April 5, 2017 BCSWA Meeting Minutes

Memorandum

From:             Michael S. Batcher
Subject:         April 5, 2017 BCSWA Meeting Minutes
Date:              April 12, 2017

Town Representatives:     Keith Squires (Arlington), Rob Gaiotti (Dorset), Tom Shuey (Pownal), John O’Keefe (Manchester), Mark Lourie (Rupert), Suzie dePeyster (Sandgate), Sandy Gaszek (Searsburg), Dave Kiernan (Shaftsbury), Nancy Bushika (Stamford), Steve Bendix (Sunderland), Mike Charette (Woodford)

Not in Attendance:  Stu Hurd (Bennington), Ricky Harrington (Glastenbury),

BCRC Staff:              Michael S. Batcher

Location and Time:            Arlington Town Hall – 4:00 to 6:00 PM

Public in Attendance:        Trevor Mance (TAM), Marybeth McGuire (TAM), Bette Charette (Woodford), Ed Damon (Bennington Banner), James Reisinger Kirche (Republic Services

 Introductions:          Keith called the meeting to order at 4:03 PM.

Approval of the Minutes of October 11, 2016: Steve Bendix moved and Mike Charette seconded a motion to approve the minutes of October 11, 2016. The resolution was adopted unanimously.

Membership in the Vermont Solid Waste District Managers Association: Michael explained what the Vermont Solid Waste District Managers Association (VTSWDMA) did, the membership and their past work on E-Waste and other projects. He explained that, if the Alliance became a full member, we would have voting privileges, a voice with others in negotiating with VT ANR, and support in lobbying for legislation. There was discussion about the pros and cons of membership, but in general the group felt that joining would be help the Alliance in addressing the requirements of the Universal Recycling Law. The yearly dues are about $2,400.00. We now pay about $200.00 as associate members. John O’Keefe moved and Tom Shuey seconded a motion to become full members, and the motion carried unanimously.

Hauler Reporting:  Trevor Mance and Marybeth McGuire of TAM talked about the problems of quarterly reporting and the due dates for those reports required in the pay as you throw ordinances adopted by the towns. In general, it can take a month or more to get the data for the report, and the pay as you throw ordinance require a report within two weeks of the end of a quarter. They asked if 1) they could have more time, 2) could they send reports to Michael instead of the individual towns. Michael said that would be fine as long as the towns understood that they had to enforce their ordinances. BCRC could not do that. In addition, the group discussed reducing the reporting to twice a year rather than four times per year. Michael will draft a revised ordinance and will also look into whether or not this requires an amendment to the SWIP.

Other Items: The group discussed other items to get some perspective from Trevor on how food scrap collection was working in Shaftsbury. Trevor and Dave both felt it was working well. Since the town does not charge for food scraps, neither was sure if the town was paying more or breaking even as the amount of trash collected should have decreased, along with the cost.

TAM serves the Searsburg, Pownal and Shaftsbury transfer stations and will help Searsburg and Pownal to be ready for the July 1 deadline under the URL. Nancy asked the Republic representative as they serve Stamford. The representative said he knew nothing about the requirement and that Republic did not currently have the capability of composting food scraps.

Michael said he had secured funding through High Meadows to help the towns start food scrap collection but none of the towns had responded to his requests for participation. Therefore, he had informed High Meadows that he was abandoning the grant, but would try to revive it if the towns want to pursue it.

Michael reminded the group that the next HHW event was on May 20th at the Bennington Transfer Station. He also briefly reviewed the SWIP reporting requirements for 2017. He also said that he had hired the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) to provide business and school outreach. We worked with them on a workshop for businesses back in March and would be contacting Stamford Elementary to provide assistance. We are working with Pownal Elementary to start on-site composting. We are also selling compost bins and are holding workshops at the One World Center and the Dorset Town Hall on backyard composting on May 6th.

Contract with BCRC: Michael summarized his half year report explaining that we were under budget so far. He also described the contract for July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018 and that the contract followed the budget approved by the Alliance last October. Dave Kiernan moved and Sandy Gaszek seconded a motion to authorize Keith to sign the contract on behalf of the Alliance and the motion was adopted unanimously.

Memorandum

From:               Michael S. Batcher
Date:                September 27, 2016
Subject:           Proposed 2017 to 2018 Alliance Budget

Attached is a table from an EXCEL spreadsheet showing cost estimates for the various actions listed in the SWIP you adopted for the period July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. This period represents parts of calendar years 3 and 4 of the SWIP. The budget is organized by the following program areas:

  • Program Administration
  • General Actions
  • Recycling Actions
  • Organic Actions
  • HHW Actions
  • Sludge Actions
  • C & D (Construction and Demolition Debris) Actions

The total estimate is $169,180.00 My original estimate for this period was $177,655.00. I have recalculated the amount of time and costs over the last year to make adjustments to this earlier estimate. These cost estimates reflect increases in our staff costs that will likely occur and a requested increase in the contract amount from the NRRA for education and outreach programs. The allocation by town would be as shown below.

Town Population Share Cost
Arlington        2,317 0.06609 $     11,180.55
Bennington      15,764 0.44963 $     76,068.27
Dorset        2,031 0.05793 $       9,800.47
Glastenbury                8 0.00023 $             38.60
Manchester        4,391 0.12524 $     21,188.52
Pownal        3,527 0.10060 $     17,019.33
Rupert            714 0.02037 $       3,445.37
Sandgate            405 0.01155 $       1,954.30
Searsburg            109 0.00311 $           525.97
Shaftsbury        3,590 0.10240 $     17,323.34
Stamford            824 0.02350 $       3,976.16
Sunderland            956 0.02727 $       4,613.12
Woodford            424 0.01209 $       2,045.99
Total      35,060 1.00000 $ 169,180.00

At the bottom of the spreadsheet, you will see several rows listed as “Optional,” which include:

R5b. Establish textile recycling

H4d. Assist the towns in developing and managing a permanent HHW facility.

The total for these is $9,525.00, though an engineering contractor may cost more for designing an HHW facility. We are well covered for textiles unless the One World Center pulls their boxes. I think a permanent HHW facility is worth pursuing, but that is your decision. I would suggest leaving these in the budget just in case.

The spreadsheet follows the SWIP, so if you need more information about specific actions, please take a look at your copy of the adopted SWIP. The SWIP is posted at http://www.bcswavt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BCSWA_Plan.pdf, if you need a copy.

If you have questions or need more information prior to our meeting on October 11th, please call or email.