Elk County Solid
Waste Authority meets
By Katie Weidenboerner
On Tuesday, the Elk County Solid Waste
Authority met at Morgan AM&T Lodge for a regular monthly meeting.
Correspondence included landfill
inspection reports and a letter sent from Russ Braun to Jack Crowe
of the Department of Environmental Protection concerning odor issues
at Greentree Landfill. Crowe responded with a copy of the complaint
law and explained how the process works if anyone should want to
enter a complaint. There was correspondence notifying that the
landfill has changed their name to Veoila Environmental Services,
Greentree Landfill, and a letter was also received from the Township
Officials Association about their annual convention. The convention
will be Sept. 20 at the Johnsonburg Fire Hall.
The management fund update was
presented by Braun. From June 21 to Aug. 23, the total deposits
totaled $47,461.20 and the total expenditures totaled $8,086.74,
leaving the fund balance at $148,227.99 as of Aug. 23.
Bekki Titchner presented the authority
report. The first topic discussed was the environmental portion of
the Stackpole-Hall Foundation Project report. Focus groups gathered
to voice what was important regarding environmental issues in the
county. Stackpole-Hall will be meeting with all the different
committees to move forward with this to organize some projects to
fund over the next few years.
“This is very exciting,” Titchner said.
“They didn't want this to end up being a report on the shelf.”
The next topic on the authority report
was 901 Planning Grant. The grant was approved by the regional DEP
office and was sent to the central office for final approval.
Because, according to Meadville, there is a very good certainty that
the grant application will be approved without any changes, the Elk
County Waste Authority drafted a “Letter to Proceed” to forward to
consultant Michele Nestor. The letter was reviewed at the meeting
and approved.
The authority will authorize 100 hours
of work and commit $7,500 of its funds to commence an aggressive
study to evaluate the state of recycling in the county. Nestor will
evaluate all facets of recycling in the county, including what's
being done, what's not being done, what should be done, additional
ideas, solutions to problems and funding proposals. The money will
then be reimbursed when the grant comes through.
Contamination issues continue to plague
the recycling centers and are a concern of the authority. In Jones
Township, there were four large wheeled garbage toters as well as
two large garbage bags filled with items that cannot be recycled.
Someone also left several cardboard boxes filled with dirt and
broken window glass. In St. Marys, cut-up plastic barrels were
removed and a truck bed liner. Recently, a bill from Rustick was
received for $175 for contamination in July.
“It's a scenario where 99 percent of
the people use it correctly and 1 percent use it incorrectly,”
Titchner said.
Use of cameras at the sites and
placement of volunteers at the sites to hand out literature were
proposed solutions to the problem.
The final topic on the authority report
was the electronics update. The 19th load was taken from the
electronics center Monday, Aug. 28. Usage was reported by Titchner
to be up in the past month. Titchner said volunteers would be a
great help in the upcoming months.
Don Henrichs of the Veoila
Environmental Services Greentree Landfill reported the funding was
secured for a gas clean-up project at the landfill. The equipment
has been ordered and the project is moving forward. The landfill is
working on the engineering plans for expansion. Some odor complaints
were made in the past two weeks that were the result of trucks
carrying waste. The odor was only a “passing odor.”
Dave Stubber, enforcement officer,
reported a complaint on Boot Jack where the residents use a ditch
for garbage. Stubber believes he can resolve this situation without
prosecution.
Also, Stubber reported that Cleanways
is willing to grant $10,000 to redo the dumpsite survey. Two to
three employees will be hired part time to complete the project by
spring 2007. The employees will photograph, count and report on the
status of all existing dump sites in the area.
The conservation district requested a 4
percent wage increase and insurance change for Dave Stubber for
2007. A copy of the insurance policy was not produced for every
member of the board to review so the vote was held off until the
next meeting.
Elk County Solid Waste Authority
When: Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Veoila Environmental Services
Greentree Landfill.
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