County says no vote of the people on IMERF

from Lane County, the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association, and staff reports

“It is the conclusion of the Office of Legal Counsel that the two prospective petitions do not meet legal requirements for referendums.”

So wrote Lane County’s Steve Thiel in the legal argument against two referendums brought forward by the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association (LCGRA). The county announced that it would not move forward with the referendums.

The referendums sought to let voters decide the fate of the CleanLane Resource Recovery Facility, previously known as IMERF, a new $178 million waste sorting facility.

“We are disappointed but not surprised,” said Jake Pelroy of LCGRA. “As we have stated before, we believe the public needs a buy-in on this project. Raising garbage prices is a regressive tax that hurts us all. We will keep advocating for working families and will discuss our next steps from here.”

The Aug. 30 letter from Steve Thiel of the Lane County Counsel starts as follows:

“On Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, two prospective referendum petitions were submitted to the office of the Lane County Clerk. The proponents sought to place before Lane County voters referendums on two recent acts of the Lane County Board of Commissioners. The Board actions at issue are Order 24-08-20-09 and 24-08-20-10. The prospective petitions were forwarded to the Office of Legal Counsel for review. Legal Counsel has concluded that the prospective petitions relate to the exercise of the Board of Commissioners’ executive and administrative powers, rather than legislative acts. As such, the prospective petitions do not meet statutory and constitutional requirements.”

Among the legal arguments, Thiel points out that while LCGRA is trying to apply referendums to orders, referendums apply only to ordinances.

He also argues that because the commissioners’ orders address a particular agreement to complete a particular public-private project with temporal limitations, “the orders are not legislative and, thus, not subject to referendum.”

One referendum sought to submit to the voters the commissioner-approved Order 24-08-20-09, “amending resolution & Order No. 23-12-05-07 delegating authority to the county administrator to sign any necessary agreements…related to leasing property for and operations of the CleanLane resource recovery facility.”

The other referendum sought to let voters reconsider Order 24-08-20-10, “authorizing financing for the CleanLane resource recovery facility in a principal amount not to exceed $35,000,000.”

LCGRA says the IMERF or CleanLane project will be the largest project in Lane County government history. It was opposed by garbage haulers, recycling processors, EPUD board, staff, and customers, neighboring residents, businesses, a petition signed by 1,700 people, over two dozen public speakers Aug. 20, and additional written comments.

The county’s CleanLane website notes that Lane County has approved 8% garbage rate fee increases in 2024 and 2025, to be followed by 6% increases in 2026 and 2027. These increases are in addition to the annual 3% fee increase that helps Lane County maintain current levels of service.