Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD)
Brattleboro, Vermont
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Via Zoom and In-person
Minutes of April 14, 2022
Members Present: In-person/Zoom Michelle Cherrier, Chair, Dummerston; Patrick Moreland, Vice Chair, Brattleboro; Dan Toomey, Putney; Lewis Sumner, Halifax; Stephan Chait, Halifax Alternate; Kevin Hughes, Westminster interim; Merrill Mundell, Wilmington; Jessica Pollack, Jamaica; Jim Damato, Readsboro Alternate; Sandra Rulewich, Vernon.
Members Absent: Dan Towler, Brookline; Irv Stowell, Townshend; Rickey Harrington, Somerset; Kent Young, Stratton; Michael Becker, Guilford; Doris Knechtel, Newfane; Kevin Stine, Dover; Stillman Vonderhorst, Marlboro; Wardsboro vacant.
WSWMD Staff Present: Robert Spencer, Executive Director; John Fay, Programs and Operations Manager; Vicki Hayes, Office Manager/District Clerk.
Michelle announced that the meeting is recorded and is a public record and available to anyone.
As a quorum was present Michelle called the meeting to order at 7:17 P.M.
- Changes and/or Additions to the Agenda: Add review of financial statements between Item 4 and Item 5.
- Annual Reorganization
Vicki introduced three new Supervisors appointed by their towns, and a new vacancy:
- Jessica Pollack, Jamaica
- Bob Matte, Readsboro
- Kevin Hughes, Westminster (interim until the town appoints a permanent member)
- Wardsboro, vacant after withdrawal of Nancy Meinhard
Election of Officers:
Motion to nominate Michelle Cherrier as Chair
Made by Jim, seconded by Dan Toomey, Motion carried
Motion to nominate Patrick Moreland as Vice-Chair
Made by Michelle, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried
No nominations for Treasurer, will remain vacant
Motion to nominate Anita Grant as District Clerk
Made by Lewis, seconded by Jim, Motion carried
Boards and Committees:
Motion to reestablish the Executive Board with members being the Chair, the Vice-Chair, and Chairs of Committees. Made by Jim, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried
Motion to confirm the Policy & Personnel Committee and the Finance Committee
Made by Jim, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried
Current committee members of Policy and Personnel Cttee are Dan Toomey, Michelle, others invited
Current committee members of Finance Cttee are Merrill, Jim, Patrick, and Michelle
Designations and Confirmations:
Motion to designate meeting place to be WSWMD offices at 327 Old Ferry Rd, Brattleboro, Vermont, meeting dates to be the second Thursday of each month except July and February, and meeting time to be 7:00 pm ET. Made by Lewis, seconded by Dan Toomey, Motion carried
Motion to designate official newspapers for Board notices to be The Commons and the Deerfield Valley News. Made by Lewis, seconded by Dan Toomey, Motion carried
Motion to designate District check signers to be Dan Toomey, Michelle Cherrier, Jim Damato, and Patrick Moreland. Made by Merrill, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried
Motion to confirm meeting warning/posting locations as the Brattleboro Town Offices and the Vernon Town Offices, as well as the front door of the WSWMD Offices. Made by Merrill, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried
- Approval of Minutes from March 10, 2022:
Motion to accept the minutes of March 10th as written; made by Jim, seconded by Lewis, Motion carried. Jim, Jessica, and Kevin abstained.
- Approval of Check Register- March 2022: Discussion around some expenses; ability to pre-pay for fuel. Patrick asked for Greenbacker to do an analysis of WSWMD utility savings from the solar project, Bob will ask Kelsey at Greenbacker for that.
Motion to approve the Check register for March 2022; made by Jim seconded by Patrick, Motion carried.
4B. Approval of Financial Statement- March 2022: Vicki reviewed the highlights for the month.
Vicki noted a current surplus of $185,000 at this time, which she recommends using a portion of to pay off the $50,000 remaining on the bank loan for the 644K loader. Merrill requested a profit & loss statement for the composting facility in order to inform the payoff of the loader and to inform investment in capital improvements to the facility.
Motion to approve the Financial Statement of March 2022; made by Jim, seconded by Merrill. Motion carried.
- Applications for Congressionally Directed Spending for Compost Facility
Bob explained the funding source and that applications are being prepared for all three of the Vermont Congressional offices (Sanders, Leahy, and Welch). Bob and Michelle presented a draft letter of support of the grant applications from the Board of Supervisors. Discussion ensued on the content of the letter.
Motion to approve the letter as written with the addition of a paragraph on the state food scrap diversion mandate and inclusion of the grant dollar amount of $295,308; made by Jim, seconded by Dan Toomey. Motion carried unanimously.
Bob presented a draft budget to be included in the grant applications. Total cost of project is $499,340 and the grant request is for $295,308. The draft included a $100,000 line-item contribution for the project from the WSWMD general fund budget. Discussion ensued on the topic and it was clear that the Board would require more consideration before allocating the funds. Bob proposed holding meetings with any interested Supervisors to explore all options of moving forward on the project or not.
Motion to approve the budget for the grant applications as written except to change the notes of the $100,000 line item to indicate that the funds would only be allocated pending approval of the Board at a duly warned meeting; made by Patrick, seconded by Jim. Motion carried unanimously, with the exception of Jim abstaining.
- Programs & Operations Manager’s Report:
- John noted that the household hazardous waste depot will be opening for the season on May 5th and that many residents have already scheduled appointments.
- The Casella MRF tour has been postponed again due to Covid.
- Revenue and costs of cardboard and single stream are holding relatively steady.
- Mia Roethlein from the Vermont DEC visited this week as part of the state grant requirements.
- We will have the annual fee analysis ready for the May meeting.
- USDA project continues with a lot of work being done toward outreach for residents, businesses, schools, and transfer stations.
- We are submitting to USDA for $19,000 in reimbursement for the first quarter of 2022.
- Executive Director’s Report:
- Bob asked for volunteers for a Zoom meeting next week with our attorney, Ron Schem, to discuss regulatory options to address the compost facility state permit capacity issue, legal liabilities of exceeding our permit capacity, and next steps. By mid-May Bob said we should find out about the earmark funding to construct an enclosed composting facility which will allow us to apply for a “medium” facility permit and that will be a major factor in how we proceed with ANR. Michelle, Patrick, Sandra, Jim, and Dan will assist.
- Bob reported that our compost distributors, Boyd Family Farm (Wilmington), D&E Tree (Guilford), Maple Hill Nursery (Swanzey), and Renaud Tree (Dummerston), have purchased over 120 cubic yards of compost so far this month generating $3,000 in revenue. The FY 22 budget has $74,000 of compost sales, and actual sales in FY 21 were $80,000. Due to wet weather, screening compost has been a challenge and we are barely keeping up with demand. Bob pointed out that the proposed compost facility will have the capability of using dehumidified hot air from the composting process to dry finished compost so we would not have this weather-related issue if we build a new facility. We will be running newspaper and radio ads and sending flyers to landscape companies to promote compost sales.
- Bob asked the supervisors to talk to their town highway superintendents about the availability of our “Brattlegrow” compost and soil mix. He said that in 10 years of selling compost we have never had a town Highway department purchase compost.
- Bob said he has started the process to get ANR approval to abandon the landfill gas flares since there is insufficient gas to keep a flare ignited and the gas line pipes interfere with mowing and trimming the landfill around the solar panels.
- Executive Session (if needed): None
- Next Meeting: Thursday, May 12th @ 7 PM.
- Other Business: Patrick acknowledge the contributions to the District by Russ Hodgkins and Nancy Meinhard who have recently left the Board, and that they will be missed.
- Adjournment: 8:52 PM.
Minutes prepared by
John Fay
Programs & Operations Manager