant. 

•Approved transfers of $10,129.22 from the local option income tax fire equipment fund to the LOIT part-time and fire runs fund and $4,800 from the LOIT police equipment fund to the LOIT police gasoline fund.