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area. She believed the initial drop in the number of licenses coincided with the imposition of the <br />City's more stringent regulations related to recycling. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mayor Torrey, Mr. Klein said that he would have to research to <br />learn if the City could restrict a company from outside the community from hauling in Eugene. <br /> <br />Mr. Johnson said that the agreements stipulated a five-year period to ensure that the business <br />involved was able to become established over time. He thought a new firm entering the market <br />would attempt to negotiate for a longer time period to amortize its costs over a longer time <br />period. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said that she was interested in a fair and financially feasible system for both <br />existing and new haulers. She noted that other cities frequently have solid waste and recycling <br />services offered by municipalities like a utility. Ms. Nathanson did not think that the City was <br />thinking of moving to public service delivery, but she considered garbage pick-up an essential <br />service like a utility. She asked how the City could design a system in a way that assured that <br />responsible private sector providers exist in a predictable environment. Mr. Johnson said that <br />there may be as many ways of providing the service as there are communities, and it was each <br />community's elected officials' responsibility to determine the most appropriate way to deliver the <br />service in that community. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman had some general questions, such as what were the advantages of having the <br />service delivered privately. She suggested public provision of such a service was an option for <br />Eugene. Ms. Bettman also wondered if a competitive bid process would work to the advantage <br />of the larger haulers, resulting in a single bidder offering services. She said that the system the <br />City ended up with may not be what it bargained for. Regarding the prepared motions included in <br />the packet, Ms. Bettman said she supported the second motion but not the first. She suggested <br />that a public hearing be part of the process, and that it be scheduled early in the process. <br /> <br />Mr. Fart expressed concern about the council's discussion of ways to limit private sector <br />activities. He said in a competitive environment, the competition tended to be more efficient than <br />the City could proscribe. Mr. Fart said he had selected a smaller provider and wanted to have a <br />choice of providers. He did not want his provider dictated by the City. Mr. Fart said that as far as <br />bringing in new providers, the infrastructure needed was difficult and expensive to establish <br />because of complex regulations. He did not think it made sense to divide a small market into <br />smaller shares. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly suggested to Mr. Farr that the distinction between this service and others was that it <br />provided an essential service. He said that the public input process should allow people to <br />indicate their preference for a choice of providers at that cost as it compared to a franchised <br />system at lower costs. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said that he would like to try to support the local entities providing the service as <br />opposed to having a large multi-national company coming to town. <br />Regarding Ms. Bettman's opposition to the first motion, Mr. Kelly questioned the rationale as he <br />did not think that it represented the final result. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Rayor, Mr. Hobson suggested that one approach was for the <br />City to establish a citywide rate, so a resident would pay the same rate regardless of where they <br />lived and who provided the service. Each of the haulers would operate under a franchise <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 27, 2000 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />