12/17/2019 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 12-17-2019 Janet Patterson Avon Lake Ms. Patterson said she is the Chair of the Westlake -North Olmsted Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. She said she is representing the League on an advocacy mission in asking Council to not approve Ordinance 2019-105. She said the League's position is solid waste, from generation to ultimate disposal, must be purposefully and systematically controlled by all levels of government. Ms. Patterson said plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes, but may take hundreds of years to decompose. She said the Council may have received pushback from North Olmsted retailers, but that it most likely wasn't greater than what occurred in other states that are implementing state-wide bans starting in 2020. She said a piece -meal approach will not work well for retailers whose stores are located in different cities or for citizens who shop in different locations across the county. Ms. Patterson said the League urges Council to work with the Service Department and the County to educate citizens to provide sustainable replacements to the plastic bags and the League stands ready to assist in the effort. Councilman Dale Miller Cuyahoga County District 2 Representative Cleveland Mr. Miller said he strongly encourages North Olmsted not to take separate action regarding single use plastic bags and to allow the ban passed by the County Council to take effect as scheduled. He said creating a hodgepodge approach will only create confusion and encourage the State to undermine municipal home rule by passing statewide preemption legislation that is currently pending in Columbus. He said the County has initiated many programs to assist municipalities including paying for many road and bridge projects, paying for local matches on federal firefighter grants and community development supplemental grant programs. He said the County is asking for the City to meet halfway and to give the plastic bag ban a chance. Mr. Miller said the County is mindful it did not do as well on advance communications on the plastic bag ban as it should have and that public education still has a ways to go. He said the County has prepared legislation to provide a six month grace period on enforcement and will pass it on Thursday. He said the ban will go into effect on January 1, but it will be on a voluntary basis until July 1. He said it will give the County time to work with the public and retailers on education, work with the municipalities on implementation and to distribute reusable bags. He said the claim the County's legislation is a violation of municipal home rule is false. Mr. Miller said the County Council has the power to pass legislation countywide. He said the County does recognize that under the power of the Ohio Constitution, the City has the right to exempt itself from it. He said just because the City has the power to exempt itself does not mean it should be exercised. He said 300 million single use plastic bags are used each year just in Cuyahoga County and we all have the responsibility to do our part and save the environment. He said the single use ban is a good first step and deserves the City's support. Mr. Miller said the recycling market is very weak and many plastic bags turned in for recycling will still reach landfills. He said encouraging recycling is a good secondary strategy, but it is not a