The Lake County Board of County Commissioners met in special session on Friday, July 15, 1988, at 1O:OO a.m., in the Board of County Commissioner's Meeting Room, Lake County Courthouse, Tavares, Florida. Commissioners present at the meeting were: Glenn C. Burhans, Chairman: Thomas J. Windram; Claude E. Smoak, Jr.: James R. Carson, Jr.: and Don Bailey. Others present were: Christopher C. Ford, County Attorney; Michael C. Willett, County Administrator; Robert L. Wilson, Finance Director; and Sandra Carter, Deputy Clerk.
Commr. Carson gave the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Commr. Bailey.
CONTRACTS, LEASES & AGREEMENTS/LANDFILLS/RESOLUTIONS
Mr. F. Browne Gregg, NRG/Resource Recovery Group, Inc., appeared before the Board and thanked the Commissioners for the cooperation they have given to his staff and for giving him the opportunity of joining forces with Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. He stated that his staff has worked very hard with the staff of Ogden Martin to bring the best package possible to the Board for their approval. He then introduced Mr. David Sokol, President of Ogden Martin Systems, Inc., and turned the floor over to him.
Mr. Sokol appeared before the Board and gave a brief history of his firm, as well as the firm's net worth, and what sister companies his firm is associated with. He then gave a slide presentation showing various facilities his firm has constructed in the country, and what services his firm has to offer. He reviewed several facilities which will be close to the size that Lake County will construct and described how the facility will work. He stated that his Eirm is the largest of its kind worldwide. Due to the fact that several waste-to-energy plants throughout the country have had technical and financial problems, he is aware of the fact that the County wants a Eirm with the best qualifications. He feels his firm meets these requirements, which are management and technology. He prides himself in the fact that each plant his firm has constructed has been on schedule and under budget. He stated that his firm meets with environmental compliance as well as customer satisfaction. It brings financial strength to the project, as it is a billion dollar revenue company, with a net worth of approximately $450 million. He assured the Board that his firm will do whatever the contract requires they do.
At this time, he reviewed with those present, renderings of what his firm proposes the Lake County plant will look like. He stated that the stack on the Lake County facility will be twice as tall (250' rather than 125') as stacks that have been constructed in the past, due to current Florida regulation requirements. He discussed what guarantees his firm will cover, and answered questions presented to him by the Board.
Mr. Gregg reappeared before the Board and stated the reason Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. was chosen for the job. He stated that the estimates which were received from B & W (Babcock & Wilcox) were too high and, therefore, his staff started looking elsewhere. Lake County's consultants did not want to go with a firm that did not have a lot of experience, and he could not find any firm that had better qualifications than Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. Be stated that the consultants for Lake County did not want to go with RDF, although he did. However, he is trying to please the Board, therefore, chose to go with Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. Mr. Ed Sledge, Piper & Marbury, appeared before the Board and stated that Lake County has some policy decisions to make. These are the same type decisions that other counties have made all over the country. Even when the County knows exactly how many tons of garbage they generate and, perhaps, have ten years of complete records, they have to decide how to have the plant tailored to fit their needs. In order to do this, one has to estimate how East the population is growing for said County. Lake County's population growth is at a rate of approximately 5%. First of all, it has to be decided whether this is a reasonable amount of population growth for the County to be experiencing - whether it is going to be higher, or whether the County will be putting brakes on the growth, as a part of County policy, and try to maintain the status quo. The second very important thing is how fast the County feels it is going to be able to implement recycling goals. These two basic policy decisions will influence how large a plant will be constructed. The third thing that will influence the size of the plant, is how the County wants the plant to operate. Does the County want a factor for growth?
Discussion occurred regarding Mr. Sledge's input, at which time he answered questions presented to him by the Board.
Mr. Jeff Clunie, R. W. Beck and Associates, appeared before the Board and discussed a letter submitted June 15, 1988, by Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc., regarding what it stated concerning the solid waste projections for Lake County.
Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc. concluded that, based on the analysis of existing waste quantities and updated projections, they estimated that the available processible waste quantity for the waste-to-energy facility in 1991 is approximately 31,000 to 40,000 tons less than presently estimated. Relief from the State recycling goal must be accomplished if the County desires no additional reduction of acceptable waste.
The present waste-to-energy facility size of 576 will be sufficient to process the County's waste stream until FY 2000. At that time, the facility would need to expand or the County would be required to landfill the waste material in excess of the facility's capacity.
Considerable discussion occurred regarding the findings by Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc.
Commr. Carson questioned the loss of tax advantages by Lake County, if the project does not get under way soon.
Mr. Clunie stated that a decision needs to be made, as soon as possible. He would recommend that the County be doing actual weighing, at the landfill, within the next six (6) months, minimum. However, this does not appear to be a viable option, given the time restraints. The second option would be to look at what records are available, make some visual observations at the landfill, and compare the information available to national averages, as well as to other counties in Florida that have waste-to-energy facilities in operation and lots of historical information on hand. He stated that his firm can do the analysis, however, they cannot set the policy. Said decisions, as discussed earlier, can be made in short order, and the contract can be finalized to meet the time restraints imposed, so as to not lose the tax advantages.
Mr. Omar Smith, Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc., appeared before the Board to discuss his firm's findings, regarding waste in Lake County. He stated that his firm has estimated that the County (including the City of Leesburg) will generate approximately 880,000 tons of waste by the year 1991, which includes Class 1 (garbage) and Class 3 (land clearing and construction debris) waste. Being that this county has very little data available, his firm checked with other counties in Florida, of similar size, to see what type of garbage they are generating. He discussed their findings with the Board. He discussed seasonal variations in the garbage, being a large amount of waste in the Spring and Summer months, dropping off in the Winter months.
At this time, he answered questions presented to him by the Board.
RECESS & REASSEMBLY
At 11:35 a.m. the Chairman announced that the Board would take a fifteen minute break.
CONTRACTS, LEASES & AGREEMENTS/LANDFILLS/RESOLUTIONS (CONT'D.)
Mr. Jon Wooten, Alex, Brown & Sons, appeared before the Board and stated that his firm has been trying to work out financial arrangements between NRG and Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. In order to create the greatest amount of savings to the County, they are proposing that NRG put $5 million in equity into the transaction, up front, and $5 million in deferred equity in the first five (5) years of the transaction I for a total of $10 million equity, which is how the contract reads at this time. He stated that what his firm tried to do, was to have NRG put in one million additional dollars into the project in years one, two, three, four and five.
At this time, Mr. Wooten reviewed charts with the Board indicating what the rates will be.
Discussion occurred regarding said charts and what figures they indicated.
Mr. Bob Schoenhofer, Alex, Brown & Sons, gave input from the audience regarding calculations given by his firm.
Mr. Wooten stated that the size of the facility is very important, due to the fact that if the facility is too small, the County will not have to pay a penalty fee, but, the overall cost will go up. He stated that the majority of communities underestimate their amount of garbage.
Mr. Wooten answered questions presented to him by the Board regarding recycling.
At this time the Chairman suggested that the Board adjourn until the afternoon of the Board Meeting set for July 19, 1988, at which time the discussion will continue and a decision will hopefully be made regarding a contract for the waste-to-energy plant.
A meeting was tentatively set for Tuesday, July 19, 1988, at 3:00 p.m. to continue the discussion as stated above.
The County Attorney suggested that the Board approve (this date) to replace Babcock & Wilcox with Ogden Martin Systems, Inc. in the form of a resolution (which he distributed to the Board for their review).
Commr. Carson questioned Mr. Sokol as to how much of a delay can be tolerated in order to meet the deadline date of December 30, 1990, regarding tax benefits.
Mr. Sokol stated that due to the fact that the County already has a permit to construct the facility, he would estimate the first or second week of September, 1988, for construction to begin. His firm can do the project as fast as financing can be available.
A motion was made by Commr. Carson and seconded by Commr. Bailey to approve the request to replace Babcock & Wilcox with Ogden Martin Systems, Inc., in the form of a resolution, for the waste-to-energy project.
At this time, Mr. Dan Robuck, Attorney, representing Mr. F. Browne Gregg, appeared before the Board, on behalf of Mr. Gregg, and thanked them for the confidence placed in him, in allowing him to get the best company for the job.
Mr. Sokol informed the Board that handouts would be available at the meeting of July 19, 1988, for the Board's review, indicating the cost to the public for the facility.
At this time, the Chairman called for a vote on the motion, which was carried.
Commr. Windram abstained from the vote.
It was noted that the figures, requested at the Board Meeting of July 12, 1988, for the cost, to date, of services rendered by Mr. Sledge, the County's consultant for the waste-to-energy project, had been received by the Board Office.
There being no further business to be brought to the attention of the Board, the meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.
GLENN C. BURHANS, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
JAMES C. WATKINS, CLERK
Sec/7-18-88