WSWMD Board of Supervisors Meeting Minutes October 14, 2021

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Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD)

Brattleboro, Vermont

Board of Supervisors Meeting

Via ZOOM And In-person

Minutes of October 14, 2021

Members Present: In-person/Zoom Michelle Cherrier, Chair, Dummerston; Patrick Moreland, Vice Chair, Brattleboro; Dan Toomey, Putney; Lewis Sumner, Halifax; Doris Knechtel, Newfane; Sandra Rulewich, Vernon; Stephan Chait, Halifax Alternate; Dan Towler, Brookline; Russell Hodgkins, Westminster; Jim Damato, Readsboro; Merrill Mundell, Wilmington.

Members Absent: Rickey Harrington, Somerset; Kent Young, Stratton; Michael Becker, Guilford; Stillman Vonderhorst, Marlboro; Kevin Stine, Dover; Greg Meulemans, Jamaica; Nancy Meinhard, Wardsboro.

WSWMD Staff Present: Robert Spencer, Executive Director; John Fay, Programs and Operations Manager; Vicki Hayes, Office Manager/District Clerk.

As a quorum was present Michelle called the meeting to order at 7:04 P.M.

  1. Changes and/or Additions to the Agenda: None
  2. Approval of Minutes from September 9th, 2021: There being no questions or discussion:

Patrick made the motion to accept the minutes of September 9th as written; seconded by Doris. Motion carried with Jim abstaining.

  1. Approval of Check Register- September 2021: Bob made note of check number 28750 for Readsboro’s participation in the Bennington HHW collection.

Jim made the motion to approve the Check register for September 2021; seconded by Dan Toomey. Motion carried.

  1. Approval of Financial Statement- September 2021: Vicki reviewed the highlights for the month.

Jim made the motion to approve the Financial Statement of September 2021; Doris seconded. Motion carried.

  1. Status of FY 23 Budget: Merrill noted that the assessment will probably be close to flat from FY 22. The 2020 census will impact the amount per town as reflected in population changes. Patrick explained that there is an additional yard staff position in this budget and John and Bob discussed the reasons behind the need. These reasons were accepted favorably by the board with agreement to add it to the budget. Also discussed in depth was the need to have an offsite HHW collection event for the western towns. This was accepted favorably with agreement to add it to the budget for FY 23. The budget is expected to be finalized for vote at the next meeting.
  2. Project Manager Report: John reported that the HHW Depot is doing well. We have served 280 participants so far. During the previous five years, we had averaged 250 participants at the offsite collection events. John will be analyzing this year’s participation to determine how well the Depot is serving outlying towns. The info may help determine the location of an offsite event if we hold one next year. Dan Towler wanted to make sure all the towns were aware that the HHW Depot would be closing the end of October for the winter. John said he would send an email blast to the town offices.

John gave a yard operation update. Wyatt is doing well coming up to speed on the myriad tasks he needs to learn. Dale’s retirement luncheon was well received. We had a few board members attend.

The USDA Technical Assistance Grant was finished September 30th. We are wrapping up the final reports now. Athena is holding a compost workshop on Saturday the 16th. All final information for the towns will be going out to be posted to their websites. The new USDA grant started Oct 1st and will be focusing on food scraps. We are looking to hire a temporary part-time position to assist with this grant. The position is to be funded by the grant.

  1. Executive Director Report: Bob mentioned that he and Michelle had a conversation with Ron Shems, our new attorney. He seems very knowledgeable regarding solid waste districts.

Bob has been working with Athena on the Windham Foundation downtown Brattleboro project.

We have no further updates on our compost expansion project. Jim asked if staff or the supervisors need to reach out on this. Bob said not at this point, he has been following up on it.

Compost sales have been strong this season. We did our annual compost sampling last week. The new topsoil blend is doing well. This continues to be a strong revenue source for us. We have an arrangement with the brewery construction project next door to swap excavated soil for compost to make our topsoil blend. They would also like us to take their brewery waste, permit allowing.

We accepted just over one ton of debris, at no charge, from the Connecticut River Conservancy’s Source to Sea cleanup project. Bob and John have visited the town transfer stations to finalize the summary of services project. Bob helped organize SWANA’s glass recycling technical session. Sanborn Head is working on consolidating our three stormwater permits.

  1. Executive Session (if needed): None
  2. Next Meeting: Thursday, November 11 @ 7 PM.
  3. Other Business: None
  4. Adjournment: 8:02 PM.

Minutes prepared by

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Vicki Hayes

Office Manager/District Clerk