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2023-12-20 Regular MeetingKODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting December 20, 2023 A Regular Meeting of the Solid Waste Advisory Board was held on December 20, 2023, in the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center. 301 Research Court. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Andie Wall called the meeting to order at 5:21 pm. 2. ROLL CALL Staff Brian Price conducted a roll call. Board members present were Chair Andie Wall, Vice Chair Kerry Irons, Terri Pruitt, Doug Hogen, and Larry Van Daele. A quorum was established. Others present were Alaska Waste Representative David Edwards, KIB Mayor Scott Arndt, Engineering and Facilities Director David Conrad, and Environmental Specialist Jena Hassinger. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA VAN DAELE MOVED to approve the agenda. IRONS seconded. VOICE VOTE ON THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 4. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES VAN DAELE MOVED to approve the November 29th meeting minutes. PRUITT seconded. VOICE VOTE ON THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 5. ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF FINANCIAL REPORT Chair Andie Wall acknowledged the financial report. The expense tracker was discussed after. Kerry Irons asked if the price was known for the welcome insert with Kodiak Daily Mirror. Engineering and Facilities responded and explained factors that can affect pricing. Jena Hassinger and David Conrad continued in explanation to the board. The board was urged to consider authorizing funding for different events and expenditures sooner than later to prevent last minute work for Engineering and Facilities Department. Jena Hassinger made particular mention of the Coloring Book Updates that were still needed. Purchasing procedures were clarified to the board regarding the dispensing of petty cash and purchase cards to non -Borough persons. Chair Andie Wall thanked Engineering and Facilities staff for the clarifications. Kodiak Island Borough December 20. 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 6 I Kerry Irons asked the board if anyone would be available to meet before the next regular meeting to brainstorm, map out events, and suggest expenditures. Chair Andie Wall supported the idea and encouraged that correspondence like notes or lists from such brainstorming be included on the next agenda to reflect the discussion that occurred. Kerry Irons asked Doug Hogen if he would be available in the near future to convene with her and form these suggested expenditures. Doug Hogen Agreed. Terri Pruitt made a point that some event expenses cannot be done beforehand. The Student Art Contest was used as an example. T-shirts, bags, and stickers using the winning student art submissions are not able to be procured preliminarily in anticipation of the event since the art is required for the prints. Kerry Irons responded and stated that she is rethinking that event's plan for this year. 6. VISITOR'S COMMENTS None. 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS/ACTION ITEMS a. Threshold Services Report (if present) b. Alaska Waste Report (if present) David Edwards began his report. He listed the holiday closures for waste collection services. He had nothing new to add other than that he had been working with the Borough and would be participating in the newly formed Solid Waste Contract Sub - Committee discussions going into January. Larry Van Daele brought up once again the student -made bear -resistant dumpster lids to David Edwards. He requested if they could speak together at some point to see where to move forward with the project. David Conrad felt this was something that likely would not be adopted by vendors due to being too expensive. Larry asked David Edwards if he felt this was something that would be implemented. David Edwards informed Larry Van Daele of the status of dumpsters on the island for the last several decades. The dumpsters had not changed in that span of time, and, if another vendor were to take the contract, the dumpsters would typically be sold to them. David Conrad also pointed out that the equipment used by a new contractor for waste collection would need to be similar to that of the current contractor to align with dumpster modifications. David Edwards continued, adding that these dumpsters on - island are in -line with industry standard dumpsters. c. US Coast Guard Report (if present) d. City of Kodiak Report (if present) e. Engineering & Facilities Report (if present) David Conrad began the report. He first brought up the memo brought before the department from Chair Andie Wall. She requested if a web page could be created for the purpose of archiving SWAB's previous work as well as to provide reference material for both board members and the public. Chair Andie Wall felt that a Kodiak Island Borough December 20, 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 6 L referenceable web page would help relieve the demand on board members to provide subject matter expertise. David Conrad urged the board to begin referring people to the KIB website where much of the information concerning solid waste management already presides. Kerry Irons acknowledged that such information is present on the KIB website, however she felt that it is not intuitive to navigate and find specific information within the web page. Kerry Irons was in support of an alternative site that is easier to find information on SWAB and solid waste management. Terri Pruitt discussed the process of producing the newspaper articles and what difficulties interfere with aligning topics to Facebook posts and radio PSAs. This was used as an example to portray how a web page could benefit board members and interested members of the public alike. Doug Hogen emphasized the fact that 2 board member seats remain vacant, listing this as a primary factor limiting board outreach capacity. Chair Andie Wall told the board to urge interested persons to apply for the seats. The member application process was relayed to the board by David Conrad, who also encouraged inviting prospective members to attend meetings to visualize the scope of the work. Andie Wall felt that direct invitations from board members to interested persons would be the most impactful and meaningful. The board continued to discuss expectations surrounding social media posts and board member capacity. The open Student Representative Seat on the board was briefly discussed. David Conrad mentioned recent conversations with the school superintendent. There were concerns that recruiting a student at a higher grade level could hinder the amount of involvement and subsequent interest. It was thought that a younger student member would provide the possibility for greater longevity in the position. Other prospects were briefly mentioned. In closing remarks of Engineering and Facilities report Jena Hassinger noted the dates of landfill and AK Waste holiday closures. David Conrad Made mentioned plans made with a contractor to burn green waste at Dark Lake. He knows that there were negative public perceptions towards the burn, but reassured that measures were taken to perform this safely and legally. David Conrad gave emphasis that this route of action was borne out of efforts to reduce disposal cost incurred by illegal dumping activities in and around Dark Lake. It was stated that loading and hauling off the excess waste by dump truck would cost roughly four times as much as it would to burn them. David Conrad urged the board to consider writing the next newspaper article on this very topic. He felt it would be beneficial to outline what are improper disposal practices for the site relating to the recent issues observed at Dark Lake with green waste. f. Outreach Reports Chair Andie Wall began the outreach reports. The recent planning for a holiday event that had been cancelled was discussed. Too few a number of participants were expected to show up. This resulted in Chair Andie Wall holding off on expending the funds authorized for this event. Chair Andie Wall brough up conversations with the library to try and coordinate another holiday event for Valentines Day sometime in February. Ideally, she is aiming to secure the 3rd and 4th of February. Chair Andie Kodiak Island Borough December 20, 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 6 L Wall reminded the board that she will not be in attendance for the January meeting and hopes that the board will authorize the funding for this event even in her absence. g. Strategic Planning & Organization Staff Brian Price had updated the Strategic Plan Draft and relayed the changes to the board. The board briefly discussed what further updates may be needed. Larry Van Daele pointed out the presence of the Comfish Event on the Expense Tracker but not on the Strategic Plan Draft. He felt that these two documents should be consistent with one another. Chair Andie Wall that reminded the board of the reason Comfish was excluded from the Strategic Plan. In earlier meetings where the Strategic Plan was discussed and members offered themselves to "lead" different events, Comfish had no volunteers willing to take said lead on the event. Other additions to the Strategic Plan were noted, and staff Brian Price was directed to include these in the next version. h. Single -Use Plastic Bag Discussion Doug Hogen began discussion of Single -Use Plastic Bags by sharing what prompted the request to have this item added for discussion. At the last meeting, the board discussed Single -Use Water Bottles, and this had reminded Doug Hogen of the single - use plastic bag ban discussed by the board in previous years. Doug Hogen felt that the issue of single -use water bottles is only a small aspect of a larger problem. Doug Hogen shared his thoughts about SWAB accomplishing a tangible change that could have lasting, positive impact on the community. He posited that a plastic bag ban was an avenue for reaching that outcome. David Conrad and Chair Andie Wall referred to an ordinance by the City of Kodiak that restricted use of single -use plastic grocery bags. David Conrad confirmed with Andie that the City and Borough Joint -Committee that produced the ordinance is no longer in existence. She told Doug Hogen that specific language regarding the millimeter thickness of plastic bags would need to be removed to accomplish that change. Chair Andie Wall said that this request would need to be brought before the City Council, adding also that many steps would have to take place before reaching that point. Chair Andie Wall left the meeting early at 6:42pm and passed the floor to Kerry Irons. Larry Van Daele resumed the discussion of Single -Use Plastic Bags. He listed the reasons he saw the board take on this issue in the past: 1. Keeping bags out of the trees by the landfill; this has been accomplished for the most part, and the number of bags in the trees surrounding the landfill reflects that. 2. Keeping plastic bag waste out of bear scatt; Larry Van Daele directly attests to this change being accomplished, stating that it is far less common to find plastic bags in bear scatt than what he has seen in the past. 3. Keeping bags out of the marine environment; Larry Van Daele was unsure the extent of the bag ban's impact towards accomplishing this goal. Kodiak Island Borough December 20, 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 6 r i� Larry Van Daele shared that he felt the actions of the board have truly accomplished a lot for this issue. He was more concerned with the thicker mill plastic -bags rather than paper bags. Even if paper bags may be considered single- use, the core of the issue for a bag ban to Larry Van Daele was the plastic. Mention was made about the reality of reusable bags and how many people choose not to use them. He threw out loose ideas like charging for bags if people would still want them as suggestions. As he closed out his remarks, Larry Van Daele once more alluded to the accomplishments of the board in reaching goals set for the issue. Terri Pruitt questioned, if the issue of plastic bags was not anything SWAB can make action on, would there be any way to attend a city meeting, where they would ask to speak as a collective board about they are concerned with. David Conrad stated that there is nothing from keeping board members from talking to The City or The Borough consider the issue and gauge support. Jena Hassinger had logistical concerns regarding local businesses that she imagined would need to be considered when proposing the idea to either governing body. Jena Hassinger continued that picking and choosing what bags are acceptable and what bags are not would create confusion, or ultimately detract from the overall goal of a bag ban. She questioned what the number of people recycling the paper bags. For Jena Hassinger, blanketly banning all single -use bags, paper or plastic, would be more favorable. Kerry Irons began to recount previous board action taken by Terri Pruitt, Robert Williams, and Doug Hogen to write a letter of recommendation for this same purpose. She stated it was difficult to form a proper letter to encompass the entirety of the issue. Doug Hogan felt that such a policy change would have to be implemented with enforcement. Terri Pruitt followed his statements, sharing what she had read in recent articles regarding plastic bag bans and compliance issues. A lot of places that have made the change end up struggling to enforce the change, Terri Pruitt noted. The board continued to discuss different considerations for the issue moving forward that could help both on an individual level and on a board level. Doug Hogan and Terri Pruitt felt it is important to educate people on why this is important. Even though many on the board felt this was a simple issue, there are still difficulties to overcome. Doug Hogan was tasked with researching success stories of similar -sized municipalities with their plastic bag bans. Larry Van Daele made a final recommendation to Doug Hogen that he should speak with people at existing businesses for their opinion and thoughts on the matter. 8. BOARD MEMBER'S COMMENTS Terri Pruitt - None Larry Van Daele - Thanks the Mayor Scott Arndt for attending the meeting. Larry Van Daele encourages Scott Arndt to let SWAB know what the assembly needs. He encourages the mayor and assembly to visit the landfill and take the tour. Larry Van Daele offers up praise for the diligent work performed at the landfill and encourages spreading awareness about what gets done there. He felt it was deserving of recognition. Kodiak Island Borough December 20, 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 6 Doug Hogen - In regard to the throw -away water bottles, Doug Hogen referenced a method of waste reduction he had seen on cruise ships where refill stations were used. He gave other alternatives for decreasing the waste produced from single -use Iplastic water bottles. Kerry Irons - Thanked the group for their time and effort to attend the meeting tonight. She expressed appreciation for the commitment. 9. NEXT MEETING SCHEDULE The next meeting date was tentatively set for Tuesday, January 30th 2024. 10.ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:58pm KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH ATTEST: Andie Wall, Solid Waste Advisory Board Chair Brian Price, Board Secretary Approved on: KIB Engineering /Facilities Department 24I2oZ7 Kodiak Island Borough December 20, 2023 Solid Waste Advisory Board Regular Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 6