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some cases, the true costs are passed on to ratepayers and in some cases they are borne out of PGS' profit. Councilmember McGovern asked that staff look at this closely, particularly when the City does not assume the full cost of benefits for its own employees. She asked and staff confirm PGS offers a senior discount, which staff believed to be 15%. Councilmember McGovern referred to the CPI adjustments and asked if those are granted every year. Mr. Bocian explained that when rates are adjusted every three to four years, PGS provides the City with audits that look at arrears as well as projections of future costs and oftentimes, those projections are based strictly on the cost of living increase. If the true cost turns out to be less than estimate, the remaining funds go into a holding account and offset rates in future years. If the true costs exceed estimates, there is a deficit in those accounts and measures are taken to fill that gap through the next rate cycle. Councilmember Sullivan thanked Mr. Wolf as well as staff for all their work. He said the fact that twelve of the fourteen member agencies signed on with this immediately is a testament to the effort Stopwaste.org made to work through the issues identified. He supporteo the ordinance for several reasons, including consistency with neighboring agencies and the need for a more robust commercial program. The revenue from high-value materials currently going to the landfill could be used to support economic activity within Pleasanton. He agreed with the staff report that the City's Climate Action Plan contains some very aggressive goals, a number of which this will help to meet and which perhaps the City would not be able to meet without the ordinance. From a practical standpoint, he noted that Stopwaste.org is considering placing conditions on future Measure D funds that would otherwise disqualify the City. Based on its benefit to the community, the relatively low or non-existent costs when compared to implementing AB 341, and the language that allows the city to retain its local control, he said he could support the ordinance. Councilmember Cook-Kallio echoed his comments, particularly as related to the Climate Action Plan. She acknowledged concerns over local control but also said that the layering of ordinances is one of the things that cause government to be so cumbersome. She agreed that Pleasanton should not reinvent the wheel in. Based on the Climate Action Plan goals, potential loss of Measure D funds and the idea that this makes the process a bit less cumbersome, she too supported the ordinance. Councilmember McGovern said she felt this was a positive step in the right direction and something she could support. She recalled that recycling in this community actually started with local schools. Councilmember Cook-Kallio noted that schools are now using recycling as a way to augment their own budgets and that her own school won a bus for being the "greenest school in America." Vice-Mayor Thorne said he is well known as an extreme advocate of local control and in this instance it appears to him that enough of that has been retained. His primary concern after that relates to complying with AB 341 in the most efficient way possible, which this opting in to this ordinance would seem to accomplish. City Council Minutes Page 7 of 12 October 2, 2012