10/22/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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. V. CONSIDERATION OF METROPOLITAN TREATMENT PLANT OPERATION (memo distributed) Mr. Henry stated that the City MWMC representatives should have the benefit of the thinking of the council on this issue. It needs to be determined whether the council feels it would be feasible for MWMC staff to operate this plant or to have a contractual arrangement for operation of the plant. There are three alternatives being considered. There is' an error in Alternative 1--80 people rather than 40 or 60 would be required for staffing and there are now ten or twelve. There are six reasons for the staff recommendation against direct MWMC opera- tion of the plant. It is contrary to City policy, generally, to encourage creating special-purpose bureaucracies if they can be avoided because (1) they will probably add unnecessarily to total government costs by requiring their own staff support services; (2) they encourage pay scale competition between jurisdic- tions; (3) there is potential for confusing the public in the areas of respon- sibility; (4) the City has a good track record of providing uninterrupted service at reasonable cost while the present MWMC staff has no record of service in this area; (5) it was understood by City staffs as well as many of the representatives from both cities that Eugene would contract for plant operations; and (6) since the cities of Eugene and Springfield will operate the plant under contract for one or two years, a suitable trial period will exist. If the trial period proved unsatisfactory, they could go to the large staff concept but it would be difficult to change back to a contractual arrangement once a large e staff was established. Ms. Smith noted that in regard to the intergovernmental agreement, the legal staff and MWMC have different opinions and feel this can be interpreted either way. The intent was for contracting as being the preference. Springfield is supporting the concept of a separate agency. There is no consensus at this time for operation of the facility. Staff recommends council delay on the decision since it does not need to be made immediately. Mark Westling, MWMC representative for Eugene, stated that he does not know if a delay for delaying alone would be useful. The only purpose would be to try to formulate a procedure for arriving at a better level of agreement between Eugene and Springfield. Postponing the decision would be within that framework and provide an opportunity for the jurisdictions to review the situation because it represents a difference of opinion in the interpretation of the intergovern- mental agreement. It was assumed that the City treatment plant would continue to operate for at least two years. If possible, a decision should be reached as soon as possible for the benefit of the personnel operating the plants cur- rently. This does not create a good situation and the sooner it can be settled, the better. e MINUTES--City Council October 22, 1980 Page 11