Sanitary Disposal District Commission

City of Middletown SANITATION COMMISSION AMENDED MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, February 27, 2024 Time: 5:00 PM Members Present: John Porter, Committee Member Ed McKeon, Committee Member Tom Goglia, Committee Member Staff Present: Christopher M. Holden, P.E., Director of Public Works Kim O’Rourke- Recycling Coordinator Others Present: Steve Lynch- ECCRA Gerald Daley- ECCRA Members of the Public: 1. John Porter opens meeting at 5:00 PM. 2. Minutes – Approval of the minutes from the January 23, 2024 meeting. Ed McKeon made a motion to approve the minutes. Tom Goglia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Correspondence – Director Holden stated there was an FOI from Mr. Sienna that they are gathering information for. This is requesting correspondence from Director Holden, Kim O’Rourke and Mayor Florsheim with DEEP, Waste Zero, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. 4. Public Comment a. None 5. New Business a. ECCRA Overview- Gerald Daley gave information on the background and legal structure of ECCRA. Issues arose in the 70’s with disposing of municipal solid waste. In the late 80’s, the State indicated that landfills could no longer be expanded. Legislature adopted a statute that authorized the formation of municipal or regional resource recovery authorities, giving them the ability to develop and operate trash to energy plants. The Lisbon facility is owned by ECCRA. Middletown was behind the bond authorization and was paid by revenues, not general funds. Though the plan was for other municipalities to join, it never panned out. In late 1990, the Common Council passed a resolution providing for a commission (Middletown Resource Recovery Commission) that would be Middletown’s representative to ECCRA. ECCRA is a creation of the State statute. Membership is determined by the City Ordinance and resolution that  established the Middletown Resource Recovery Commission. Steve Lynch’s company assisted in putting together the financing and contracts to support the creation of the trash to energy plant. They are now the administrator of the Eastern Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority. They act as liaison between the City entity and the actual operator of the facility. There are 13 or 14 municipalities that bring their trash to the facility. Middletown does not bring their waste to the Lisbon plant. The bulk of solid waste is being shipped to other states. ECCRA is treated as an enterprise fund. They are not part of the City General Fund or available to the City for operations. ECCRA does pay the City a small fee for use of the facility of approximately $12,000 annually. The annual compensation for accounting costs is roughly $10,000- $12,000 due to the City Finance Department reviewing ECCRA finances. Money isn’t being made, it is being reimbursed. The State statute requires ECCRA to pay the expenses for the maintenance and operation of the facility. 6. Old Business a. Update on the Sustainable Materials Management Grant- Kim O’Rourke shared that the AI cameras are still being trained to learn the different colors of the bags. It allows them to target efforts for education to neighborhoods and businesses that are not in compliance. Tom Goglia said that he has seen many neighborhoods that are not in compliance and many recycling bins are overfull. He suggested weekly recycling pickups. 7. Other a. Kim gave a brief overview on the community group that has been getting together regarding the co-collection program. They are talking about education and outreach efforts. The next meeting will be focusing on the landlord and tenant questions that are common. They are developing a mailing that will go to the properties and working on educational videos to answer some of the questions that public has had. A questionnaire will be going out. Kim notified the committee of the household hazardous waste day and paper shred event information being available online. The meeting adjourned at 5:47 PM