DATE: September 14, 2004
TIME: 9:00 AM
PLACE: Room B24, Sauk County West Square Building
The regular meeting of the Environmental Resources Committee - Solid Waste Management Department was called to order at 9:00 a.m. in Room B24 of the Sauk County West Square Building. Chairman Haugen certified compliance with the open meetings law in that the meeting was properly posted and all parties duly notified.
Member present: Schmitz, Stevens, Lombard, Cassity, Krueger
Also present: Carroll
Motion was made by Lomberd and seconded by Cassity to adopt the agenda as mailed. Motion carried.
Motion was made by Stevens and seconded by Cassity to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Motion carried.
Following a discussion of the bills, motion was made by Lombard and seconded by Stevens to approve payment of the bills presented, totaling $22,195.72. Motion carried.
No public comments were offered.
The solid waste manager requested direction on the disposition of the resolution concerning policy on solid waste fund use, which was sent back to the Committee at the previous County Board session. After discussing the concerns raised at the Board session, the language of the resolution was modified by deleting the objectionable language. Upon further discussion of possible actions to effectuate change in County policies relating to investment of County funds, motion was made by Krueger and seconded by Lombard to submit the resolution, as amended, to the full County Board for consideration at the next regular session. Supervisor Krueger requested that the solid waste manager make arrangements to be present at the Board session in order to provide support to the resolution.
The solid waste manager reviewed the status of the proposed 2005 solid waste department budget and detailed the modifications requested by the Administrative Coordinator which would terminate all County-provided solid waste disposal services upon closure of the landfill. Administrative Coordinator Gene Weigand explained his concerns and the reasoning behind his actions on the solid waste department budget request. Considerable discussion ensued as to the timetable for exhaustion of solid waste department funds, user fee and waste volume projections, tax levy impacts, available waste disposal alternatives, possible implementation of the new programs on a trial basis and the next steps in the budget process. Motion was made by Cassity and seconded by Stevens to support restoration of the original budget as submitted by the solid waste department. Motion carried. The solid waste manager reported that the Finance Committee would be acting on the solid waste department budget request on Thursday, September 16 at 2:00 p.m.
The solid waste manager reviewed the final version of the proposed agreement between Zech Forest Products and Sauk County concerning C&D waste recycling operations and requested Committee input before advancing the agreement to the County Board for consideration. Supervisor Cassity requested clarification with respect to snowplowing , fee collection responsibilities and references to "hauler" vs. contractor in the agreement. The solid waste manager responded that any references to "hauler" in the agreement would be changed to "contractor", and that responsibility for removing snow to gain access to the scale was the contractors responsibility, and that collection of fees for charges incurred on an accounts receivable basis was the contractors responsibility. For cash payments made, the County will collect the fees and disburse them to the contractor. The solid waste manager explained that the collection of cash demo recycling fees from the general public on open access days created no additional effort or expense for the County, given the fact that the County would still experience the transaction if C&D operation were not in place. Collection of cash only fees would occur only as long as the County continues to receive waste at the landfill or in a dumpster system. Supervisor Stevens raised the issue of the Contractor's use of County equipment, fees, motivation(s) for establishing such operations and bidding of said work. The solid waste manager responded by stating that his primary motivation for recommending establishing and continuing C&D recycling operations was to secure a viable disposal alternative for generators of C&D waste after the landfill closes and to have access to materials for road construction The solid waste manager expressed his opinion that concerns raised by others over his authorization of the contractors use of the County's heavy equipment for a handful of hours were being severely overblown and did not take into consideration the actions of the contractor in return, and that he had informed the contractor that such assistance was no longer authorized. The solid waste manager also stated that he felt that public bidding of the initiative was not required under State statutes. Discussion ensued as to the contractors performance. Supervisor Stevens stated that he was aware that materials were being reloaded and suggested that materials were being hauled off-site by the contractor. The solid waste manager stated that he was unaware of such activity and suggested that what was observed was either processed material being reloaded for deployment on roadways in the landfill, reloading of rejected material for disposal in the landfill or reloading of salvaged metals for shipment off-site. The solid waste manager expressed frustration as to the rumors surrounding C&D operations and that such rumors were disruptive and damaging efforts to establish a successful operation. Supervisor Krueger suggested that it was time for the Committee to stop the debate and finally decide whether or not the agreement was acceptable so that the issue could be advanced to the County Board. Supervisor Lomard asked whether or not the agreement had been reviewed and approved by the Corporation Counsel, to which the solid waste manager reported that it had been. Motion was then made by Lombard and seconded by Stevens to approve the proposed agreement and advance the same to the full County Board for consideration at its next regular session. Motion carried.
The solid waste manager briefly reviewed the revenue & tonnage report, the status of foundry sand stockpiling operations and difficulties encountered while jetting leachate collection line, in which a portion of a jetting hose had to be abandoned within a pipe that it became lodged in.
The next regular meeting was set for Friday, October 15, 2004 at 9:00 am. Motion was made by Cassity and seconded by Stevens to adjourn. Motion carried.
COPIES TO: Stevens, Lombard, Krueger, Mielke, Media, Haugen, Cassity, Liebmann, Bulletin Boards, Endres, Beghin, Weigand
DATE NOTICE MAILED: September 3, 2004
NOTICE PREPARED BY: John Carroll, Solid Waste Manager
NEXT BOARD MEETING: September 21, 2004