City Council Meetings

CITY OF GREEN RIVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS APRIL 12, 2016 The Governing Body of the City of Green River met in workshop session at 6:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Rust called the meeting to order. The following Council Members were present: Mark Peterson, Ted Barney, Allan Wilson, Brett Stokes, Gary Killpack, and Lisa Maes. The following were present representing the City: City Administrator Reed Clevenger, Director of Public Works Mark Westenskow, City Engineer Holden Wright, Sanitation Supervisor Mark Pond, and Director of Finance Chris Meats. Landfill Closure and the Solid Waste Transfer Station Mr. Westenskow said the Landfill closure schedule is as follows: • March 2016 Landfill Engineering Services Amendment with IME • April 2016 Survey of the Existing Conditions • Summer 2016 Development of Closure Final Contours (verify current concept with existing conditions • Fall 2016 DEQ Submittal and Approval • Winter 2017 Bidding on project • Spring 2017 begin closure grading • Mid 2017 Cease Waste Disposal Cease & Transfer Costs: Projected costs: • Landfill engineering services $250,000 • Landfill closure grading $4,000,000 • Transfer station engineering $200,000 • Transfer station construction $1,725,000 Assets Secured: • Cease & Transfer Grant $3,475,000 • Cease & Transfer Loan $500,000 • Closure Fund Balance $2,200,000 He said once the landfill is closed the city will go from a landfill organization to an exporting organization. The citizens and council have expressed their interest in having a local place to take waste to. Being an exporting organization will give an opportunity to expand and explore different recycling and waste diversion opportunities. Having the waste brought to Rock Springs regional waste site will cost us. Any type of diversion will save money. Since 2009 staff has been working on the transfer station. The plan is to build it at the current scale house site. It is permitted and is ready to be designed. The question is if it is the best site for the transfer station. In looking at every option they looked to see if there were better opportunities available. The current plan is to have the building built at the scale house and there are some advantages having it there. The location is familiar, the city owns the land, it is already permitted, already funded, construction drawings are 60% completed, easy to access and is visible, we would be reusing the land, and there is water and power available. Some disadvantages are: it is right off the highway, very small site, limited room for expansion, no sewer, steep grades requiring a lot of earthwork and retaining walls and traffic congestion during construction and operations. The alternate site available is where the asphalt pile is by the wastewater plant. Advantages are: over 4 acres are available, we own the land, would be able to consolidate operations, adjacent to reclaimable Wastewater Treatment Plant property, not as visible, can reuse the proposed building design, easy to access, reuse existing land, water, sewer, and power access nearby, and $200,000 City Council Workshop Proceedings April 12, 2016 Page 1 of 4 less for design and construction. Disadvantages are: needs to be re-permitted, possible extension from DEQ/SLIB, construction may not be completed by targeted landfill closure date, cost for the change to the permit, and would have to relocate the existing asphalt pile. Mr. Westenskow said he is not in favor of one over the other so he is not making a recommendation. This is only to inform council and the public on the options and to ask for direction on where they would prefer the transfer station be located. Council Member Killpack asked why they won’t put the transfer station at the top of the hill of the landfill. He is concerned with the look of the transfer station staying clean. Mr. Westenskow said there are no utilities at the top of the hill. It does not matter where it is located it will be up to staff to take pride in the station and keep it clean. Council Member Killpack asked if the site is in part of the BLM land that has to be used as parkland. Mr. Westenskow said he believes the city owns both parcels now. The park is down south of the area. The proposed area is out of the floodplain as well. Mr. Clevenger said the area is industrial and would be centrally located. Council Member Peterson said he likes the new location since they have the green waste opportunities there. Mr. Westenskow said there will be a waste stream from the new plant and it can be used in composting so it would be a benefit to the city. Mr. Clevenger said currently the city has seven locations for green waste and they are very labor intensive. Having green waste at the transfer station will give us the opportunity to monitor it closer. Council Member Wilson said he was not in favor of the scale house site because it is right at the beginning of town. He is worried about the cleanliness. He does not care for the new site either because the area is filled in with bad fill and there are pipelines there. He asked if the plans would include landscaping and fencing. Mr. Westenskow said yes. The plans would include fencing and a buffer. They are aware of the fill and they would still do the geotechnical testing to see I what kind of impacts it will have on foundations. Council Member Wilson said if it is properly landscaped at the additional location he would be in favor of moving the transfer station there. He asked how this is going to affect the rates. Currently, Rock Springs pays $19, Jamestown pays $24, and we pay $25 and that is high. He has had people question the fees and what they will be. Mr. Meats said he cannot give an exact amount. You cannot compare our rates to other agencies because in Rock Springs the $19 per month is only for collection services. The other fees are paid through a mil levy. The solid waste district includes large industries as well and that helps cover the cost for residents in Rock Springs. It is not comparing apples to apples because they are different. Rates will change but he does not see them going way down or way up. If the city chooses not to go forward with a transfer station then rates will double if not triple to cover costs of a new cell, and closure costs which are being covered by grants. Rates should stay level with small incremental increases every year. Council Member Barney said the cost of the transfer station could be less if it is put at the new site. The Mayor said he is concerned with the odor that will come from the transfer station. There are a lot of people who walk down there and they are not going to want to smell bad things. He said having an asphalt pile near the flood plan is not a good idea. City Council Workshop Proceedings April 12, 2016 Page 2 of 4 Council Member Killpack said the transfer stations he has seen was not in a building and that is not what is being proposed with ours. Mr. Westenskow said no. There are some that have containers only but we will have an enclosed building where everything will be housed. The wet waste will be hauled from pick up, directly to Rock Springs Landfill so it will not be in the transfer station. Council Member Stokes said he does not see an issue with odor because staff will maintain the area just like they do now. Mr. Pond said he does not think it matters to the department where the transfer station is located and he will make sure it stays clean. Employee, Louise Laughlin said she is not in favor of moving it to the other location because it would be close to the horse corrals. She is concerned with garbage being dumped in the horse corrals. She wants to know why the city wants to start over again. Council Member Killpack asked if the new site would have a scale. Mr. Westenskow said there should be one at the new site as well but how and where it is going will have to be decided. Mr. Clevenger said there are some disadvantages and advantages with both sites. The city needs to look at it in long terms as well. Council Member Wilson said he is in favor of the new location. Council Member Maes asked for clarification on the new site not being in the flood plain. Mr. Westenskow said it is not in the flood plain. The determination of the flood plain varies by the river. Mr. Clevenger said they do have an idea on the rates but they also know in the future there will be savings from changes that come that can bring the rates down. Employee Jen Holden said she would like to see the transfer station be built on the new site because of the other opportunities that will come with it. Recycling and composting will grow and can help divert solid waste being put in the landfill. Currently, the commodities we take for recycling are stored everywhere because we do not have any place to put them. The new transfer station will be locked when closed. If recycling is there it will be monitored instead of staff spending a ton of time cleaning up trash that people leave over the weekend when no one is there. The Mayor encouraged members of the public to let their council member know what they would like to see. Mr. Westenskow said the sooner they have direction from council and the residents is better. If the new site is chosen then the next action would be to send a formal proposal to the DEQ to modify the condition of existing agreements. The Mayor suggested waiting for one week to see if people speak up on the issue and then bring it up again at the next council meeting. City Administrator’s Report Mr. Clevenger said he emailed council updated budget information and he would like to have some solid direction on what is important to council so they can address other budget areas that have to be looked at. Wyoming Association of Municipalities estimated monthly sales tax revenue numbers for next year is $811,000 which is $11,000 more than what we are proposing for our budget. City Council Workshop Proceedings April 12, 2016 Page 3 of 4 Mayor and Council Reports Council Members Peterson, Barney, Maes, Stokes, and the Mayor had nothing to report. Council Member Wilson asked if Mr. Clevenger would provide the other council members with the Finance Committee’s suggested cuts to the community service requests, so they can be aware of what they are proposing. Council Member Killpack said he did like the letter that Mr. Clevenger sent to Community Service Agencies because it gives good solid direction to council. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:39 pm. ____________________________ Pete Rust, Mayor ATTEST: ______________________ Chris Meats, City Clerk City Council Workshop Proceedings April 12, 2016 Page 4 of 4