Tippecanoe Co. Local Environmental Finance Board

TIPPECANOE COUNTY LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE FINANCING BOARD October 27, 2015 The Tippecanoe County Local Environmental Response Financing Board met on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of Lafayette City Hall. Present were: David Byers, Zach Beasley, Lon Heide and Tony Roswarski. Absent: Kevin Underwood and John Dennis Tony Benton, Attorney from Stuart & Branigin, was also present. MINUTES Mr. Beasley moved to approve the minutes of the July 28, 2015 meeting as submitted. Mr. Roswarski seconded. Motion carried. READING AND SIGNING OF CLAIMS The following Claims (all with attached documentation) were presented to the Board for payment:  A claim from Keramida Environmental for consulting services in the amount of $29,030.12. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Keramida Environmental for consulting services in the amount of $21,101.36. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Keramida Environmental for consulting services in the amount of $25,979.93. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Keramida Environmental for consulting services in the amount of $37,118.90. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Stuart & Branigin for services provided in the amount of $5,985.00. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Stuart & Branigin for services provided in the amount of $4,750.50. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Stuart & Branigin for services provided in the amount of $7,311.61. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried.  A claim from Waste Management for services provided in the amount of $26,250.00. Mr. Roswarski moved for approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion carried. REPORTS Legal Counsel Mr. Benton stated that they completed the 5-Year Review of the Landfill which is great and very informational. Mr. Benton stated that the Review has lots of language about re-use options and eventual deletion of the listing of the Landfill. The Review has identified the fact that the ground water issues are diminishing along with the arsenic levels. EPA did the iteration of the 3rd 5-Year Review/Report as opposed of IDEM. The Review/Report is forward looking and finds nothing really wrong with the way the Landfill has operated. It is looking for a little bit of long-term stewardship guidance. In addition, the Consent Decree and other things that we will need to reform and revisit in order to make the Landfill available for re-use in moving forward. Mr. Benton stated that he attended a meeting in Chicago in September where the head of IDEM and EPA were both there in a small group meeting. Both IDEM and EPA seem very positive and very supportive of the idea of reusing landfills and ground field sites. Mr. Benton stated that the Landfill will still be subject to 5-Year Reviews for the next 5 years. If the TERF Board can get the Landfill deleted or delisted and get some voluntary re-use options out there, the people will be able to make some productive use out of the site. Hopefully over time, maintenance and other costs will continue to decrease. Keramida Vicki Keramida stated that the 5-Year Report is really fantastic. The report came out slightly later than what the EPA promised but nevertheless it was a month later. The language that the EPA is using is better than Keramida has ever seen coming out of IDEM. So everything that EPA has verbally promised to Keramida was included in the report. Mrs. Keramida stated that in order for the Board to move forward with the re-use, the next step is to prepare the Significant Difference document. IDEM was supposed to draft that document in the beginning which would take a year but by talking to upper management and Keramida providing some language for IDEM to use, EPA prepared the document in less than a month. Mrs. Keramida stated that she expects the document within a month and will be ready to public comment. Mrs. Keramida stated that this is very important because this document is going to go to the Consent Decree to change it. That will be the end of the official re-use determination as far as the regulatory paperwork is concerned. Mrs. Keramida stated the taking the conceptual design that Keramida had prepared and talking with Purdue University to see if it could be used as the subject of a Senior Design class for Civil Engineering. Mrs. Keramida will be meeting tomorrow with Professor Jacko to prepare the syllabus and will start in January 2016. This will be great publicity for both cities, county and Purdue. Mrs. Keramida stated that she talked with Professor Jacko about offering a couple internships to students. This project has all of the elements that Civil Engineering with a great opportunity for the students and the Board. Mrs. Keramida stated that EPA had to public notice the 5-Year Report in July 20, 2015 in the local paper. Mrs. Keramida read a few excerpts from the report to the Board. Everything in the report is supportive of the re-use. Mrs. Keramida stated that Keramida submitted the Annual Wetlands Report in September along with the language for IDEM to use in the drafting of the Significant Differences document. Keramida also submitted the revised Operation and Maintenance Report. The leachate extraction system is fine. We had more leachate recently because of the heavy rains. Keramida will most likely need to replace or redevelop one leachate well and will let the Board know at the next meeting. The methane extraction system operated beautifully since last October 2014. Mrs. Keramida stated that they will be drudging in the ditch around the landfill in the spring. Groundwater monitoring in typically done in June but with the heavy rain was pushed back until October. Mrs. Keramida stated that the wetlands look fine. Mrs. Keramida stated that they did an assessment of volume of gas that is at the landfill. The gas is not enough to burn itself by regulation. By law it has to been burned due to greenhouse gas concerns. The methane is 20 times worse than C02. Keramida brings in gas to burn the methane. Every time Keramida did an assessment the price of gas goes down and then it is not economically feasible to give it to the gas company or do something with it. What gas is there on site now will be enough when the Board reuses the site, to use it for lighting purposes and/or supply energy for a greenhouse. Mrs. Keramida and Mr. Benton answered questions from the Board regarding a timeline, the Purdue class, public input and moving forward. Discussion ensued. OLD BUSINESS There was none. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Byers stated that the 2016 TERF Board Schedule has been distributed and need approval by the Board. Mr. Roswarski moved to approval. Mr. Beasley seconded. Motion Carried. PUBLIC COMMENT There was none. ADJOURN With no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Beasley moved to adjourn. Mr. Heide seconded. Motion carried. The time being 1:57 pm David Byers T.E.R.F. Board Chairman Minutes written by Mindy Miller, 1st Deputy Clerk, City of Lafayette A digital audio recording of this meeting is available in the Lafayette City Clerk’s Office.