WEBVTT 00:00:00.738 --> 00:00:11.282 - I can call to order the meeting of the Waste Reduction District of Monroe County Board of Directors 00:00:11.282 --> 00:00:22.142 - for Thursday, December 11th, 2025. Mr. McGlassen, will you please call the roll? Piedmont Smith? Here. 00:00:22.142 --> 00:00:28.574 - Thomas? Wilkes? Here. Jones? Here. Swofford? Here. Thompson? 00:00:30.658 --> 00:00:39.259 - Madeira. You have a quorum with four in the room and one present virtually. Thank you. So the first 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:48.032 - item on our agenda is the executive committee meeting minutes. This is not a voting item this is just 00:00:48.032 --> 00:00:56.892 - for your information. Did anybody take a look at these and have any questions. Seeing none we can move 00:00:56.892 --> 00:00:58.526 - on to the numbers. 00:00:59.682 --> 00:01:07.832 - Three, which is approval of board of director meeting minutes from November 13th. So that is a voting 00:01:07.832 --> 00:01:15.981 - item. So if we could get a motion. Move to approve. Second. All right. It's been moved to approve the 00:01:15.981 --> 00:01:24.611 - minutes from November 13th. Are there any questions or comments from directors? Seeing none, Mr. McClassen, 00:01:24.611 --> 00:01:28.286 - will you please take a roll call vote? Jones? 00:01:29.570 --> 00:01:38.361 - Yes. Swafford. Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes. Madera. Yes. Wilts. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. OK, those 00:01:38.361 --> 00:01:47.067 - minutes are approved. And then we will welcome our controller, Teresa Goins, for the cash flows. Cash 00:01:47.067 --> 00:01:55.773 - flow summary is on page eight of your board packet. Here are the balances as of November 30th for the 00:01:55.773 --> 00:01:58.846 - following accounts. Operating them. 00:01:59.042 --> 00:02:15.022 - $4,339,608.27, debt service $16,502.53, capital $46,133.74, landfill closure $820,265.62. The individual 00:02:15.022 --> 00:02:27.806 - cash flow statements for each of these are on pages nine through 14 of your packet. 00:02:27.906 --> 00:02:38.493 - And the operating fund graph is on page 11. What questions are there on the account balances? Are there 00:02:38.493 --> 00:02:49.283 - any questions regarding the cash flow? And I will note, we still have a significant chunk of money coming 00:02:49.283 --> 00:02:56.510 - in from property taxes this month. So our cash flow looks pretty good. 00:02:56.770 --> 00:03:05.460 - Let us go on to the payroll and claims. On page 15 of the packet, you have a summary of the pre-approved 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:13.902 - payroll and claims since your last meeting in the amount of $219,116.83. The backup for those numbers 00:03:13.902 --> 00:03:23.006 - are on pages 16 through 41. The payroll and claims for approval this week were sent in an email on Wednesday, 00:03:23.170 --> 00:03:33.540 - the amount of $122,834.80. Documentation was included in the Wednesday email. That brings the total 00:03:33.540 --> 00:03:44.013 - of all payroll claims that we are recommending for approval to $341,951.63. Also noted in the email, 00:03:44.013 --> 00:03:51.998 - we had two new vendors not on the approved vendor list, Richard Small Engine 00:03:52.322 --> 00:04:00.179 - for a mower and mire trucking equipment for snow plow. These were mentioned in the executive committee 00:04:00.179 --> 00:04:07.808 - meeting as we are taking on in-house mowing and snow plowing. Are there any questions regarding the 00:04:07.808 --> 00:04:12.766 - claim? Thank you. Are there any questions on payroll and claims? 00:04:25.602 --> 00:04:36.676 - a question on page numbers. So I do have a question. There are three items. This is in the page nine 00:04:36.676 --> 00:04:46.763 - of the packet that was sent to us by email yesterday. There are three payments to DEQ, Inc. 00:04:46.763 --> 00:04:53.342 - from the landfill, totaling about $9,000. What is that for? 00:04:53.826 --> 00:05:01.677 - The SCADA computer that we use to operate the leachate treatment plant out at the landfill, the software 00:05:01.677 --> 00:05:09.453 - package on that has become outdated and is no longer supported by the company. So we've had to purchase 00:05:09.453 --> 00:05:16.929 - a new software agreement and pay the vendor to come up and install that. And so the various charges 00:05:16.929 --> 00:05:22.238 - associated with that are split into three payments due to applying the 00:05:22.722 --> 00:05:31.807 - the types of service provided to the appropriate budget line items. Okay, so that's an unusual expense. 00:05:31.807 --> 00:05:40.543 - It's not like we'll see this every year. Correct. Okay, great. Okay, any other questions on payroll 00:05:40.543 --> 00:05:48.318 - and claims? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Move to approve. Is there a second? Second. 00:05:51.106 --> 00:05:58.376 - And I cannot see Commissioner Jones. So Mr. McClassen, if she raises a hand, please notify me. I will. 00:05:58.376 --> 00:06:05.929 - All right. So I don't think there are further questions. So could you please call the vote, Mr. McClassen? 00:06:05.929 --> 00:06:13.270 - Before we do the roll call, I would ask Commissioner Jones to turn her camera on, remind the board that 00:06:13.270 --> 00:06:18.846 - one of the rules of virtual participation when voting is to be seen and heard. 00:06:20.002 --> 00:06:32.575 - Yeah, I know that my camera doesn't. I I don't think my camera has been enabled. So TSD, can you confirm 00:06:32.575 --> 00:06:44.670 - Commissioner Jones camera is enabled? She has the correct permissions. Is it just is not turning on? 00:06:51.138 --> 00:07:03.889 - I can try to log off and get back in and see if that helps. Okay, yeah, why don't you go ahead? 00:07:03.889 --> 00:07:17.303 - All right. Well, I'm glad we got snow plows. We may need them soon. Yes, I don't believe Mr. Long is 00:07:17.303 --> 00:07:21.022 - looking forward to tonight. 00:08:08.674 --> 00:08:22.334 - Commissioner Jones back on. I do see her back on. Technical difficulties, always fun. 00:08:58.274 --> 00:09:12.000 - I can see her there. She is muted and still no camera on. Now she's unmuted. No, it's not. I'm unmuted 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:24.926 - and the camera won't turn on. And I'm afraid dealing with this kind of thing is a bit beyond me. 00:09:27.746 --> 00:09:35.471 - So I guess I'll have to leave the meeting. Well, I think it's fine for Commissioner Jones to stay on 00:09:35.471 --> 00:09:42.738 - and participate in the meeting, just not partake in action or voting items. That's right. Yes, 00:09:42.738 --> 00:09:50.387 - that's right. OK, great. Thank you. Well, seeing as Commissioner Jones will not be able to vote, we 00:09:50.387 --> 00:09:57.118 - can do a voice vote on approval of payroll and claims. So all in favor, please say aye. 00:09:57.378 --> 00:10:06.268 - Any opposed. All right those are approved. Thank you to our controller. Next we'll move on to resolution 00:10:06.268 --> 00:10:15.074 - twenty twenty five dash twenty four to establish a community grant program. Yeah this is a field recall 00:10:15.074 --> 00:10:19.646 - back to our budgeting process. This is something that 00:10:19.810 --> 00:10:27.331 - some board members have acquired about previously, and we were able to appropriate funds in the twenty 00:10:27.331 --> 00:10:34.707 - twenty six budget to make grant funds available to Monroe County organizations and businesses within 00:10:34.707 --> 00:10:42.593 - parameters outlined by the district. So so what this resolution does is establish that program to establish 00:10:42.593 --> 00:10:47.486 - the criteria and the process by which grant funds will be awarded. 00:10:48.162 --> 00:10:55.225 - I would note for the board this what you're looking at as has been through a couple of iterations with 00:10:55.225 --> 00:11:02.151 - the executive committee. And this is this is where staff and the executive committee wound up with a 00:11:02.151 --> 00:11:09.077 - program that we thought would serve the purpose that we were looking for and be something that could 00:11:09.077 --> 00:11:15.454 - be utilized by local organizations within the county to help further the district's mission. 00:11:17.954 --> 00:11:29.577 - Thank you for that overview. Can we get a motion on the table please. Move to approve the resolution. 00:11:29.577 --> 00:11:41.998 - OK. It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 20 25 24. Are there any questions about the community 00:11:41.998 --> 00:11:47.582 - grant program. OK. I don't see any any comments. 00:11:50.370 --> 00:11:59.271 - Yes, Mr. McClassen. I would just, assuming that the vote is affirmative and we do pass this resolution, 00:11:59.271 --> 00:12:08.086 - would note for any public watching or listening that we're a little tight on a schedule for doing this 00:12:08.086 --> 00:12:14.334 - this year. So if the resolution is adopted and we implement the program, 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:21.838 - Staff will attempt to, as quickly as possible, open up the application process and expedite the review 00:12:21.838 --> 00:12:28.691 - and awarding process for grants so that people applying and awarded grants or organizations applying 00:12:28.691 --> 00:12:35.951 - and awarded grants would have ample time to implement their project and seek reimbursement in the calendar 00:12:35.951 --> 00:12:43.550 - year 2026, as that is when the funds are available, and that should the grant program continue in future years, 00:12:43.714 --> 00:12:51.817 - Uh, the, the idea would be to have the application process occur, uh, late, uh, in the year prior to 00:12:51.817 --> 00:13:00.320 - when the funds are available so that, um, grant awardees would, would have the bulk, uh, if not an entire 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:08.423 - calendar year, uh, to implement their project. Yes. Counselor wealth. So can, do you have an idea of 00:13:08.423 --> 00:13:11.070 - when, if this is approved, when, 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:20.760 - the due date, the cutoff date for applying might be? I don't know if I've thought that far ahead. Ideally, 00:13:20.760 --> 00:13:29.662 - you know, we would have applications out and available before the end of the year and would probably 00:13:29.662 --> 00:13:38.916 - give the month of January to get applications in. Would note that for the review process, as established 00:13:38.916 --> 00:13:40.414 - in this program, 00:13:40.546 --> 00:13:49.321 - The CAC has a key component of that of doing an initial review of applications and making recommendations 00:13:49.321 --> 00:13:57.847 - to the board for award. So that would probably put us in the March board meeting to bring applications 00:13:57.847 --> 00:14:06.208 - and recommendations to the board for the board to vote on awarding any grant funds. Yes, go ahead. I 00:14:06.208 --> 00:14:10.430 - just would, if you would make sure that we all get 00:14:11.042 --> 00:14:18.997 - the information so that we can kind of promote it as well. As soon as you know about the application 00:14:18.997 --> 00:14:26.874 - and how and when that would be great. Thank you. Certainly. Any other questions. If not let's go to 00:14:26.874 --> 00:14:34.750 - the public. Is there any public comment on the resolution to establish the community grant program. 00:14:44.578 --> 00:14:54.578 - Okay. All right. We will come back. Any final comments before we vote? All right. Do we need to do a 00:14:54.578 --> 00:15:04.973 - roll call for resolutions in any case or can we do a voice vote? You can do a voice vote for this. Okay. 00:15:04.973 --> 00:15:12.894 - All in favor of approving resolution 2025-24, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? 00:15:16.258 --> 00:15:26.804 - I think that passes 4-0. Next, we will move on to resolution 2025-25 to establish the board of directors 00:15:26.804 --> 00:15:36.949 - meeting schedule for next year. Mr. Mclassen. Yeah, and this I just would note that a little unusual 00:15:36.949 --> 00:15:44.382 - for us to seek to establish the board schedule via a resolution, but just 00:15:45.282 --> 00:15:52.746 - Given how involved it is these days scheduling meetings with the virtual component to them and working 00:15:52.746 --> 00:16:00.065 - with room reservations and working with county tech services to get teams meetings set up, I thought 00:16:00.065 --> 00:16:07.746 - it would be more efficient for staff to have the resolution to take to the various county entities needed 00:16:07.746 --> 00:16:12.094 - to coordinate and schedule the board meetings for the year. 00:16:16.066 --> 00:16:23.908 - Can we get a motion on the table regarding this resolution, please? I move to approve resolution 2025-25 00:16:23.908 --> 00:16:31.601 - to establish 2026 Board of Director meeting schedule. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. 00:16:31.601 --> 00:16:38.622 - Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on the proposed meeting schedule? 00:16:47.682 --> 00:16:58.022 - Seeing none, any final comments from directors? I will just say that we may, that Councillor Wills' 00:16:58.022 --> 00:17:08.568 - term does end on December 31st as does town council members Walford. So we may have some new members, 00:17:08.568 --> 00:17:14.462 - we may not, but we can, if there are conflicts, we could 00:17:15.298 --> 00:17:23.355 - discuss those. The meeting schedule can always be amended at the, yeah, at the will of the board. Councilor 00:17:23.355 --> 00:17:31.487 - Wilson. I just will say that we try to share this information amongst our body so that when people volunteer 00:17:31.487 --> 00:17:39.022 - or say, hey, I'm interested, they have the meeting schedule in front of them. So we try to make sure 00:17:39.022 --> 00:17:44.990 - that that's not something that comes up and has to happen. Terrific. Thank you. 00:17:46.210 --> 00:17:57.959 - And I missed who was the second on the motion. Thank you. All right. We already went to the public right. 00:17:57.959 --> 00:18:09.376 - Yes. All right. So all those in favor of resolution 20 25 dash 25 please say aye aye. Any opposed. And 00:18:09.376 --> 00:18:14.142 - that resolution passes with a vote of 4 0. 00:18:17.474 --> 00:18:33.301 - on to a report from Garden Quest who received financial support from the district for the festival food 00:18:33.301 --> 00:18:46.846 - waste pilot project. So I think we have Mr. Austin to report. Mr. McClassen what was the 00:18:47.010 --> 00:18:54.991 - amount again of this award? Was it $5,000? $5,000, yes. Yeah. So we found this to be a very successful 00:18:54.991 --> 00:19:03.050 - project. There was a lot of interest in the food waste. There was a great response. Could you introduce 00:19:03.050 --> 00:19:10.799 - yourself just for the record? Thank you. Matthew Austin, volunteer at Garden Quest, standing in for 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:16.766 - the executive director because she, Ellie Spear, because she is out of town. 00:19:17.218 --> 00:19:25.485 - So the community festival food race pilot project we found to be very successful. We had very good attendance 00:19:25.485 --> 00:19:33.226 - at the various training trainings at Will Detmer as well as the community orchard. And we were finding 00:19:33.226 --> 00:19:40.742 - we were getting increasing numbers. I think the max we had was about 19 households at one training. 00:19:40.742 --> 00:19:46.078 - And from that 19 households we had seven that adopted Bokashi buckets. 00:19:46.178 --> 00:19:54.962 - So we're finding increasing percentages of more people adopting it. And there was a large amount of 00:19:54.962 --> 00:20:01.726 - interest at the taste of Bloomington. We added on the food waste collection. 00:20:01.858 --> 00:20:08.510 - And that was a real, I guess, surprise as to the success of that. It was multiple hundreds of pounds 00:20:08.510 --> 00:20:15.096 - of food that was going to get wasted that ended up going to those in need in the community. And one 00:20:15.096 --> 00:20:21.813 - thing that we discovered that was unexpected was the commingling of waste and recycling. And so we've 00:20:21.813 --> 00:20:28.597 - made the directors of the taste very aware of that. And that is something that can be greatly improved 00:20:28.597 --> 00:20:31.824 - because we don't think that any of the recycling 00:20:31.824 --> 00:20:37.758 - The recyclables probably ended up in recycling. They probably all ended up in the landfill. 00:20:37.954 --> 00:20:44.730 - people coming through, we see that as room for real improvement in their waste management plan. 00:20:44.730 --> 00:20:52.072 - So GardenQuest has talked to various entities, one being Coke Consolidated, hoping that they could help 00:20:52.072 --> 00:20:59.201 - fund some signs and some other things to help with that collection in a more efficient manner. There 00:20:59.201 --> 00:21:06.401 - were many people that came to the tent, to GardenQuest's tent, and to find out more information about 00:21:06.401 --> 00:21:07.742 - what was going on. 00:21:08.098 --> 00:21:15.398 - The exposure of the idea of Bokashi to residents was very successful. And then we really found that 00:21:15.398 --> 00:21:22.699 - having the National Honor Society students from Monroe County was also fantastic. Their excitement, 00:21:22.699 --> 00:21:30.291 - their volunteering, it just really brought another level of energy. In fact, some of the work, and this 00:21:30.291 --> 00:21:34.014 - doesn't relate to this, but there was a child who, 00:21:34.562 --> 00:21:42.310 - their birthday and eight-year-old at Marlin that asked for a Bokashi set to start Bokashi-ing at home. 00:21:42.310 --> 00:21:49.982 - So that's a really good feel, good thing. So there definitely is some momentum here. And then working 00:21:49.982 --> 00:21:57.504 - with Will Dettmer to get all the food waste out there, there were three more pits dug that are open 00:21:57.504 --> 00:22:03.070 - and ready for additional food waste. And so Will Dettmer really likes the 00:22:03.394 --> 00:22:09.875 - the soil amendments and that aspect. And so we're still working on getting some of the members of the 00:22:09.875 --> 00:22:16.292 - community who garden at Will Dettmer to start adopting Bokashi and then they would have that area to 00:22:16.292 --> 00:22:22.836 - bring their food waste to. So overall, we saw a great response from the community. And yeah, it's step 00:22:22.836 --> 00:22:29.444 - one in building this to make it a habit in our community so that people are fully responsible for their 00:22:29.444 --> 00:22:30.206 - food waste. 00:22:32.098 --> 00:22:41.935 - What questions can I answer on the report that we provided? Thank you. Are there questions from directors 00:22:41.935 --> 00:22:51.957 - about the Garden Quest report? I don't have a question on the report necessarily, but where do you envision 00:22:51.957 --> 00:23:00.958 - going for the future? Well, we hope to find funding to work with the Taste of Bloomington again. 00:23:01.218 --> 00:23:10.326 - because we definitely see a lot of improvements that could be made there. So that would be one. Two 00:23:10.326 --> 00:23:19.616 - would be expanding and having more trainings. But with those trainings, people sign up and they don't 00:23:19.616 --> 00:23:29.271 - show up. So it would be having more, I guess, marketing to the community so they know that this is there. 00:23:29.271 --> 00:23:30.910 - We constantly are 00:23:31.330 --> 00:23:38.675 - putting out more information because we've tried to cover all the what ifs, but there are things that 00:23:38.675 --> 00:23:45.876 - we haven't run into. And so we're constantly updating our best practices because if somebody gets a 00:23:45.876 --> 00:23:53.366 - couple of fruit flies in there, which is normal with food waste, and they find the little bugs in there 00:23:53.366 --> 00:23:55.166 - that could dissuade them 00:23:55.298 --> 00:24:02.592 - from doing it. So we're working through all those aspects, but it's really just continuing to help people 00:24:02.592 --> 00:24:09.542 - adopt it, hold their hand through the process, and then it would be more like, actually, some of the 00:24:09.542 --> 00:24:16.286 - real benefits was ERI approached us. Mother Hubbard's Cubber, they want to be a community hub for 00:24:16.418 --> 00:24:23.931 - So we're working to set up a training with them so that they can then be a training center. So it's 00:24:23.931 --> 00:24:31.594 - really expanding and having other leaders take it on, and then it spreads through that. So that would 00:24:31.594 --> 00:24:38.807 - be the idea, expanding into other nonprofits and having more captains that take it on for their 00:24:38.807 --> 00:24:43.390 - neighborhoods. And we have neighborhoods that are interested 00:24:43.490 --> 00:24:53.734 - They just haven't found enough people to qualify as a captain yet. Yeah, you're welcome. I have a question. 00:24:53.734 --> 00:25:03.504 - So on one of your last slides, you have the financial summary. And the total expenditures were $3,200. 00:25:03.504 --> 00:25:10.334 - Does that mean that you didn't draw down the total $5,000 of the grant? 00:25:10.690 --> 00:25:18.955 - Yeah, we did not draw down the toll. I think the total was 4700. And I think that that number is that 00:25:18.955 --> 00:25:27.383 - is for the for all the hours and the rest was for the supplies. So I see 3200 for garden quest training 00:25:27.383 --> 00:25:30.462 - and management and then 2500 in kind. 00:25:30.946 --> 00:25:36.253 - Donation, right. And then the remaining, I think the check was written out for 47 and change. I forget 00:25:36.253 --> 00:25:41.251 - the exact number. So we did not use the entire 5,000. And the remaining was for all the buckets. 00:25:41.251 --> 00:25:46.816 - And actually, that was the other thing we found out is that we thought that more people would be interested 00:25:46.816 --> 00:25:52.020 - in the non-spigoted buckets. But we've ran out of the spigoted buckets. And we find that we actually 00:25:52.020 --> 00:25:57.173 - have a waiting list for spigoted buckets at this point in time. So because it's a four-month cycle, 00:25:57.173 --> 00:25:59.646 - once that four month is up, those get returned. 00:25:59.970 --> 00:26:06.324 - give those to the next folks in the waiting list. So as part of our next funding ask wherever we look 00:26:06.324 --> 00:26:12.679 - for funding is going to be specifically for the spigoted buckets because we're having more demand for 00:26:12.679 --> 00:26:18.909 - that than originally anticipated. So I'm a little confused because you said forty seven hundred. So 00:26:18.909 --> 00:26:25.139 - so the difference is was for all the spigoted and non spigoted buckets for the try it program to be 00:26:25.139 --> 00:26:27.070 - able to hand those things out. 00:26:28.994 --> 00:26:38.721 - So you had about $1,500 expended on buckets? Yeah. Based on these numbers, that's what I'm saying, yeah. 00:26:38.721 --> 00:26:48.077 - Mr. McClassen, does that track what you've seen as far as the claims coming in? Yeah, they submitted 00:26:48.077 --> 00:26:56.414 - one reimbursement claim. And I apologize. I don't have it in front of me. Roughly $4,700. 00:26:56.546 --> 00:27:05.502 - what I recall, somewhere in that range, the report, the invoice that was submitted under the agreement 00:27:05.502 --> 00:27:14.285 - that the board entered into. I don't recall how that broke down. You know, that claim obviously came 00:27:14.285 --> 00:27:21.502 - to the board to approve issuing that check, but and Ms. Goanzer, I could certainly 00:27:21.986 --> 00:27:29.911 - pull that information back out and get that forwarded to the board members if that would be desired. 00:27:29.911 --> 00:27:38.070 - Oh, that's OK. I just wanted to see if your recollection matched what Mr. Austin said just to make sure 00:27:38.070 --> 00:27:45.995 - that we're all on the same page. All right. Any other questions about the report or the Garden Quest 00:27:45.995 --> 00:27:49.918 - Bokashi program in general? Yes, Councilor Wills. 00:27:52.162 --> 00:28:03.232 - I'm looking for here what I was trying to find. You mentioned that one of your considerations for future 00:28:03.232 --> 00:28:14.407 - trainings revolves around attendance after registering. And I'm wondering on two fronts, have you thought 00:28:14.407 --> 00:28:21.470 - of charging a small fee for attendance? I do a lot of training in- 00:28:21.570 --> 00:28:29.742 - we've found that that actually increases attendance in some cases because people have literally invested. 00:28:29.742 --> 00:28:37.759 - Just a thought. They've skinned the game, yeah. Yeah. And the other is you used one of the county parks 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:45.854 - as a location. Have you looked into partnering and becoming part of the parks and recreation departments 00:28:45.854 --> 00:28:50.942 - programming either for the city parks or the county parks so that 00:28:51.202 --> 00:28:58.781 - that might help with advertising and getting the word out? We have not gone that route. The county has 00:28:58.781 --> 00:29:06.359 - been much more accessible and easy to work with. We've been trying to work with city parks for a while 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:13.790 - and we just haven't been getting a response. But we love that idea. As for the charging, I feel like 00:29:13.790 --> 00:29:15.262 - my sister would not 00:29:15.714 --> 00:29:21.394 - like that because we want to make it accessible to everybody. But I do understand the skin of the game. 00:29:21.394 --> 00:29:27.128 - So maybe it's like two bucks or something like that. But we do have interns that we now have and they're 00:29:27.128 --> 00:29:32.754 - helping us with the follow up. What we've been doing is we just found we just started sending a follow 00:29:32.754 --> 00:29:38.433 - up email to find out if people why they didn't sign up for buckets or if they're signing up for buckets 00:29:38.433 --> 00:29:43.294 - how it's going. And that feedback has been very valuable because we've been finding some 00:29:43.970 --> 00:29:53.252 - best practices that we need to institute because of that. So the follow-up is very important. But yeah, 00:29:53.252 --> 00:30:02.445 - I do like the idea of potentially being programming for the county as a way to market it more. I think 00:30:02.445 --> 00:30:11.102 - that's a great idea. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Any other questions or comments? Again, I can't 00:30:11.938 --> 00:30:23.530 - Maybe if anybody's got a hand raised as far as Commissioner Jones. Nope. Okay. All right. Well, thank 00:30:23.530 --> 00:30:34.895 - you very much. We're glad to hear that of your success. Thank you very much. All right. Next on the 00:30:34.895 --> 00:30:40.350 - agenda is CAC report. We have Mr. Austin again. 00:30:41.122 --> 00:30:48.104 - My name is Matthew Austin and I'm the vice chair of the CAC and I have the report for October and November 00:30:48.104 --> 00:30:55.216 - 2025. So in our regular meeting October 16th we had Daniel Duncan with Richland Farms provide a presentation 00:30:55.216 --> 00:31:02.002 - explaining the services and options that they offer residential commercial industrial around food waste 00:31:02.002 --> 00:31:07.614 - collection and event services. When I say event services they offer plates bowls cups 00:31:07.938 --> 00:31:15.662 - Cutlery and that's all been fully approved for them to compost so like a hundred hundred percent turnkey 00:31:15.662 --> 00:31:23.019 - services essentially CSE membership was very encouraged by the presentation with Richmond farms now 00:31:23.019 --> 00:31:30.523 - offering service in Monroe County So I highly encourage you to to review his presentation. Do you see 00:31:30.523 --> 00:31:36.702 - what what they offer and how they're working? And They have already had their first 00:31:36.834 --> 00:31:43.618 - customer pick up a bin from the waste reduction district. And then we discussed the proposed waste reduction 00:31:43.618 --> 00:31:50.216 - district $20,000 grant. We were very excited about that. Joe Winnia gave a notice that he would be moving 00:31:50.216 --> 00:31:56.938 - out of Monroe County and thus stepping down from the CAC. Yes, I agree with that face. We are very saddened 00:31:56.938 --> 00:32:03.286 - by that because he has been a champion in our community and we wish he would stay longer and continue 00:32:03.286 --> 00:32:05.278 - to champion, but we understand. 00:32:05.954 --> 00:32:12.172 - And then we talked about the AIS WMD Association of Indiana Solid Waste Management District Conference 00:32:12.172 --> 00:32:18.270 - attendees, reviewed takeaways from the conference, including potentially joining the Indiana Compost 00:32:18.270 --> 00:32:24.488 - Council, the impacts of SB1, co-consolidated recycling efforts, and more. And then we discussed items, 00:32:24.488 --> 00:32:29.438 - new materials, management plan, and how that impacts the district's future plans. 00:32:29.954 --> 00:32:35.728 - So that was from the October regular meeting, from the December regular meeting. We discussed the 2026 00:32:35.728 --> 00:32:41.447 - meeting location since the usual room is under construction. We confirmed availability of CSE members 00:32:41.447 --> 00:32:47.109 - for the joint meeting with the board of directors today. And then we continued our discussion on the 00:32:47.109 --> 00:32:52.772 - items, new materials, management plan, and how that impacts the district's future plans. And that is 00:32:52.772 --> 00:32:54.846 - the end of my report. Any questions? 00:32:55.970 --> 00:33:03.864 - Thank you very much. You mentioned you discussed items new requirements. Do we actually have those yet 00:33:03.864 --> 00:33:11.527 - or just this was like a theoretical theoretical theoretical about how if they don't have their plan 00:33:11.527 --> 00:33:19.191 - out how can the district have a plan when that could just all be for not. We are wondering the same 00:33:19.191 --> 00:33:21.950 - thing. Other questions for the CAC. 00:33:26.914 --> 00:33:34.854 - Thank you very much. Thank you. I have a question for Mr. McGlassen related to the CAC. Do we need to 00:33:34.854 --> 00:33:42.795 - reappoint the three members who are willing to be reappointed? Yeah, I do apologize. We had discussed 00:33:42.795 --> 00:33:50.657 - that at the executive committee meeting. And as we were all, sorry to hear that we actually only had 00:33:50.657 --> 00:33:54.238 - three members that did ask to be reappointed. 00:33:54.786 --> 00:34:00.911 - Uh, we could, we could certainly do that via a voice vote. I could present those verbally. Uh, but my, 00:34:00.911 --> 00:34:07.215 - um, as I was going to report in my department report, uh, you know, the staff has, uh, actively promoting 00:34:07.215 --> 00:34:13.222 - the CAC. And my hope was that, uh, if we, if we brought this to the board in January, in addition to 00:34:13.222 --> 00:34:19.407 - the three members that had requested reappointment, we might also have some new members, uh, to appoint 00:34:19.407 --> 00:34:21.310 - ahead of their January meeting. 00:34:23.970 --> 00:34:34.674 - But if you would wish to go ahead and make the reappointments now, I can identify those. I think I would 00:34:34.674 --> 00:34:45.073 - prefer to do that. OK. Lest we lose somebody else. You're going to get them committed now before they 00:34:45.073 --> 00:34:50.782 - have a chance. All right. So for 2026, current members, 00:34:50.946 --> 00:35:00.894 - John Arnold, Matt Austin, and Brad Lucas have been asked to be reappointed. All three are on the committee 00:35:00.894 --> 00:35:10.284 - as Monroe County residents, as opposed to a waste industry representative. Thank you. Would somebody 00:35:10.284 --> 00:35:18.558 - like to make a motion to reappoint those three? I move appointment of the three existing 00:35:18.690 --> 00:35:27.917 - CAC members for the coming year. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Any comments, questions? 00:35:27.917 --> 00:35:36.626 - All right. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. We thank the three members who 00:35:36.626 --> 00:35:43.870 - are continuing and we also thank the three who are stepping down for their service. 00:35:47.394 --> 00:35:57.923 - So now I think we're ready for department reports. All right. I guess I will, since we just did those 00:35:57.923 --> 00:36:08.762 - reappointments, I will, I guess, publicly identify the members not returning, Joe Winnie, William Goins, 00:36:08.762 --> 00:36:12.478 - and Paul White, and thank them all. 00:36:12.578 --> 00:36:20.151 - for their time and their service while they served on the committee. They have all been valuable members 00:36:20.151 --> 00:36:27.580 - of that committee during the terms that they served, and we thank them. As I mentioned, we're actively 00:36:27.580 --> 00:36:35.153 - promoting the committee and trying to recruit new members to bring to the board for appointment. I would 00:36:35.153 --> 00:36:42.366 - quickly follow up. Matt Austin in his report referenced Richland Farms. They are offering curbside. 00:36:42.498 --> 00:36:50.356 - compost collection in Monroe County at this time. I do know they have at least one residential customer 00:36:50.356 --> 00:36:58.063 - at this point and some business customers at this point. So they are they are active in the community 00:36:58.063 --> 00:37:05.845 - and there is a link on the home page of our website to their website for anybody interested in looking 00:37:05.845 --> 00:37:11.134 - at their services and what they offer and what it takes to subscribe. 00:37:11.650 --> 00:37:20.000 - And I'll let Joey give you the details. But last, I'll just report that, again, this year we will be 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:28.930 - accepting holiday trees for recycling, composting at all the district recycling centers after the Christmas 00:37:28.930 --> 00:37:37.363 - holiday. With that, I would take any questions. Are there any questions on the administration report? 00:37:37.363 --> 00:37:40.670 - Oh, Commissioner Jones, we can see you. 00:37:40.898 --> 00:37:49.830 - I don't know what happened. A little late in the game. Did you have any question about the report? No, 00:37:49.830 --> 00:37:58.675 - I didn't. All right. I just have one question. When I clicked on the Richland Farms link and I looked 00:37:58.675 --> 00:38:07.520 - at their website, it looked like they were only serving Northern Monroe County. Does anybody know? Is 00:38:07.520 --> 00:38:08.734 - there a line? 00:38:08.962 --> 00:38:16.569 - There is not a definitive line. You know, their focus right now is the city of Bloomington just because 00:38:16.569 --> 00:38:24.103 - of the potentially concentrated subscribership that's in that area. And what he has said is, you know, 00:38:24.103 --> 00:38:32.002 - depending on, you know, how quickly they get subscribers and where those subscribers are and how frequently 00:38:32.002 --> 00:38:38.878 - they have trucks running routes in the area, that that service area would potentially expand. 00:38:43.266 --> 00:38:55.543 - Thank you. All right, if there are no other questions on that report, we can move on to recycling and 00:38:55.543 --> 00:39:08.061 - household hazardous waste with Mr. Long. TTSD, we're going to need Joey Long and Lee Paulson to be able 00:39:08.061 --> 00:39:11.070 - to speak and have video. 00:39:14.178 --> 00:39:21.034 - Hi, everyone. So I'll start off with our recycling centers in the rural sites. We will be doing a holiday 00:39:21.034 --> 00:39:27.826 - tree recycling from December 26 to January the 17th. We will be partnering with Blue Stone Tree Service. 00:39:27.826 --> 00:39:34.294 - They will take the trees, grind up, and you'll eventually be able to get them back in mulch form at 00:39:34.294 --> 00:39:41.021 - some point. We also will be doing snow removal in-house for the first time at all five sites. And we'll 00:39:41.021 --> 00:39:44.126 - be doing the mowing at all five sites in-house. 00:39:44.514 --> 00:39:50.712 - taking that in and adding that to the staff. The household hazardous waste, everything is operating 00:39:50.712 --> 00:39:57.033 - as normal. We slow down in the winter time a little bit, and that's about all I have for you guys. So 00:39:57.033 --> 00:40:03.479 - if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Thank you, Mr. Long. Are there any questions 00:40:03.479 --> 00:40:05.214 - for Mr. Long on his report? 00:40:16.514 --> 00:40:25.809 - If somebody at TSD could click the little down arrow so we can catch up with our closed captioning here 00:40:25.809 --> 00:40:34.836 - on the screen. Thank you. I do have just a small question. So I believe you accept Christmas wreaths 00:40:34.836 --> 00:40:43.953 - too? Yeah, so any live form of, go ahead, sorry. Oh, I was just going to say even if they're on wire, 00:40:43.953 --> 00:40:46.366 - do you accept those? Yeah. 00:40:46.754 --> 00:40:52.996 - Yes and no, we don't want, we don't want very much wire, but I mean, if there is some pieces, they said 00:40:52.996 --> 00:40:59.118 - it would be okay. You know, we want the trees and reefs to be as naked as possible, you know, back to 00:40:59.118 --> 00:41:05.420 - natural form, that way they can easily grind it up in mulch. They have told me that if there is a little 00:41:05.420 --> 00:41:11.062 - bit of tinsel or something in there, they're not gonna complain. All right, that makes sense. 00:41:11.062 --> 00:41:12.382 - Thank you. Thank you. 00:41:16.450 --> 00:41:23.348 - If there are no other questions, we can move on to landfill and environmental compliance with Mr. Paulson. 00:41:23.348 --> 00:41:29.859 - Good afternoon. Outside of what's in the report there, I just want to let everybody know that we got 00:41:29.859 --> 00:41:36.369 - the treatment plan up and running last week. Weather conditions have now been wet enough that we got 00:41:36.369 --> 00:41:42.558 - enough water in the pond to keep things going, and now we're getting ready for a big cold snap. 00:41:42.658 --> 00:41:48.559 - The only other thing to highlight is that the groundwater samples have been all received into 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:55.026 - our Statistician Group Atlas, and that usually takes four to six weeks to eight weeks or so to get the 00:41:55.026 --> 00:42:01.492 - stats report back from them before we submit the item. From what I saw with that stuff, nothing really 00:42:01.492 --> 00:42:07.833 - looked out of line for our November sampling, so we'll see what the bulk of that data shows and what 00:42:07.833 --> 00:42:12.542 - they come back with. But other than that, everything is going pretty well. 00:42:13.282 --> 00:42:22.414 - You guys have any questions? I'll be happy to answer. Thank you, Mr. Paulson. Thank you. Any questions? 00:42:22.414 --> 00:42:31.633 - All right. Seeing none, I believe we've reached the point in the agenda when it's open to general public 00:42:31.633 --> 00:42:40.414 - comment. Does any member of the public want to make a comment? General comment. Yes, step right up. 00:42:41.250 --> 00:42:47.551 - All right. Hello once more. Joseph Winnia here, CAC member of five years and now departing member and 00:42:47.551 --> 00:42:53.975 - also operator of One Sustainable Joe. And I just wanted to take the opportunity. This is the last board 00:42:53.975 --> 00:43:00.461 - meeting that I expect to attend. So I just wanted to express my gratitude one more time to the district, 00:43:00.461 --> 00:43:07.070 - particularly Board of Directors and Executive Director McGlasson, for all of your engagement with the CAC. 00:43:07.586 --> 00:43:14.061 - and efforts on waste reduction initiatives. It's been really satisfying to work with you all. I've been 00:43:14.061 --> 00:43:20.349 - very grateful for the opportunity. I hope it gets to continue in the future. And I want to also note 00:43:20.349 --> 00:43:26.948 - a quick update with respect to that going into the future. The Back to Earth Composting Program onboarded 00:43:26.948 --> 00:43:34.046 - two new properties in the last month. There's, for a total of, I think it's 20, no, 34 new participating members. 00:43:34.178 --> 00:43:40.133 - And to just give you a bit of an idea, the overall current running totals are 8,500 pounds diverted, 00:43:40.133 --> 00:43:46.264 - which is about four and a quarter tons. That's about 2,000 times that people have emptied their compost 00:43:46.264 --> 00:43:52.160 - into the system, and there have been over 160 participants involved in the program. And a couple of 00:43:52.160 --> 00:43:58.174 - sites have actually stopped weighing in their data over the course of this past year, so I can easily 00:43:58.306 --> 00:44:03.822 - approximate that it's over 10,000 pounds diverted by the program since it started. So about five tons. 00:44:03.822 --> 00:44:09.553 - So thank you so much for the opportunity to get this started and also to the district staff for supporting 00:44:09.553 --> 00:44:15.391 - it going into the future as well. And also I wanted to say thank you to the CAC for all of their membership. 00:44:15.391 --> 00:44:20.854 - I think everyone's been here for at least two or three years and it's been great to work with you all 00:44:20.854 --> 00:44:25.406 - as well. So I hope things continue to go great in the future. So thank you everyone. 00:44:27.138 --> 00:44:37.792 - Thank you very much, Mr. William. And now we'll move to comments from directors. Any of the board of 00:44:37.792 --> 00:44:48.657 - directors want to make a comment at this point? Councilor Wilz. I just wanted to thank you all for the 00:44:48.657 --> 00:44:51.294 - opportunity to hang out. 00:44:51.394 --> 00:45:01.048 - and distract folks at the recycling center. I went to the one on Dilman Road on the America Recycles 00:45:01.048 --> 00:45:10.607 - Day and felt very welcomed and lots of questions were answered and I greeted lots of people and was 00:45:10.607 --> 00:45:14.430 - kind of impressed by the range of items 00:45:14.562 --> 00:45:22.993 - that were being brought and at one point exchanged among folks. One person's trash was literally another 00:45:22.993 --> 00:45:31.344 - person's treasure sort of thing. It was kind of cool. And anyway, I was glad that you facilitated that. 00:45:31.344 --> 00:45:39.614 - It was a cool experience. Thank you. I certainly appreciate you taking the time to spend at one of our 00:45:39.614 --> 00:45:43.870 - facilities and other board members that did as well. 00:45:45.506 --> 00:45:52.796 - Any other comments? If not, I will. Commissioner Vergara. I just wanted to say thank you for a great 00:45:52.796 --> 00:46:00.231 - first year on the commission. And I just wanted to say I'm really happy that our county takes the time 00:46:00.231 --> 00:46:07.665 - and resources to do a lot of creative things that a lot of other communities do not. So I look forward 00:46:07.665 --> 00:46:09.470 - to the next three years. 00:46:12.354 --> 00:46:21.437 - Right, and I would just like to add, I also enjoyed hanging out at the America Recycles Day at the South 00:46:21.437 --> 00:46:30.780 - Walnut Street location. But really, what I'd like to focus on is how valuable Joseph Winnie's contributions 00:46:30.780 --> 00:46:38.825 - have been for the last five years to the CAC and to the district as a whole and, dare I say, 00:46:38.825 --> 00:46:40.382 - to the community. 00:46:40.770 --> 00:46:51.235 - He was really instrumental in shoring up the CAC as far as creating bylaws, leading that group for several 00:46:51.235 --> 00:47:01.015 - years, and also working on our five-year plan, which we're going to review in the next meeting, and 00:47:01.015 --> 00:47:06.590 - working on the rebranding, helping with the new website. 00:47:07.202 --> 00:47:15.394 - such a broad range of ways that he has been of service to us, and we're going to miss him a lot. 00:47:15.394 --> 00:47:23.839 - So thank you. If there are no other comments, I think we can go ahead and adjourn. And we will meet 00:47:23.839 --> 00:47:28.990 - again shortly for the joint meeting with the CAC. Thank you.