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Home My WebLink About2020-09-29 - Minutes -Council Member Sonia Gutierrez Ward 1 Position I Council Member Sarah Marsh Ward I Position 2 Council Member Mark Kinion Ward 2 Position I Council Member Matthew Petty Ward 2 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Kara Paxton City of Fayetteville Arkansas Special City Council Meeting September 29, 2020 Special City Council Meeting Minutes September 29, 2020 Page 1 of 4 Council Member Sloan Scroggin Ward 3 Position 1 Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 4 Position 1 Council Member Kyle Smith Ward 4 Position 2 A Special meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on September 29, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order. In order to create social distancing due to the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Council Members Sonia Gutierrez, Sarah Marsh, Mark Kinion, Matthew Petty, Sloan Scroggin, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, and Kyle Smith joined the meeting via online using a video conferencing service called Zoom. Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, IT Director Keith Macedo, Police Chief Mike Reynolds, Fire Chief Brad Hardin, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two staff members from the IT Department were present in City Council Chambers while demonstrating recommended social distancing. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor's Announcements, Proclamations and Reco<,Ynitions: Mayor Jordan: In light of the current health concerns, Fayetteville City Hall is closed to the public. This meeting is being held virtually. I am present in Council Chambers with a handful of essential support staff. City Attorney Kit Williams, City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, IT Director Keith Macedo, Police Chief Mike Reynolds, Fire Chief Brad Hardin, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker, and two representatives from the IT Department. City Council Members, City Staff, and the public are participating online or by phone. Other than those of us you see before you, the voices you hear during the course of this meeting are being 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar gov Special City Council Meeting Minutes September 29, 2020 Page 2 of 4 recorded for public record and piped into the Council Chambers. Participation remains of the upmost importance to the City of Fayetteville. We have provided many ways to participate in the meeting, which includes contacting Council Members, City Clerk office or city staff prior to the meeting. The meeting can be viewed through Fayetteville's government channel online, YouTube, and joining the Zoom conference by smartphone, tablet or computer. Staff can view when you join the meeting and when you raise your virtual hand. We ask that you refrain from doing this until the public comment portion of the item on which you wish to comment. I will provide a longer than usual period of time for you to raise your virtual hand, so as to ensure time to be recognized. Fayetteville residents will be allowed to speak first. When recognized, please state your name and address for the record. Public comment shall be allowed for all members of the audience who have signed up prior to the beginning of the agenda item they wish to address being opened for public comment. As we are about to begin, I am concluding the sign-up process at this moment. This is a time for public comment only. Each speaker has one turn to speak. Each speaker is allowed five minutes to be broken into segments of three and two minutes, which staff will monitor. Amendments may receive public comments only if approved by the City Council by unanimous consent or majority vote. If public comment is allowed for an amendment, speakers will only be allowed to speak for three minutes. The City Council may allow both a speaker additional time and an unsigned -up person to speak by unanimous consent or majority vote. City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports, and Discussion Items: None Azenda Additions: None New Business: United States Department of Agriculture Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Program: A resolution to authorize the Mayor to sign a grant agreement accepting a matching grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Program in the amount of $73,870.00 to expand the city's food waste collection program, and to approve a budget adjustment. Peter Nierengarten, Environmental Director gave a brief description of the grant agreement. He stated in late August, the city received notice from the USDA that Fayetteville was 1 of 13 Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Grant recipients. He stated the city did not get the grant acceptance paperwork from the USDA until September 15, 2020, which was the date of the last City Council meeting. He stated due to there being five Tuesday's in September, there are three weeks, instead of the normal two between Council meetings. He stated all of the paperwork has to be signed and returned to the USDA by September 30, 2020, He spoke about losing funding for the grant if the item wasn't heard tonight and approved. He spoke about generating compost, increasing access to compost for agricultural producers, reduce municipal food waste, and diverting food waste from the landfill. He spoke about the Sustainability and Recycling & Trash staff submitted for consideration a proposal to expand existing food waste capture efforts by developing and launching a food waste recovery trailer to collect food waste from residents at the 113 West Mountain Fayetteville, AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov Special City Council Meeting Minutes September 29, 2020 Page 3 of 4 Farmers Market and other community events and festivals. He stated the grant proposal also requested funding for a Compost Educator position for a period of two years to interact with the public and provide information, instruction, and advice to residents on why and how organics composting is so important. He spoke about the city's diversion goals. He spoke about reducing food •waste in the landfills. He spoke about how the city saw a demand for finished compost increase significantly because citizens wanted to plant gardens and do home improvement projects during the 60VID pandemic. He stated they are in the process of developing additional residential drop-off locations that are more geographically spread throughout the city. He stated the grant award is $73,870 with a $22,500 match from the city and a $21,870 match from the Boston Mountaitx Solid Waste District. He stated the total project cost is $118,240. Council Member Smith: I got some questions from the community about the ongoing cost after the grant expires. Could you talk about the revenue generated from the sale of compost and how that fits into the whole equation. Peter Nierengarten: On compost, there is some revenue generated and we haven't factored that in significantly to the overall cost of operating the program. We see the compost generation and the ability to provide that at low cost to the residents in the city as part of our services as operating the Recycling & Trash Collections Division. I can't give you specific numbers on the revenue generation. It's not huge, but it's also not zero. Council Member Smith: There's also savings from not putting the compost and material in the landfill? Peter Nierengarten: That is correct. We pay roughly $45 a ton for every ton of solid waste that gets transferred from our Transfer Station to the Tontitown landfill. Every pound of ton we divert and put into our compost program; we turn into usable product to sell, saves us money in disposal cost. Council Member Petty: How long will it be before the program is operational? Peter Nierengarten: We have some of the residential compost drop-offs already up and running. We are in the process of expanding those in additional locations. In terms of the trailer and being ready to go out to events, we are hoping to have that up and running by the end of the year. Council Member Petty: That's great. Thank you. Council Member Smith moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Marsh seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Members Turk, Smith, Marsh, Kinion, Petty, Scroggin, and Bunch voting yes. Council Member Gutierrez was absent during the vote. Resolution 235-20 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www fayetteville-ar.gov Special City Council Meeting Minutes September 29, 2020 Pa-e 4 of 4 Announcements: None Adjournment: 4:47 p.m. `��trrrrrrrr� K �,\T Y •`�9U Lioneld Jordan, M r Kara Paxton, City CI rk Treasure AYE7?E��L�E �~ zz� .q i�� TONr 113 West Mountain Fayetteville. AR 72701 (479) 575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar gov