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With a seat reserved for an industry representative still unfilled, members on Tuesday directed city staff to research new methods that could attract applicants.
The city of Eugene’s Toxics Board has gone more than a month without filling two long-vacant seats, despite renewed recruitment efforts.
The volunteer board oversees Eugene’s Toxics Right-to-Know Program, which requires certain local users of hazardous substances to report their usage and pay associated fees. The board must include three industry representatives who work for entities that are required to report under the program, three environmental representatives and one neutral member chosen by the others.
One industry seat and the neutral seat remain vacant, prompting members in July to discuss how to expand the industry applicant pool, starting with ramping up outreach.
But when the board reconvened during a work session and regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 12, Eugene Springfield Fire Marshal Travis Worthington said no industry applications had come in, even after the city advertised the opening online and emailed all reporting entities.
Anthony Baronti — one of two current industry representatives along with Daniel Sharp — described the vacancy as a “math problem.” Under the current membership requirements for industry seats, only 66 to 100 people could be eligible for the seat, he said.
“[Environment] is always going to have more voices than industry, because there’s just so many more people that can do it,” said Baronti, who attended the meeting via Zoom. “If member Sharp and I’m not here, who are the next people?”
The board has discussed loosening the requirement that industry representatives must work for reporting entities, instead allowing candidates who have relevant industry experience in the past four years to apply.
Baronti said without that change, he doesn’t see the board ever reaching full capacity. Sharp agreed. Worthington added that a number of reporting entities have recently closed, shrinking the pool even further.
Changing the rule would require a city charter amendment — a process that could be initiated either through an ordinance granting an exception or by asking the Eugene City Council to put the amendment on the ballot in the next election cycle.
In the meantime, members continued to explore other outreach options. Worthington read aloud a script he drafted for board members to use when recruiting possible industry candidates.
The four members present then voted to direct city staff to create a survey for all reporting entities to get feedback on their experience with the board and gauge interest in filling the vacancy. Members would review and approve the survey before it is sent out.
They also voted to have city staff research possible incentives for industry members, like offering a discount on their annual hazardous chemical fees.
“People from industry, they serve a year, they get a year break on the fees,” environmental representative Tom Stedman suggested. “Or for every year they serve, or every month they serve, they get a percentage off for the following year.”
The board also reviewed hazardous chemical fee collections. Starting July 1 reporting entities must pay the city $85.62 per full-time-equivalent employee, up to a cap of $2,000 per business. Fees are due on May 1 each year.
Worthington said $26,061 remains outstanding from the board’s proposed budget.
“All in all, for us to be at this point in time and only have 26,000 outstanding in the proposed budget, we’re actually in a good position,” he said.
The Toxics Board will hold its next regular meeting 6-8 p.m. Sept. 9.
