Gallia, Jackson, Meigs & Vinton Solid Waste Management District

Policy Committee

Phone Conference Meeting

Minutes

8/6/20

 

The Policy Committee of the Gallia, Jackson, Meigs & Vinton Solid Waste Management District met Thursday, August 6, 2020 on a Webinar/Phone Conference at 2:00 p.m.

Call to Order

Chairman, Harold Montgomery, called the meeting to order @ 2:03 p.m.  

Roll Call was taken with the following members attending:  Gallia County: Harold Montgomery, Tony Gallagher, John McKean, Jimmy Allen, Terri Walters; Jackson County: Paul Haller, Randy Evans, Sam Brady, Greg Ervin, David Ramby proxy for Kevin Aston, Tom Woltz; Meigs County: Tim Ihle, Steve Swatzel; Vinton County: Tim Eberts, Lori Simonton proxy for Janelle McManis, Gretchen Radabaugh proxy for Vicki Maxwell.  Nick Rupert of Rumpke, Jamie Zawila (RRS plan consultant) and Cindy Saltsman were also in attendance.  We had a quorum with 16 present.

 

Old Business

 

Minutes of 5/14/20 were reviewed. Paul Haller made a motion to accept 5/14/20 minutes Greg Ervin seconded the motion. All were in favor, motion approved.

 

New Business

 

Chairman, Harold Montgomery said there has been some re-developments from the last meeting and Harold turned the meeting over to Jamie Zawila, RRS consultant.  Jamie said they she submitted the draft Plan to EPA and the non-binding comments had been received.  A couple of things have happened since we last met.  First, the non-binding came back, and we had a key deficiency in how we demonstrated our access goals.  We put in the draft Plan 80% access and EPA says since the new State Plan has not been adopted yet, the district must follow the 2009 State Plan goals of providing 90% access.  Because of this, the district must add two or three more sites at an extra cost to meet that 90%.  Regarding the Rumpke contract.  An offer was put on the table to lower the increase for the drop-off contract put forth of 5%/3%/3% for the next three years (2021, 2022, 2023) to 3%/1%/1% if the committee would re-evaluate and not add an increase to the tier fees and add a generation fee instead.  The generation fee would be 35 cents.  The tier fee increase budget with the increased cost of the drop-off did not balance and was in the red.  Adding a generation fee of 35 cents does balance the budget.  It really is a cost savings with Rumpke lowering the proposed contract to 3%/1%/1% versa the 5%/3%/3% option. It is a savings over the fifteen-year budget of $326,000.  Harold Montgomery asked what was the current tier fee, is it $1/$2/$1?  Jamie said yes.  Harold asked if she was proposing a $1/$2/$1 tier fee with adding a generation fee?  Jamie said yes, it would be a 35-cent generation fee.

Harold asked if there were no further questions to have a motion.  Jamie Zawila recommended that the motion state that it be put in writing by Rumpke to lower the drop-off contract increase for the next three years to 3%/1%/1%.  Nick Rupert asked if an email would suffice and Harold said yes.  Nick said he was authorized, and he would send it then.  Steve Swatzel asked how long the Rumpke contract was for.  Harold said it was a three-year contract.  Terri Walters asked Nick if there was a chance to get a 5-year contract.  Nick said he thought Rumpke would like to do that, but the current contract is only for three years.  Nick also said he had authority to pass along the 3%/1%/1% but not to extend it.  Jamie Zawila said that we had time and they didn’t have to have it in today.  Terri Walters said she thought if they would do that we should wait for a motion.  Nick said he can guarantee the 3%/1%/1% but he would have to go back to check for the five-year option.  Nick asked what Terri was proposing and Terri said ideally a 3/1/1.  Nick said year 4 and 5 would have to be bid out.  Terri asked if we were locked into a three-year contract or could we have a five-year contract instead.  Jamie said you could go five years.  Nick said the current contract states that we have three one-year extensions.  Terri asked if it could be five.  Nick said he would pose the question.  Terri asked what Harold thought.  Harold said he didn’t know.  He felt that we need to lock in the 3%/1%/1% right now and didn’t know if we had any leverage to get it later.  Harold said he felt the generation fee is important for us because we are losing tonnage that is going to other districts and we are not getting anything for it.  Cindy Saltsman said that Nick mentioned earlier that it would have to be put out for bid.  She said that the current one was put out for bid and thought that it would have to be put out for bid again.  She said she was not legal but since the current contract was put out for bid, we could not change the remaining three years to five years without bidding it out.  Harold asked for a motion to adopt the $1/$2/$1 tier fee with adding a 35-cent generation fee contingent upon getting in writing from Rumpke the contract extension of 3%/1%/1% for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.  Tony Gallagher made the motion. Terri Walters seconded the motion.  Cindy reported that she received the email from Nick Rupert stating the 3%/1%/1% increase.  Vote was done by Roll Call: Harold Montgomery, yes; Tony Gallagher, yes; James Allen, yes; John McKean, yes; Terri Walters, yes;  Paul Haller, yes; Randy Evans, yes; David Ramby for Kevin Aston, yes; Sam Brady, yes; Tom Woltz, yes; Greg Ervin, yes; Tim Ihle, yes; Steve Swatzel, yes;  Tim Eberts, yes;  Lori Simonton for Janelle McManis, yes; Gretchen Radabaugh for Vicki Maxwell, yes;  All were in favor, motion was approved.

Jamie Zawila said she will be sending a timeline schedule.  From now until November we will be working on the non-binding opinion changes from EPA and the new changed draft will be sent to the committee. She asked the committee to talk with their township reps, villages and cities to let them know that it is coming for ratification.  The next meeting will be in November.  Harold and Cindy both thanked everyone for attending.

 

With a motion by Paul Haller and a second by Tim, the Policy Committee adjourned at 2:37 p.m.