Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD)
Brattleboro, Vermont
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Via Zoom and In-person
Minutes of March 9, 2023
Members Present: (In-person & Zoom)
Chair: Michelle Cherrier, Dummerston; Dan Towler, Brookline; Kevin Stine, Dover (alternate); Lewis Sumner, Halifax; Stephan Chait, Halifax (alternate); Doris Knechtel, Newfane; Dan Toomey, Putney; Irvin Stowell, Townshend; Sandra Rulewich, Vernon; Kevin Hughes, Westminster; Merrill Mundell, Wilmington
Members Absent:
Vice Chair: Patrick Moreland, Brattleboro; Michael Becker, Guilford; Jessica Pollack, Jamaica; Stillman Vonderhorst, Marlboro; Bob Matte, Readsboro; Rickey Harrington, Somerset; Kent Young, Stratton; Wardsboro: Vacant
WSWMD Staff Present: Robert Spencer, Executive Director; John Fay, Programs & Operations Manager; Vicki Hayes, Finance & Office Manager; Anita Grant, Administrative & Operations Assistant, District Clerk
As a quorum was present Michelle called the meeting to order at 7:04 PM.
- Changes and/or Additions to the Agenda: It was noted that Agenda item #5 needed to be changed to “Approval of Capitalization Policy” as opposed to Capital Asset Policy.
- Approval of Minutes- January 2023: Michelle and Sandra thanked Anita for the clear and informative minutes and mentioned that they were both impressed with the way the minutes were written.
Motion to accept the minutes from January 2023 was made by Merrill, seconded by Kevin Hughes, and with one abstention the motion was carried.
- Approval of Check Registers for January & February 2023:
Michelle made a few comments regarding checks she asked for clarification on at the Finance Committee meeting, including checks to Ted King for swap shop repairs in January, and Mettler-Toledo for the scale load cells in February. Bob said that Ted King is a new contractor for carpentry and other repairs around the transfer station. Bob also explained that the scale load cells were purchased for spares since WSWMD’s load cells have been discontinued, and this might give us ten more years of scale operation. There was no further discussion on the check registers.
Motion to approve the Check Registers for January & February 2023 was made by Irvin, seconded by Doris, and the motion was carried.
- Approval of Financial Statements for January & February 2023:
- Bob reviewed the financial statements, explaining that the District is currently running a $28,000 deficit, but explained that lower tonnages on trash and C&D, paired with lower commodity costs for OCC (currently at $48/ton) contributed to the lackluster performance. Fortunately, revenue is running about 5% higher than budget.
- He reminded the board that February is a short month, and usually low revenue.
- He reported that expenses were a little over budget, and there were repairs needed on the swap shop building, the MRF, and the shop truck, but the procurement meetings were keeping spending more controlled.
- He also indicated that once compost sales resume in the spring, and the fourth quarter REC payments are made by Greenbacker, that should hopefully reduce or eliminate the deficit.
Motion to approve the Financial Statements for January & February 2023 was made by Doris, seconded by Merrill, and the motion was carried.
- Approval of the Capitalization Policy:
It was requested by the auditors that the District adopt a Capitalization Policy for capital assets. A capital asset is on the fixed asset inventory list if it has a life of at least twelve months and a minimum cost of $500. After much discussion at the Finance Committee meeting, it was decided that the minimum amount should be raised to $1,000 to keep lower-valued items off the current balance sheet. Since District accounting does not include depreciation, as the entire purchase price is taken at the time of the purchase, this is just an accounting tool to track the book value of an asset in case it is sold in the future.
Once it was determined that the gain or loss on disposal of the asset would show on the income statement, the board understood that this is just a measuring tool for inventory management and went ahead with the creation of the policy.
A motion to approve the Capitalization Policy, with a minimum cost of $1,000, was made by Doris, seconded by Dan Toomey and the motion was carried.
- Update on Compost Facility Expansion (CFE):
- Bob reported that grant funding was secured from the VT Agency of Natural Resources in the amount of $277,000, paired with the $150,000 from the USDA grant, and the board-approved surplus of $225,000 gave the District $652,000 towards the CFE project.
- Bob also reminded the board that the US EPA Grant was still being considered for $1.2 million dollars to fund the entire project, which includes paving the entire facility as well as purchasing a mixer. He indicated that the grant was extremely competitive, and larger projects around EPA Region 1 could take precedence over this one.
- The single permit for the expansion project has made some of the permitting processes more streamlined. Bob and John are also preparing several Requests for Proposals (RFP) for the separate phases. He joked that the project could be shovel-ready by May or June if there are contractors available.
- Program Manager’s Report:
- John reported that a capital investment firm from Manhattan, called Closed Loop Partners, was pioneering a project to test the compostability of packaging materials in industrial composting operations. Currently, there are limited standards set for the compostability of packaging materials and the District is excited to be a part of the process to establish standards. The project is being funded by major corporations that make up CLP and the District is receiving $11,000 to take part in the study. He indicated that staff time would be used to create, monitor, and work directly with CLP staff to sort and record results. It will start on 3/28/23, where random items will be packaged in onion bags and then added to the windrows. After 45 days and at the end of curing, the bags will be dug out of the piles and photographed. He invited interested board members to join in on the sorting day.
- John let the board members know about the new free prescription mail-back program offered by the state for expired, unwanted, or unused prescriptions. Michelle asked that the information be furnished to the individual town clerks, Anita also would send the information to the board members, and informed the board that the information was already posted on the WSWMD website.
- John shared how he was interviewed by “Waste Today” magazine on training transfer station employees, the article was published, and a copy is attached.
- Executive Director’s Report:
- US EPA Grant: Bob reported that WSWMD received a joint letter of support from Vermont’s three members of Congress (Senator Peter Welch, Senator Bernie Sanders, and U.S. House Representative Becca Balint) for the US EPA grant application.
- Bob reported that the first winner of the glass drawing for an annual access sticker for users of the glass recycling container was chosen for the month of February, that the contest was well-received, and that the District was close to its first load of glass going out to Strategic Materials, Inc.
- The Extended Producer Responsibility bill for Household Hazardous Waste has gained Bob made the decision to submit a letter of support from staff, and both John and Bob testified on the District’s behalf in support, along with most other Vermont waste districts.
- Bob indicated that he does not recommend that the District take a position on expansion of the bottle bill for varying reasons.
- The BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) proposal that was discussed at the January meeting was not brought forward at the March meeting as no formal proposal had been submitted by Encore, Inc. Bob reported that the Encore reps had visited the site and would hopefully have a formal proposal for the board to review in April.
- Bob reported that Alex Lacy (USDA temporary worker) was going to finish her work by the end of March, as the grant funds had run out and the District was not able to keep her on staff.
- Bob also reported that a part-time truck driver was hired to help ease the hauling costs and the new driver would be taking a making several hauls per week at less cost than Triple T. He also updated the board that Joe Gobin (yard foreman) was going to be attending driving school to obtain his CDL as well, further ensuring that such hauling could once again be done by staff.
- He let the board know that the new single-stream recycling rate would be going up $10 to $202 per ton in March
- Executive Session (if needed): None
- Next Meeting: Thursday, April 13 @ 7:00 PM
- Other Business:
- Bob indicated to the Board that he had asked Kevin Hughes, the representative from Westminster, to entertain the idea of taking the position of Treasurer of the Board. There has been a vacancy for over ten years, and after reviewing the Charter, it verified that a board member could hold the position. It was discussed and will be addressed at the April reorganization meeting.
- Michelle reinforced the importance of full board attendance for the April reorganization meeting. She also expressed the importance that the town’s select boards needed to vote or decide who would be assuming the representative’s seats for their individual towns. Bob indicated that there is no protocol for communicating appointments, but that the towns should let the District know as soon as possible.
- After some discussion, Michelle decided that adding the function of taking a roll call should be added to the agendas moving forward.
- Adjournment: Doris made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Dan Toomey seconded, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:19 PM.
Minutes prepared by,
Anita Grant
Administrative & Operations Assistant, District Clerk