Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD)
Brattleboro, Vermont
Board of Supervisors Meeting
Via Zoom and In-person
Draft Minutes of January 11, 2024
Members Present: (In-person & Zoom)
Chair: Michelle Cherrier, Dummerston; Vice Chair: Patrick Moreland, Brattleboro, 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; Merrill Mundell, Wilmington
Members Absent: Michael Becker, Guilford; Jessica Pollack, Jamaica; Stillman Vonderhorst, Marlboro; Rickey Harrington, Somerset; Kent Young, Stratton; Wardsboro: Vacant, Westminster: Vacant
WSWMD Staff Present: Robert Spencer, Executive Director; Vicki Hayes, Finance Manager & HR Administrator; Anita Grant, Office Manager & Operations Liaison/District Clerk
Other Guests: Lou Bordeaux, Westminster Town Manager
As a quorum was present Michelle called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM
- Roll Call of Members: Anita performed a roll call of members present.
- Changes and/or Additions to the Agenda:
- Kevin Stine requested an agenda item for the March meeting to discuss Casella’s organics collection’s changes and hauling issues in Dover and perhaps other District towns.
- Merrill requested any board member who might be interested in joining the Finance Committee that there were one or two openings, and he would like to fill the vacancy. Michelle reiterated the importance of the Committee and that it was only an extra hour a month for ten months for anyone interested.
- Compost Facility Expansion (CFE) Bid Approval- Steve Horton Consulting:
Bob said that he did not need Steve Horton to attend tonight since there was no acceptable bid. Bob reported that two bids were received from Zaluzny Excavating and GPI Construction for more than one million dollars each, for a project with a $700,00 budget. Since there isn’t enough in the initial budget to approve them, there would be no proposal to approve tonight. Bob reported that the Finance Committee met before this meeting and a final determination was made to put the project back out to bid, perhaps reducing the scope of the work, and contacting current and alternate funding sources for additional capital to complete the project. Bob explained that the budget was constructed three years ago, and construction costs have significantly increased since then but would work diligently with Steve Horton on securing a bid. It was discussed that the project might have to be phased over a few years to guarantee completion, Stephan Chait asked if this could drive the budget up even further and Bob agreed that was a possibility.
- Approval of Minutes- December 2023:
A motion to accept the minutes from December 2023 as written was made by Doris, seconded by Dan Toomey and the motion was carried with one abstention.
- Approval of Check Register- December 2023:
Anita indicated that check #30233 for Heritage Environmental was labeled as the “Final cleanout” of the HHW depot, only to discover that there was one more bill that had just arrived and that the label would be amended on the register. There was no further discussion on the check register.
A motion to approve the Check Register for December 2023 was made by Doris, seconded by Irv and the motion was carried.
- Approval of Financial Statement- December 2023:
Vicki reported that December ended with a deficit of $59,536. She attributed the majority of the deficit to the $20,000 loss in renewable energy credits (RECs) from the solar array due to the transformer outage over the summer. Despite the loss, OCC sales were still strong at $4,900; fifty more access stickers were sold, tipping fees were $42,000, and revenues were still 4% ahead of budget. She warned that the District was in its slow season, and expenses were still about 6% over budget but she was watching them closely.
A motion to approve the Financial Statements for December 2023 was made by Merrill, seconded by Doris and the motion carried.
- Approval of New Position Descriptions- Programs Coordinator & Outreach Coordinator:
Dan Toomey (Chair of the Policy & Personnel Committee) reported that on December 14, 2023, the two coordinator position descriptions were finalized at the meeting, with some grammatical tweaks. Dan went on to say that the term “coordinator” was a better term used for the new part-time positions as the scope of work was minimized from the previous Programs Manager position description. He thanked Bob, Vicki, and Anita for all of their hard work in initiating the change to make the positions more viable.
A motion to approve the New Position Descriptions- Programs Coordinator & Outreach Coordinator as presented and as one single motion was made by Doris, seconded by Sandra and the motion carried.
- Executive Director’s Report:
- Bob reported that the bottle bill had been approved by the House Committee overriding Governor Scott’s veto last year and would be going to the Senate for a final vote. The bottle bill would include deposits on wine bottles and water bottles. WSWMD had not taken a stand either way on the bill.
- He reported to the board that the District had received a Notice of Alleged Violation (NOAV) from the VT Department of Conservation (DEC) regarding soil integrity beneath the used motor oil shed. Bob had responded to the notice within 14 days and reported that an inspection of the soil beneath the shed had confirmed it was not contaminated by leaking oil. He also moved the oil storage system into the MRF building and has taken the shed out of use. Customers will now leave containers of waste oil at the scale house rather than the unattended shed. WSWMD has not been issued any fines yet and is waiting on the DEC’s final determination.
- Bob let the board know that after the yard foreman resigned, the part-time temporary employee, Ted King, was hired full-time, Dick Petrie has been out three months since his knee replacement and all the staff was scrambling to cover all the open positions daily.
- The surface rights issue should hopefully be resolved over the next couple of weeks. Jet Gas has hired a VT attorney and WSWMD has offered up to $2,500 towards legal fees to get the quit claim deed signed and filed.
- Bob has a meeting on Friday, January 12, 2024, with Casella’s regional manager, Dave Allen to discuss leasing the MRF building for a solid waste transfer station retrofit proposal.
- Bob is currently working with the Vernon Selectboard with Sandra Rulewich providing technical assistance for their curbside contract.
- Casella’s cardboard and organics loads have been coming in very contaminated and Bob has invoiced them a handling fee for each contaminated load. He reported that there would be a $75 handling fee attached to any load that was contaminated.
- Peter Gaskill from Casella had approached Bob with a mattress recycling proposal and after Vicki ran the numbers and did an analysis, found that the program would double or triple costs to accept mattresses. Bob said since there was no mandatory mattress recycling and staff were concerned about handling infested mattresses, he had rejected the proposal.
- Executive Session (if needed): None
- Other Business
- Next Meeting: Thursday, March 14 @ 7:00 PM
- Adjournment: A motion to adjourn was made by Doris, seconded by Lewis and the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 PM.
Minutes prepared by,
Anita Grant
Office Manager & Operations Liaison/District Clerk