Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD)
Brattleboro, Vermont
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Via ZOOM
APPROVED Minutes of April 8, 2021
Members Present: Michelle Cherrier, Chair, Dummerston; Patrick Moreland, Vice Chair, Brattleboro; Dan Toomey, Putney; Russell Hodgkins, Westminster; Merrill Mundell, Wilmington Doris Knechtel, Newfane; Kevin Stine, Dover; Michael Becker, Guilford; Stillman Vonderhorst, Marlboro.
Members Absent: Rickey Harrington, Somerset; Kent Young, Stratton; Lewis Sumner, Halifax; Jim Damato, Readsboro; Irvin Stowell, Townshend; Sandra Rulewich, Vernon; Nancy Meinhard, Wardsboro; Greg Meulemans, Jamaica; David Jones, Brookline.
WSWMD Staff Present: Robert Spencer, Executive Director; Vicki Hayes, Office Manager/Bookkeeper/District Clerk; John Fay, Programs Manager.
Others Present: None
As a quorum was present Michelle called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M.
- Changes and/or Additions to the Agenda: None
- Annual Reorganization:
Introduction of new supervisors: None Michelle reminded everyone to get their appointments in.
Election of Officers:
Merrill made the motion to nominate Michelle as Chair, Dan seconded, and the motion was carried.
Motion made by Michelle to nominate Patrick as Vice Chair, Doris seconded, and the motion was carried.
No Treasurer was nominated.
Patrick made the motion to nominate Vicki as Clerk, Doris seconded, and the motion was carried.
Re-establish the Executive Board and Committees:
Doris made the motion to re-establish the Executive Board and the Finance and Policy & Personnel committees. Patrick seconded and the motion was carried.
A Member at Large for the Executive Board will be appointed at the next meeting. The Committee Chairs are to be elected at their next meeting.
Designation of Meeting Place, Dates and Time:
Doris moved to designate the Office at Old Ferry Road as the in-person meeting site, with Zoom also available, Meetings to be held on the second Thursday of the month, except for February and July which will have no meeting, at 7:00 P.M. Patrick seconded, and the motion carried.
Designation of Official Newspapers:
Doris made the motion to designate Deerfield Valley News and the Commons as the
official newspapers, Merrill seconded, and the motion was carried.
Designation of Check Signers:
Michelle moved to reconfirm the four check signers, Michelle, Patrick, Dan and Jim. Doris seconded the motion, and it was carried.
- Approval of Minutes- March 11, 2021: Motion was made to accept the minutes by Merrill, Doris seconded. The motion was carried
- Approval of Check Register- March 2021: Patrick noted that this was a 3 paycheck month.
Motion was made by Doris to accept the check register of March 2021, Russ seconded, and the motion carried.
- Approval of Financial Statement – March 2021: Patrick noted that the financials continue to look good, and a surplus is expected.
Russ moved to accept the Financial Statement for March 2021, Dan seconded, and the motion was carried.
- Update on Compost Site: Bob gave a brief recap on the capacity issue. He reiterated the 4 options that have been pursued thus far. A remote site does not appear to be economically feasible. Bob and John will pursue the possibility of a variance from the state. Patrick will contact legislative representatives and VLCT to see if they can assist with this issue. Also to be explored is possibility state grant monies to assist in going to the next level. In the meantime, we are diverting the Vt Bread load to one of the farms for cattle feed.
- Update on Glass Recycling: John and Bob discussed NRRA’s Keene facility rejecting our glass due to excessive contamination. Bob talked about the unrealistic contamination requirement of the fiberglass manufacturer in Quebec where the glass was taken.
Therefore we are currently including glass with single stream materials. John shared his cost analysis which shows our costs of disposal will increase $5,000-7,000 over a year.
The following options are being reviewed:
A sorting table for glass with staff manually separating contaminants.
A glass crusher machine which would make a crushed glass product as we used to do when the MRF was operating.
Stockpiling in an outdoor bunker to accumulate tractor trailer loads to haul to New London, NH.
Also discussed was the potential expansion of the state bottle bill to include more glass containers.
Bob and John will continue to explore options and report to the board
- Approval of Fees: Merrill gave a quick review of the fee analysis.
Merrill made the motion to approve the fees for another year, Doris seconded, and the motion was carried.
- Programs Manager Report: John reviewed where the District is on the HHW Depot. We have received the approved Permit. It is expected that the Depot will improve service to the District. He anticipates a May 1st soft opening, by invitation only. The Depot will be open weekly through October. Cost is $5.00 per 10 gallons. John anticipates a test run in the next week. Heritage Environmental came in for a training session for Bob, John, Anita and Dick. Costs are expected to be covered by grants. A press release will go out later this summer.
The VT DEC Materials Management Infrastructure Grant was submitted and per Josh Kelly we are expecting a favorable reply.
USDA Technical Assistance Grant required a compliance audit, for EEO and Limited English compliance. John suppled the necessary information.
John has also been working on a redesign of the WSWMD Logo.
- Executive Director Report: Bob discussed the Covid Vaccines. All staff members will be vaccinated by the end of May. The office will resume normal office hours.
Bob sent out the roll-off container loan termination MOUs to the towns. He is expecting all the signed copies to be returned shortly.
Compost Sales are starting to ramp up. Staff is bagging and screening to accommodate the needs. A good spring is expected.
Sticker Sales will commence for the new year on May 1st. Skip did a mini “sting” at the scale house and picked up an additional $2,000 in sales.
May 15th will be the open house for the Compost Demo area. Athena is coordinating the
Grand Opening for us.
- Executive Session: None
- Next Meeting: May 13, 2021 @ 7:00 P.M. with possible limited in person available.
- Other Business: None
- Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:14 P.M.
Minutes submitted by,
Vicki Hayes
District Clerk