- >> All right. Well, seeing as we have a quorum, I will call to order this meeting of the Board
- of Directors of the Waste Reduction District of Monroe County for Thursday, March 13, 2025.
- Mr. McClassen, will you please call the roll? >> I just confirm with TSD that we are broadcasting
- because I'm still seeing the county bicentennial logo on my screen. >> Good. >> All right. Pete
- von Smith. >> Here. >> Jones. Thompson. >> Here. >> Swalford. >> Here. >> Madera. Thomas. >> Here.
- >> Wilts. >> Here. >> You have a quorum. >> Thank you. So the first item on the agenda is just for
- informational
- purposes, the Executive Committee meeting minutes. There were actually two meetings of the
- Executive Committee in March, our regular meeting on March 4, and then we had a meeting with staff
- from the Rocky Mountain Institute about possible solar panels on the site of our landfill on March
- 24. So questions or concerns about those minutes from board members?
- >> Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to approval of minutes from the Board of Directors meeting on
- March 13. Do we have a motion?
- >> I move approval. >> We have a motion and a second from Commissioner Thomas. Are there any
- questions or concerns about these minutes before we vote?
- Seeing none, we can just do a voice vote, right? All in favor of approving the minutes from March
- 13, say aye.
- >> Aye. >> Any opposed? >> Abstain. Was not present. >> Okay. No abstention. That motion passes.
- Then we will move on to the controllers report, starting with cash flows from Controller Goins.
- >> The cash flow rate is on page 9 of your board packet. Here are the balances as of March 31 for
- the following accounts. Operating is $4,305,875.57.
- Closure bond debt is $13,338.47. Capital is $45,991.91. Landfill post closure is $802,725.96.
- Individual cash flow statements for each of these are on pages 10 through 15 of the packet. Operating
- fund graph is on page 12. What questions are there on the account balances?
- >> Thank you, Ms. Goins. Are there any questions on the cash flow report?
- All right. Seeing none. And thank you also for always providing the chart on page 12 of the
- operating fund balance.
- It shows us the healthy amount that keeps growing year by year that we are now, of course,
- exploring ways to invest that money. So it's good to see that overview.
- Let's move on to payroll and claims.
- >> On page 16 of the packet, you have a summary of the preapproved payroll and claims since our
- last meeting in the amount of $243,043.21.
- The backup for those numbers are on pages 17 through 53.
- For approval this week, we're sending an email on Wednesday in the amount of $22,603.95.
- Documentation was included in the Wednesday email.
- That brings the total of all payroll and claims that we are recommending for approval to $265,647.16.
- What questions are there regarding these claims?
- Do we have any questions regarding the claims?
- I just have one question just so I can better understand.
- How does the Everside Health Clinic, how do they bill for services?
- Because I see we paid, there's several lines for the first quarter, then there were several lines
- for the second quarter.
- Is that divided between different departments or how is that, why is that so many different lines?
- It is divided up by department.
- They bill quarterly.
- We had a snafu with receiving the first quarter bill, which is why we're paying for two quarters
- this go around.
- It is split up between the departments and the amount is based on eligible bodies.
- Our policy is to have access to the now Marathon Health Clinic through the district.
- You have to be enrolled in our health insurance plan.
- But that would include spouses and dependents that are included in health coverage.
- Okay. Thank you for explaining that.
- If there are no other questions, I'll entertain a motion on approval of payroll and claims.
- So moved.
- We have a motion from Councilor Wilson, a second from Commissioner Thomas on approval of the
- payroll and claims as presented.
- All in favor, please say aye.
- Aye.
- Any opposed?
- All right. That motion passes.
- We will move on to Resolution 2025-02 lease agreement with Monroe County Board of Commissioners for
- the Monroe County Extension Services.
- Mr. McGlasson, would you like to introduce this for us?
- Certainly. Excuse me. This is just a renewal of a lease that's an agreement that's been in place
- for going on about 10 years now.
- I think they've been the Monroe County Extension Services have been office out of our building for
- about 10 years.
- The county through the agreement with Purdue University for the extension services is required to
- offer or to provide office space for them.
- It's a situation that I mean I think both both parties staff from both parties believe is is
- working very well.
- We've not had any issues.
- You know the both parties use the conference and education and training rooms.
- We rarely have any conflicts with scheduling those and it's just a situation that's worked out
- really well for both parties.
- In the memo on page 54 you can see that obviously this go around.
- We did have to update for the district's name first lease renewal since we've changed our name at
- the county's request.
- The I believe the previous agreement had a three year initial term.
- This one has a five year initial term and there is an automatic renewal clause in that unless
- either party provides notice that they want to opt out of the agreement.
- And as far as payment goes the lease itself is for the sum of one dollar a year.
- But then there's also a monthly payment to help with utilities building maintenance landscaping and
- stuff like that.
- Previously that was six hundred and fifty dollars in this new lease it is increasing to seven
- hundred dollars with a new clause in there that allows that amount to be amended at any time during
- the term of the lease by mutual written agreement of both parties.
- And then there is a new section in there that just clarifies the payment terms.
- You know we we invoice the county quarterly for the rent due under the lease.
- This this was reviewed reviewed and approved by the county commissioners at their meeting on March
- twenty seventh.
- So it's just waiting this board's approval and we'll move forward.
- Thank you. Can we get a motion on the table for resolution twenty twenty five oh two of approval.
- We had a motion from Mayor Tom Thompson and a second from Commissioner Thomas.
- Are there any questions or comments before we vote.
- Seeing none. Can we still do a voice vote on resolutions or do we need a roll call.
- Commissioner Madera is here. OK we will.
- And we also need to go to the public.
- So Commissioner Madera we are talking about resolution twenty twenty five oh two the lease
- agreement with the county extension services.
- Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on this item.
- Anybody here in the NatU Hill room.
- I also don't see any hands raised.
- Mr. McClassen.
- All right. Well then let's do a voice vote. I mean a roll call vote on this resolution.
- Twelford. Yes.
- Thompson. Yes.
- Madera.
- We did not hear that.
- I can see that you're saying yes but do we need to get that.
- Yes. Thomas. Yes.
- Wiltz. Yes.
- Piedmont Smith. Yes.
- Motion passes six zero.
- All right.
- So I have in my inbox a request from the commissioner's office to sign that agreement so I will now
- be able to do that.
- All right. We'll move on to resolution twenty twenty five oh three to accept assignment of
- judgments from Monroe County.
- Mr. McClassen will you introduce this please. Yeah.
- And you can see the memo on page sixty four kind of explains this.
- And for those that were on the board last year if you'll recall when we went through our budgeting
- process we did add a new line to the budget.
- An expense line for court order to mediation. This is something we're in working with the county
- attorney's office.
- We have gotten to the point with some cases where we're not getting cooperation or getting the
- property owner to get things into compliance where the county attorney is taking those to court on
- our behalf.
- And in some cases we have gotten judgments for us to go in and hire a contractor to get the
- violations corrected on the property and then be allowed to put a lien on the property to recoup
- the costs for that.
- But because it's the county attorney that's initiating all of this the county is listed as the
- plaintiff on the case. So in order for that money to come back to the district the county.
- There's a clause in the law that allows a plaintiff to assign judgments in these types of cases to
- another party.
- So that's the county has done that with what included in the packet as the county's resolution 2025
- dash 10 that does allow the county to make assignments in these cases to the district.
- So this resolution is just the district formally accepting those assignments when the need occurs.
- Thank you. Let's get a motion on the table, please. Regarding resolution 2025 03.
- Approval of resolution 2025 dash 03.
- Second.
- Right. It's been moved and seconded.
- Are there any questions or comments from board members?
- Seeing none, is there any member of the public who would like to comment on this resolution?
- Any.
- No hands on teams. Okay.
- Well, I think we can then proceed to roll call vote please Mr. McClasson.
- Thompson.
- Yes, Thomas.
- Piedmont Smith. Yes. Swellford. Yes.
- Madeira.
- Yes.
- Wilts. Yes. Motion passes six zero.
- Thank you.
- So, if we ever recover any funds.
- We are now able to accept them.
- All right. Next we have an annual resolution regarding the Monroe County landfill financial
- assurance.
- Mr. McClasson. Yes, this is an annual requirement for our landfills across the state to make a
- financial assurance demonstration that the funding is available to in our case to to fund the
- remaining post closure requirements of the facility.
- The law allows several different mechanisms by which that demonstration can be made.
- And we have historically used what's called the local government financial test option, which which
- does not require the expenditures of money on the part of the district or the county, visa vie
- purchasing a bond or an insurance policy or anything like that.
- But due to this, the amount of the estimated close remaining post closure costs, the district doesn't
- meet the financial requirements to make that demonstration.
- So historically, the county has made that demonstration on our behalf.
- This resolution is just authorizing staff to make that request of the county council.
- Thank you. Let's get a motion on the table regarding resolution 2025 before the approval of
- resolution 2025 before.
- Second.
- All right, we have a motion and a second.
- Is there any board member who has a comment or question.
- Yes, I was wondering Mr. McGlasson, if you could just speak briefly about the difference from year
- to year in the post closure estimate.
- Yeah, I mean, there's a there's a formula in the law on how on how this is calculated and our
- engineering firm does the the cost estimate calculation for us.
- In general, you we have been seeing, you know, anywhere from 90 to 110 thousand dollar reduction
- year over year.
- As we get closer to the end of the third year post closure period.
- There is however inflation is one of the factors that goes into making that determination and it
- was last year or the year before we did actually see a slight increase because of the inflationary
- factor.
- But as you can see in the one this year, it's about a ninety two thousand dollar decrease from what
- it was last year.
- So we're back trending in the right direction.
- Any other comments or questions from board members?
- All right, let's go to the public. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on
- resolution twenty twenty five oh four asking the county council for the landfill financial
- assurance?
- Not seeing any hands raised.
- So we can come back for a roll call vote, please.
- Thompson? Yes. Wilkes? Yes. Thomas? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Swaffer? Yes. Madero? Yes. Motion
- passes six zero.
- Thank you. Moving right along.
- We have a fourth resolution.
- This it's like deja vu because it's amending the district approved vendor list once again.
- Mr. McClassen, you want to just review the small changes here?
- Yeah, you know, apologies. This is not something we like to do regularly.
- But unfortunately, after this, the vendor list was approved last month.
- We did turn right around and receive some notices from vendors of acquisitions and name changes.
- So you can see the memo on page 79. I guess two of our household hazardous waste vendors,
- Heritage Environmental Services was acquired by Arkwood Environmental
- and New Genesis was acquired by Caldwell Environmental.
- We also have the lab that we use for water sampling at the landfill was inadvertently left off of
- the last update last month.
- We like to get them back on there. We do regular water sampling and sound management was formerly
- artistic media partners.
- And that's who handles the advertising for WHCC, who we do radio advertising with.
- And then you can see then obviously the three or two that were acquired and the one name change are
- being removed.
- Right. So this is just cleaning up our approved vendor list.
- Can we have a motion for this resolution, please?
- Move approval of resolution 2025-05.
- Second. Thank you.
- All right. We have a motion and a second for the resolution to amend the approved vendor list.
- Are there any questions or comments by board members?
- None. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on this item?
- We have a taker.
- Hello. My name is Matthew Austin. I just wanted to point out that Caldwell Environmental is also
- the same -- or sister company, same company as Caldwell that we visited this past month.
- They do a lot of food waste stuff so I would love to see us expand from Caldwell Environmental to
- the Caldwell Food Waste Services as well.
- Fully noted. Thank you.
- Are both entities covered?
- No. They are -- it's the same family, the Caldwell family, but they are two separate companies. Caldwell
- Environmental is -- moving forward will be a household hazardous waste vendor.
- The composting and food waste is Caldwell Incorporated.
- Any other comments from public, members of the public?
- I don't see any hands raised. I don't know if I would see the hands raised, but I'm sure you would
- alert me.
- I do not see any.
- All right. Well, we can then do a roll call vote on Resolution 2025-05.
- Madero?
- Aye.
- Thomas?
- Yes.
- Thompson?
- Yes.
- Smith?
- Yes.
- Swalford?
- Yes.
- Wilts?
- Yes.
- Motion passes, 6-0.
- Thank you. Now we can move on to the CAC report, Citizens Advisory Committee.
- And we did have -- it was attached to the email that went out yesterday, but we have the chair of
- the CAC here.
- Welcome.
- Thank you. Good afternoon, directors.
- As noted, the report is not in the packet, but it does include the contents of February as well,
- which was also not included in the last meeting packet.
- So now you have both in written form.
- And since we already went over the February content --
- Could you please say your name just for the record?
- Yes, if I didn't already.
- I'm sorry.
- Joseph Winnia from the Citizens Advisory Committee.
- So, yeah, we did touch base or did verbally present on the February activity, so I'll skip right
- ahead to this month's activity.
- And I think the first two items, the visit to Caldwell and the organics waste task force updates
- will probably also be included in department reports, if that's accurate, Mr.
- McGlasson, did you plan to touch on -- Okay, perfect. Those are overlapping things between the
- district and the CAC. And so the, I guess, third and most active item that will also be present at
- our next meeting is discussion about tabling at the farmer's market in an effort to work both on
- general waste reduction outreach, but also for recruiting for the Citizens Advisory Committee.
- So that's brought up by Mr. Austin as a potential opportunity that I think is likely that we'll
- pursue, but we'll discuss as a voting budget item at our next meeting.
- That's all I have. Are there any questions?
- Thank you, Mr. Winian. Are there any questions on that report?
- No, that just sounds like a fun idea with the farmer's market.
- I'm hopeful. We'll just have to make sure that it's something that we can justify doing by having
- enough people present to staff it regularly.
- And we also talked about the opportunity of overlapping with other similarly focused organizations
- who we could potentially share the space with.
- It could be a way to distribute information about home composting as well. That kind of merges into
- the food that you buy at the market and the carrot tops what you do with it.
- Exactly. That's what we're hoping for. Very good. All right. Thank you. Yes.
- We will move on to department reports, starting with administration. Mr. McClassen.
- Bear with me. This might take a minute or two.
- So a couple of a couple updates on some of the legislation that we've been watching.
- House Bill 1134 was heard or was returned to the House with amendments.
- You can see on the March 27th that in the local government finance committee, the bill was amended
- again to remove all of the previous amendments and back to the original language and sent back to
- the House, in essence, with the original language.
- I've heard that there still might be a push to get some or all of that previous amended language
- back into the bill, so we'll watch and see what happens with that in conference.
- But that's the one that originally had to do with adding some issues, topics that could be
- addressed in an executive session and then amended to include a bunch of things regarding how
- virtual meetings are handled.
- And then House Bill 1677, which had to do with waste disposal and more specifically, illegal
- dumping.
- Unfortunately, the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law has not heard that bill in
- committee.
- And at this point, they do not have any sessions scheduled before the deadline to get things back
- to the floor and sent back to the House chamber.
- So unfortunately, that bill might be dead at this point.
- And then, lastly, the Senate Bill 459, which is the one that has to do with cybersecurity and
- publicly owned treatment works. That one did pass through the House unanimously and was returned to
- the Senate yesterday.
- So do anticipate that bill ultimately making it to the governor's desk.
- And then do want to let people know that we do still have compost bins for sale online at the waste
- reduction district orders calm that we've done in previous years, kind of as an observance of Earth
- Day and Arbor Day.
- I would note the rain barrels are still there and can be ordered. However, with the tariff
- situation that's been happening, we ultimately had to kind of guesstimate how many of each item we
- might sell and preorder a bunch of stuff to get it across the border before April 2nd.
- Of course, now that's all been or yeah, that's all been delayed again. So if we get enough rain
- barrel orders, we will have another shipment sent down.
- But they're due to transportation costs. The vendor that we're working with does have some minimums,
- but it would be a combination.
- We don't necessarily have to have 10 of one and or 20 of each. It's a combination.
- But if we have enough additional orders come in, we will process another order and get another
- shipment in.
- So they are available to order. But we do. I do know that there are still compost bins that were
- preordered that have not been spoken for yet and can be ordered.
- Currently, the deadline for that is April the 15th.
- You can see where, as I mentioned previously, we were awarded the waste tire grant from item that
- we applied for.
- So we're working with our tire vendor and the fair board to schedule the time late this summer or
- early fall to do a tire amnesty event out of the fairgrounds.
- I'm certainly thankful to the fairgrounds for allowing us to use that space.
- Also, kind of an exciting thing, the Organic Waste Task Force, if you'll recall, did do a community
- survey for people interested in doing some home composting and potentially taking materials from
- their neighbors.
- And we have identified and made contact with one of those respondents and are looking at setting up
- a pilot in the Elm Heights neighborhood.
- And this person is willing to accept waste from their neighbors.
- And so we're we're working with them to make sure we get them set up with the, you know, the
- supplies and the equipment that they need.
- And then we'll start contacting the neighbors in the area that also responded that they would be
- interested in taking their food waste somewhere.
- So I'm excited to get that pilot started and hope that here we can get that up and running in the
- next few weeks.
- And then, as as Mr. Wenya had mentioned, we were prepared to do some of this last month, but time
- ran short on us. And but so the CAC was able to arrange a tour with Caldwell Incorporated to their
- composting facility in Morristown, Indiana, which is about 30 minutes north of Shelbyville.
- Impressive facility, impressive operation, and they are doing with the Shelby County Solid Waste
- District are doing food waste collection in partnership with them that's coming to the site.
- They're in the process of expanding.
- They have plans to construct an anaerobic digester in the next year or so.
- And they are looking to expand their collection radius. So it is something that we're looking at
- and considering right now.
- The transportation costs are pretty high, but I think that we had representatives from the school
- system on that tour as well.
- And there's certainly interest in seeing if we can find a way to combine efforts to collect waste
- from a district facilities through some of the school systems and possibly reach out to some other
- local businesses that would generate a good amount of food waste
- and see if we can combine efforts to split costs, increase volumes to move material quickly.
- I'll be honest with you, I'm not real interested in having a 30 yard container of food waste at one
- of our facilities for three or four weeks waiting to get filled up to haul.
- It is organic material and the odors and pests and so it is something we want to turn around
- relatively quickly.
- But it certainly is an interesting or I guess an opportunity that we're certainly interested in
- looking at and determining the feasibility of and moving forward with if it's something that we can
- do.
- And I believe Ms. Piedmont-Smith, I believe you were on that tour as well, so I didn't know if you
- had anything you wanted to add to that.
- Not really. I just was wondering, so what is the next step? Is staff going to do some outreach to
- MCCSC?
- The next steps are to do MCCSC obviously as they had representatives there and express some
- interest and working to identify other potential parties that might be large enough generators that
- they would consider contributing to this both material and financially.
- I believe the estimate that we got from Caldwell for transportation was a little over $1,000 to
- bring an empty box down and take a full box away.
- So it's a hefty price tag, but if we can get that cost split between multiple entities, it's
- something that might be able to be absorbed by the entities interested in doing so.
- Thank you. Is that the end of your report?
- I got one more.
- All right, go for it.
- The other thing we were wanting to report on last month, and this kind of goes to the second set of
- Executive Committee meeting minutes that are in your packet.
- We've had a couple of meetings related to the possibilities of installing solar panels or a small
- solar farm at the landfill.
- President Polson originally got connected with the Environmental Resiliency Institute at Indian
- University, and they put the first meeting together that had a number of representatives
- from potential parties that would be interested in doing something like this and would be players
- in it.
- The energy companies, Duke, Hoosier Energy, SCIRMC, and Rocky Mountain Institute, who we then
- ultimately had a follow-up meeting with, with the full Executive Committee.
- And so at this point, you know, there's been no discussion about costs or who's paying for what,
- who's funding what, or any of that.
- But, you know, there's interest, you know, from a local utility and their energy provider to
- continue looking at this and assess the feasibility of doing this.
- So it is something that we're going to continue to pursue and look at and, you know, if it's
- something that there's an interest from a utility to pursue and it's, you know, financially,
- economically feasible for the district to move forward with, we would certainly bring that to the
- board for consideration.
- Great. Many exciting opportunities out there.
- Are there any questions for Mr. McClassen about his report or any other administration department
- things?
- Well, if you follow that link, then both products are there.
- We may have inadvertently omitted rain barrels from the description on the link, and I apologize if
- that's the case.
- Okay, I do see a rain barrel. Yeah, but even when you click on the link, the headline at the top
- only talks about compost bins.
- Yeah, and when you go through the product listing, the compost bins and products are listed first,
- and there's quite a few of those options out there, packages and stuff for people to order,
- and I think there's only one or two rain barrel options, and so they're down toward the bottom of
- the product listing.
- Okay. I mean, we're almost at the deadline, so there's no point in changing this,
- but maybe next time just make it more clear that there are also rain barrels, if you scroll.
- Well, and again, like I said, I mean, the rain barrels that we pre-ordered to beat what we thought
- was going to be the tariff deadline have sold out at this point.
- Oh, okay. Right. Right. That's kind of a moot point.
- But if there's enough interest and enough people go online and/or order them, you know, we will
- accept another shipment
- if the vendor says that enough quantity have been ordered.
- All right.
- Any other questions, or we can move on to the next department report,
- which will be Recycling Hazmat HHW Rural Recycling Centers with Joey Long.
- Hello, everyone. Again, thank you.
- I will start with the recycling and reuse. In between all the weather, the rainstorms, you know,
- we have met with a lot of new residents in our area.
- And I want to say they have said thank you and expressed how nice everything looks.
- And they are very appreciative for everything that we have offered.
- So I wanted to pass that along because that goes out to everybody that's involved.
- The green business network, we would like to welcome Pizza X as one of our new green business
- customers.
- We're handling their recycling needs. So that's nice.
- Again, I want to say thank you to Kayla Strand because she's met with them.
- And we've done some on-site assessments and we hope to offer more recycling to them.
- And so that's really nice.
- The hazardous materials with the vendor list and the name changes comes along with some stuff for
- staff.
- Staff's learning new packaging requirements because there's new owners in the name changes.
- So they're currently learning how the new vendors want their stuff handled and packaged.
- So we're going through and meeting all their requirements.
- And with the weather, the storms that has passed through the rural sites.
- Obviously, if you've been out there, you've seen some puddling water at some of the sites.
- I've talked to our vendor today. We're hoping if the weather holds out,
- we can do some parking lot work and add some gravel and do some just basic grading.
- But, you know, we're in early spring, so we expect more rain.
- We expect more damage to the gravel. It's an ongoing process.
- We want to say, you know, thank you to all the residents that deals with it and doesn't complain.
- It's been, you know, it's good. So, we will work on keeping everything up to date.
- That's all I have. If anybody has any questions, I will do my best to answer them.
- Thank you, Mr. Long. Are there any questions for Mr. Long about the recycling centers, et cetera?
- Right. I want to add one thing to Mr. Long's report. Another exciting change, we think, that's
- coming.
- Our orange bag vendor has changed the packaging for our orange bags, so they will no longer be in a
- plastic wrap.
- They will be in a paper wrap that is recyclable.
- That will have QR code linked to the district's website for information about the bag program.
- It was accepted and not accepted.
- Again, because of the way that we order these bags, it will be some time before those make it out
- into the store,
- but we're excited for that change and thankful that the vendor is doing that.
- That is good news. Also good news that Pizza X is now on board, being one of their loyal customers.
- Make me feel even better eating the pizza. All right. No questions.
- We can move on to the landfill and compliance report with Mr. Paulson.
- Good afternoon, Lee Paulson, Environmental Compliance Landfill Director.
- A couple of things I'd like to highlight on the report that you guys see there is that
- we received our response from ITEM in regards to our November 2024 groundwater sampling event.
- Came in pretty routine and they agreed with the findings and the stats.
- So as we prepare for our May groundwater event, we're to continue the same process,
- continue with what we're doing and how we're doing and keep up with how we're doing that.
- This water sampling event is what we consider our long list, which is quite a bit more pollutants
- to test for.
- But at this point, I don't really see anything to change with how we've been seeing our numbers and
- that kind of stuff.
- But right now we're getting everything set up for that.
- The other thing I wanted to highlight was that we are preparing to do our next planting of the Shiloh
- Road area of the trees.
- Tentatively right now, our planting date for the next section of tree area is Tuesday, April 22nd,
- with an alternative date of Tuesday, April 29th. So I'll put it out there for CAC or any board
- members.
- This is a pretty interesting thing to come be a part of if you guys are looking for something to do
- to be outside for the day.
- It takes about a day for us to do the amount of trees that we are going to be planting, which is
- roughly 8,000.
- We'll be a little dirty, but we can always use a set of hands to be in the planner to take a break
- or do some of that kind of stuff.
- Plus, it's interesting to see how this process goes and see the various kind of trees and the
- different kind of stems and different kind of things like that.
- The only other thing is our compliance stuff is kind of cruising along pretty well.
- The addition of Rick Serpa as a full-time employee has really been helpful to trying to address the
- roadsides and alleviate the extremely high caseload for Mary Beth.
- So we're starting to transition some cases to him now that he's been here a couple of months and
- kind of has his feet underneath him.
- Things are working out pretty well, but much past that, the information is there in regards to our
- treatment system.
- Last month, we treated quite a bit of water before the rains came.
- The rains have been a little challenging to deal with, but we're getting through all that thanks to
- Kevin Hunter with Bynumfano and his extra help with hauling and making sure that we're in target
- with where we need to be.
- So if you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer.
- Thank you, Mr. Paulson. Are there any questions on that report?
- What was the date of the tree planting again?
- We're looking at right now, Tuesday, April 22nd. The area where we're planting the tree is right
- now is not underwater, but it's standing water in a lot of places, so we've got to let that dry out.
- Hopefully as the weather cooperates with us and then we just got to mow it real good, and then we
- should be good to go.
- The long-term forecast looks to be minimal amount of rain between now and then, so we're hoping
- that's our target, because if we get into that following week, it gets kind of challenging, because
- Marybeth and I will be getting more focused on the groundwater for May, and it's just hard to do
- everything all at one time.
- But we'll just have to wait and see. Mother Nature has a way of creating difficulties.
- All right. Well, thank you so much. That's really exciting. 8,000 trees. Wow.
- Yeah, and that's on top of last year we planted 8,800. So, we have a similar size area, but it's a
- little smaller, but different combination of trees. So we're, you know, again, and plus it'll give
- people that want to come out, it'll give a chance to see the trees that we planted last year to
- kind of track the growth and to see where they're at after a year.
- Very good. Thank you.
- All right.
- Now we can go to a period of public comment on general public comment.
- And I do see one person approaching the podium here if you're on Microsoft Teams, you can raise
- your hand there.
- I'm Matthew Austin. I'm the vice chair of the CSE and resident. For those of you that were on the
- exact committee last year, you might remember that I presented a food waste pilot focused on
- festivals.
- Well, with the taste of Bloomington coming up, this seems like an ideal opportunity to inform the
- public about what their food waste options are, specifically Bokashi, which is fermentation of food
- waste.
- My sister's nonprofit, we've taken care of a festival down in Orange County with a meal of 125
- people. We're presenting at where we have a table at Bloomington's Earth Day as well to teach Bokashi
- so people, instead of throwing their food in the trash, they ferment it.
- And so we're going to be taking or I'll be taking the proposal asking for $5,000 from the Waste Reduction
- District as well as $5,000 grant from the Bee Causes Working Group to fund materials, education,
- training, so on and so forth.
- So I just wanted to put that on your radar because I will be in the next month or two presenting
- that request for monies to present this to the citizens of Bloomington and Monroe County.
- And then the other part of that we are looking to partner with farmers because the items
- restriction is 300 square feet for a compost pile. Once you get over 300 square feet then you move
- into commercial and so we have a farmer who is ready to accept food waste.
- He wants to build a pilot with black soldier fly larva. Black soldier flies will consume the food
- waste and then their off put is larva, a protein rich larva which you can use to feed chickens and
- pigs.
- So that would be the idea is to take all festival food waste and our goal isn't to take all the
- food waste, our goal is to educate, but if we get 10, 15, 20 some odd five gallon buckets of food
- waste that gets fermented, then we could tie that to farmers around town who could then take the
- same model and produce a valuable product from what people can currently consider to be waste that
- goes to our landfills.
- And so his estimate is about $7,000 for the pilot set up. So I'll be giving you more details about
- that, but I just wanted to put it on your radar knowing that that would be coming up.
- So that's the first thing. The second thing is when the waste reduction district switches from
- their current recycling provider to the new provider that was just approved, I think it's vitally
- important to inform all county residents that now wax covered paper products will be accepted
- because they currently aren't.
- And we've been doing I say we garden quest has been doing a neighborhood pilot program a Terra
- cycle, and I've been driving out our waste covered products to Rumpke's facility.
- And we easily see that's one of the largest household waste products that can be turned into a
- recycling or a valuable product for the waste reduction district as they get as they get paid on it.
- So I think it's important for the city residents to know that because currently that's still going
- into their trash. And so if they know that they can start bringing that to the waste reduction
- district, which increases the volume and makes more money.
- So I think it's very important to to maybe it's educational, maybe it's advertising, but to let
- everybody know that that is also a great opportunity to reduce our waste.
- It's going to landfill 66 miles away. Thank you.
- I need to put my name down twice. I don't think so. No, thank you.
- Thank you, Mr. Awesome. I don't see any hands raised on teams or any other indication for public
- comment.
- So we will move to comments from directors. Are there any comments from members of the board?
- I don't see none. I think we can wrap up this meeting. Thank you all.
- And we are adjourned.
- Thank you.
- (classical music)
- (upbeat music)