ORCAA Board of Directors
OLYMPIC REGION CLEAN AIR AGENCY
2940 B Limited Lane NW
Olympia, Washington 98502
MEETING
January 10, 2007
Members present:
Bob Beerbower, Grays Harbor County (Chair)
Mark Foutch, City of Olympia
Ann Burgman, City of Lacey
Mike Doherty, Clallam County
Bob Macleod, Thurston County
Grant Munro, City of Port Angeles (Vice Chair) (via phone)
Members absent:
Clay Harwood, Pacific County
Lynda Ring Erickson, Mason County
Phil Johnson, Jefferson County
Legal Counsel:
Fred Gentry, Bean & Gentry
Staff Present:
Richard Stedman, Executive Director, Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor; Dan Nelson, Public Information Officer; Lynn Harding, Administrative Services Manager; and Debbie Moody, Recorder
The meeting was called to order at 10:05 am.
There was one addition to the Agenda. Recognition of Board Members was added to New Business. Foutch asked that he have a moment to speak at the end of the meeting. Burgman moved approval of the amended Agenda. Doherty seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Foutch moved approval of the Consent Agenda. Doherty seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING
Civil Penalty Assessment Increase
Beerbower opened the public hearing at 10:06 a.m. Stedman explained the proposed change is to increase the daily allowable civil penalty from $10,000.00 to $14,915.00. This increase catches us up to current standards. The RCW allows us to increase the civil penalty consistent with inflation. Macleod asked how we arrived at the $14,915.00. Stedman noted we looked back over the years at the consumer price index and layered it on to the $10,000.00. There were no further questions. There was no public present for the hearing. Beerbower closed the hearing at 10:10 a.m. Foutch moved approval of the Civil Penalty increase. Macleod seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Land Clearing Permit Fee Change
Beerbower opened the public hearing at 10:10 a.m. Stedman stated we have proposed to change the land clearing burn permits from a flat fee of $100.00 per permit to $75.00 per acre cleared. We feel this change is more equitable to the public as those that are clearing more are polluting more and therefore should pay a higher fee. Doherty asked the difference between slash and land clearing. Stedman explained there must be a change in the use of the land in order to consider it a land clearing project. If they clear the land to replant, that would be silviculture or slash burning and it would be permitted by DNR. To clear the land to build a home or development would be land clearing and we would permit it. There was no public present for the hearing. Beerbower closed the hearing at 10:12 a.m. Foutch moved approval of the fee change. Macleod seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Compliance Update
Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor, noted his staff has completed 41 inspections since the last meeting and dealt with 215 complaints, the bulk of which are outdoor burning. We have a few odor and woodstove complaints as well. Stedman wanted to make clear that our staff not only received 215 complaints, we responded to them as well. Foutch asked about Liberty One Resources. Stedman stated they are located out in the county and collect wood waste debris. We received odor complaints that most likely stem from the burn they had a while back, it is still smoldering. Macleod asked if there was any resolution. R.Moody noted they have received Notices of Violation, however, he did not recall if it was a result of this particular complaint. Burgman, noticing the woodstove complaints, asked if the complaints came in during a burn ban. Stedman stated most likely there was a nuisance. Basically we get calls when people are impacted by their neighbor’s woodstove. Sometimes the woodstoves are in line with a neighbor’s window, perhaps they are burning green or wet wood, and it results in a very smoky fire and a nuisance.
Stedman told the Board that we may be working on a woodstove buy-back program. Wood burning stoves create a huge impact on air quality. He noted there have been some proposed legislative actions that would inventory homes with non-certified woodstoves and/or fireplaces. There has also been legislation in the past, which would outlaw the sell of a home if it had a non-certified woodstove or other solid fuel burning device. Stedman noted the state directors met yesterday and part of the discussion had to do with trying to influence the comprehensive plans to exclude solid fuel burning devices from new construction. What this would mean is that you wouldn’t have a fire place in a new home. You may have a gas fireplace, but no wood burning device.
Doherty noted that Port Angeles should be commended for opening up their landfill to accept the storm debris for free. The storm debris was mulched, chopped for firewood and some of it sold and the money was used for scholarships. Stedman stated Thurston County also accepts storm debris at three locations.
ORCAA Permit Actions
Stedman stated Grays Harbor Paper has requested a modification in their permit to use urban wood waste for hog fuel and we are working on that permit. Stedman noted we are just about caught up on all of our AOP permits as well. Macleod asked how urban wood could be used for fuel if it is painted. Stedman noted they can burn a limited amount of painted wood (such as color coded milled ends), however, lead paint or heavily treated wood would not be allowed.
School Bus Retrofit Update
Dan Nelson, Public Information Officer, stated we are still waiting on CCV filters for the buses. Tacoma Rail has received their parts and should be undergoing installation in the next couple of months. He reminded the Board that our television advertisement has been running on local cable stations and we have been getting mostly positive feedback. The support ads have been running in the papers and we will be doing more print ads with regards to the burn ban in the coming weeks.
Burn Ban Update
Stedman, handing out a new outdoor burn ban brochure, stated as of January 1, 2007 we have a new burn ban which affects all UGA’s in our jurisdiction. There are 17 areas in our jurisdiction that have been impacted. Stedman thanked Nelson for producing the brochure, and Steve Rybolt, Air Quality Specialist, for putting together the maps. Nelson added that our signs for the burn ban areas have been distributed and are being posted.
Air Quality Summary
Stedman wanted to show the Board the number of days listed in the “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” The highest number of days was in Lacey, Port Angeles, and Shelton. Stedman noted we are a little bit alarmed with what is going on in Port Angeles. We are actually concerned with both Lacey and Port Angeles and the implications it may have with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter. Munro asked if anyone knows what is causing the problems, woodstoves, outdoor burning or what? Stedman stated there is no real way to know at this point. We do know it is a combination of things and we do see a spike during the winter months, regardless of power outages. The winter months are definitely ‘wood burning’ months, so it is a good indication that wood smoke is a big problem.
2nd Quarter Budget Report
Stedman explained we are doing quite well. There are no major issues at this time, although we are overspending on our Legal Services. Stedman stated we thought we would be dipping into our reserves by about $200,000, but it now looks like it will only be about half of that amount. In addition, our original budget didn’t reflect the settlement we received from Ocean Protein.
State and Federal Grant Reductions
Stedman stated we are anticipating a reduction of about 6.5% in our federal grant. The feds are backing out on support of air quality programs across the board. This morning, Stedman stated, he met with DOE representatives who wanted to let us know they received a 40% reduction in their monitoring funds from the feds. Due to this decrease, we will be losing most of our monitoring funding. We had been receiving approximately $12,000 per year, and we are receiving only $800 this coming year. This is coming at a very bad time, in our opinion. The feds are changing the standard for PM2.5, which would most likely require more monitoring, which is impossible to do with reduced funding. Stedman stated the message here is that our state and federal grants are getting leaner.
Doherty suggested drafting a letter to Norm Dicks to try and influence him with regards to at least keeping the same funding that we had, rather than cutting it. Stedman stated he would follow up on that.
Legislative Update
Stedman explained there is not a lot going on at this time as the session just began. There is a technical update to the Clean Air Act. They say it is just administrative, but we will watch it nonetheless. Our bill will be in this year as well. Stedman stated Beerbower had joined them in meeting with Senator Swecker who is interested and very supportive of our bill. Using our language, Senator Karen Fraser has drafted the bill for consideration. We will be tracking it and we need to decide if we should draw up a companion bill to go through the house. Stedman asked the Board if they had any directions or suggestions on this issue. Macleod stated he would support going directly through the Senate. The Board agreed.
Doherty noted that at the end of January or beginning of February, the commissioners will be in town for the annual lobbying. If ORCAA staff were to develop a handout we could take it around to their perspective Senators. Stedman stated he would have Nelson work on that. Stedman also noted there are competing bills out currently that are set to try and take away the burn ban that just went into effect. Another bill was written to exclude the small cities from the ban as well.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Cost Recovery/Fee Revisions
Stedman explained we are asking Board’s direction in working towards making our programs 100% cost recoverable. Stedman had a chart that shows several fee-based programs that do not come close to cost recovery. The registration fees cover less than 50% of the costs to run the program, Stedman noted. Stedman did state other local air pollution agencies are already recovering 100% or working towards that goal. These programs use to be supplemented by state and federal grants, along with our local assessments. Stedman noted the state and federal grants are becoming smaller and assessments have been paying for non-fee programs such as complaints.
Stedman stated he would like to bring proposed fee increases to the next Board meeting. Stedman added we would also be looking at reducing expenditures.
Foutch moved staff to prepare a proposal for the next meeting. Stedman noted he would like to hear the Board state they would like us to move toward 100% recovery. Foutch stated that was his intent on the motion and would accept that as a friendly amendment. Doherty stated he did not want to see the fees jump from where we are now to 100% recovery over night. If there is some phase in time, and cutting expenditures—with your priorities being to cut expenditures, rather than just raise fees—we could look at that, Doherty stated. Foutch stated that is what he thought the plan was. To move toward 100% recovery, but not all at once, Foutch added.
Stedman wanted the Board to understand that these programs do gobble up a lot of our time and we are not even coming close to covering our expenses. Where we can reduce costs, we will. Our staff is very efficient, but we will do all we can.
Macleod seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Director’s Contract
Stedman noted the new contract in the packet. Stedman explained the changes include compensation and vacation leave.. The compensation was increased to $91,000 from $89,000, Stedman stated, and vacation leave is increased from 18 days a year, to 20 days per year.
Foutch asked if there had been any comparison. Stedman noted NWCAA Director is currently at $110,000 and SWCAA is at $99,000. Doherty asked if employees received a comparable increase in their salaries. Stedman noted the employees received a 3% COLA and this increase would be slightly above that.
Foutch moved approval of the new contract as presented. Burgman seconded the motion.
Doherty wanted it noted that philosophically he is against management getting larger percentage increase that just creates a spread year after year between the workers and the administrator. However, if our Administrator is that far behind his peers, even after scaled down to our region, I can understand.
Beerbower called for the question and the motion carried unanimously.
Beerbower presented Stedman with a gift, acknowledging his 5 (plus) years with the agency. The Board recognized Stedman’s positive influence on the agency. Stedman thanked the Board noting he owes a lot to his very competent and extremely dedicated staff.
NEW BUSINESS
Resolution 242 – Appointment of Agent to Receive Claims with County Auditor
Stedman explained this Resolution allows the director to receive claims for damages under the chapter noted. Doherty moved approval of Resolution 242. Burgman seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Gentry stated Stedman’s name should be removed and replaced with “Current Executive Director” so the Resolution wouldn’t need to be changed if the Director were to leave. It was taken as a friendly amendment, voted on again and carried unanimously.
Satellite Office – Pacific County
Stedman stated we have been looking at a satellite office in Pacific County. We do have an employee that lives in Pacific County and we have work to be done in the area. We are contemplating having the satellite office staffed one to two days a week, depending on workload. Harding noted the costs should be comparable to the Port Angeles office. Stedman stated he could bring a couple of proposals to the next meeting.
City of Hoquiam Air Quality Control Project
Stedman reminded the Board of the $250,000 fine we received from Ocean Protein, under settlement agreement we were to grant $75,000 to the city of Hoquiam. The grant is for air quality control related projects in the city. The city feels we owe them this money and have requested that we purchase three Ford Escape Hybrids for them. Stedman noted we have talked to the City and told them we would not purchase the vehicles. In trying to work with the City, we did tell them we were willing to pay the difference between a Ford Escape and the Hybrid version, which is approximately $7,000 (each). The city of Hoquiam stated they were very discouraged by ORCAA’s unwillingness to purchase the vehicles.
The settlement specifically states the $75,000 will fund a grant program for use by the city of Hoquiam for air pollution control projects administered by ORCAA. Stedman noted he has told them a woodstove change-out program would be very beneficial, as well as a gas powered lawn mower exchange program. Stedman stated he asked Mark Goodin to analyze the emission savings with the vehicles and a woodstove program. The cost per ton reduced would be about $38,000 per ton if we purchased the vehicles, whereas if we buy out woodstoves, it would bring the costs to $600 per ton. The vehicles would only reduce emissions by 3 tons in 10 years, whereas there would be a reduction of around 100 tons in 10 years with a woodstove program.
Burgman felt perhaps Gentry should write them a letter explaining what they can and can’t do with the funds, as well as provide a grant application they can fill out and send in. Stedman felt that was a good idea and thought we could even ask them to show the cost per ton reduced for evaluation of the proposal. The Board agreed.
Recognition of Board Members
Stedman wanted to recognize Pat Hamilton for serving on the Board for seven years. Stedman stated we would get a plaque to her.
Foutch announced that this would be his last official meeting with the Agency (other than as an alternate). Foutch noted he has decided not to seek re-election. Foutch noted Jeff Kingsbury is enthusiastic about being the principle representative on this Board and Foutch is confident in his ability to do so. Foutch stated he has been on the Board since 1993. He noted this agency has made some impressive improvements regarding the staff and the way they have been administered. He stated one of his pet projects was establishing the Public Information position and felt this has been a great improvement for the agency. The hiring of Stedman was also an improvement in many ways, one of which was that he has headed up the public hearings that took up a lot of time for our Board. The agency is much more capable than it was, yet the costs we have been charging are still the lowest in the area and the staff is the smallest. We should all be proud of what we have accomplished.
Stedman thanked Foutch for his many years of service. Stedman noted he is hoping to make a presentation at the city council meeting. Other Board members asked that they be notified so they can participate.
The meeting adjourned at 11:34 am.
PRESENTED BY
Richard A. Stedman, Executive Director
APPROVED BY:
The Majority of the Board
APPROVED and SIGNED this 14th day of February 2007