WEBVTT 00:00:00.994 --> 00:00:10.162 - the Board of Directors of the Waste Reduction District of Monroe County for Thursday, April 9th, 2026. 00:00:10.162 --> 00:00:19.596 - Mr. McClassam, will you please call the roll? Piedmont Smith. Oh, I'm sorry. I did not recognize Piedmont 00:00:19.596 --> 00:00:28.141 - Smith there. I thought you said Pete somebody. Yeah, it said Pete there. But anyway, I'm sorry. 00:00:28.141 --> 00:00:30.366 - I am here. Thomas? Here. 00:00:31.010 --> 00:00:41.176 - Wilkes? Here. Jones? Ellis? Here. Thompson? Madera? Here. Have a quorum present in the room and Commissioner 00:00:41.176 --> 00:00:50.502 - Thomas online. All right, thank you. And welcome to our new board member, William Ellis, who we had 00:00:50.502 --> 00:00:57.310 - online at our last meeting, but first time in person, so welcome aboard. 00:00:58.114 --> 00:01:06.859 - All right, we'll start today with the executive committee meeting minutes. This is just for your information. 00:01:06.859 --> 00:01:14.888 - Did anybody want to raise anything in particular about those minutes? All right, then we can move on 00:01:14.888 --> 00:01:23.473 - to approval of the board of director meeting minutes for March 12th. Do I have a motion? I have to approve. 00:01:23.473 --> 00:01:26.494 - Second. All right, and Mr. McGlasson, 00:01:26.594 --> 00:01:36.443 - there was a small revision that I asked for today. Yes. Excuse me. On page three of the minutes under 00:01:36.443 --> 00:01:46.292 - the twenty twenty six community grant program. The first are the typographical correction of a little 00:01:46.292 --> 00:01:53.438 - flip flop on the date there it is twenty twenty six not twenty sixty two. 00:01:53.666 --> 00:02:01.602 - First paragraph under A, the 2026 Community Grant Program Award statement was added that the application 00:02:01.602 --> 00:02:09.463 - is from the IU Health Community Health Hygiene Pantry to purchase sustainable feminine hygiene products 00:02:09.463 --> 00:02:17.323 - for distribution to its clients. Thank you. Yeah, I thought it was important just to say what the grant 00:02:17.323 --> 00:02:23.294 - was. Any other discussion of the meeting minutes from March 12th? Seeing none. 00:02:23.458 --> 00:02:33.096 - Let's have a roll call vote. We'll have to do all our votes this way since we do have a member who is 00:02:33.096 --> 00:02:43.301 - on Teams. Thomas? Yes. Ellis? Yes. Piedmont Smith? Yes. Padera? Yes. Wills? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. 00:02:43.301 --> 00:02:49.726 - Thank you. All right, next we'll move on to the controllers report. 00:02:51.266 --> 00:03:02.565 - We have our controller, Theresa Goins, on Teams. Yes, I see her. All right, take it away. The cash flow 00:03:02.565 --> 00:03:13.429 - summary was sent in an email on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. See page one. Here are the balances as of 00:03:13.429 --> 00:03:20.382 - March 31st for the following accounts. Operating $4,634,526.31. 00:03:20.514 --> 00:03:32.844 - Debt service, $101.46. Capital, $46,188.18. Landfill post closure, $828,216.89. The individual cash 00:03:32.844 --> 00:03:44.927 - flow statements are on pages two through seven. Are there any questions on the accounts balances? 00:03:44.927 --> 00:03:49.982 - All right, any questions on that report? 00:03:53.986 --> 00:04:07.021 - Seeing none, we can move on to our claims. On page 12 of the packet, you have a summary of the pre-approved 00:04:07.021 --> 00:04:19.211 - payroll and claims since our last meeting in the amount of $139,535.26. The backup for those numbers 00:04:19.211 --> 00:04:22.590 - are on pages 13 through 48. 00:04:22.882 --> 00:04:31.906 - The payroll and claims for approval this week were sent in the email on Wednesday and are in the amount 00:04:31.906 --> 00:04:40.842 - of $67,612.76. Documentation was included in the Wednesday email. That brings the total of payroll and 00:04:40.842 --> 00:04:50.126 - claims that were recommending for approval to $207,148.02. Are there any questions regarding these claims? 00:04:50.126 --> 00:04:52.382 - All right, any questions? 00:04:57.570 --> 00:05:05.139 - I don't see any. Let's go to the public. Are there any public comments regarding payroll and claims? 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:13.157 - No public here in person, and I don't see any hands raised. So we can move on to a roll call vote, please, 00:05:13.157 --> 00:05:20.875 - on payroll and claims. Oh, we need a motion. You don't have a motion on the paper. I'm terribly sorry. 00:05:20.875 --> 00:05:26.046 - Move approval as presented. Second. All right. Now we have a motion. 00:05:26.306 --> 00:05:36.461 - and a second so we can go ahead with our roll call vote. Ellis? Yes. Madera? Yes. Thomas? Yes. Wilts? 00:05:36.461 --> 00:05:46.416 - Yes. Tiedemann-Smith? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Right. Thank you, Comptroller Goins. Next, we 00:05:46.416 --> 00:05:54.878 - have a report from Romkey about their plastics recycling in the Hefty Renew program. 00:05:55.874 --> 00:06:08.448 - Yes, we have Derek Carpenter on teams if he could be promoted so he can present to the board, please. 00:06:08.448 --> 00:06:20.775 - Hello everyone. Hi, could you activate your video please if you don't mind unless you're in the car 00:06:20.775 --> 00:06:24.350 - or something? Just got back. 00:06:24.866 --> 00:06:33.822 - from Cincinnati actually at our facility up there. Ask me a couple questions about the plastics recycling 00:06:33.822 --> 00:06:42.272 - that we receive from the waste reduction district and just wanted me to talk a little bit about it. 00:06:42.272 --> 00:06:51.397 - So. If you're not familiar with the process, what we are collecting from and picking up from your different 00:06:51.397 --> 00:06:54.270 - stations we take to our facility. 00:06:54.370 --> 00:07:04.143 - on production drive, it is then transported from there to our facility in Cincinnati. Cincinnati has 00:07:04.143 --> 00:07:14.207 - optical sorters, humans, robots, eddy currents to sort those different items, specifically PET bottles, 00:07:14.207 --> 00:07:22.238 - so that'd be water or soft drink, most likely, milk jugs, so it's HDPE natural, or 00:07:22.754 --> 00:07:30.852 - more detergent bottles and items like that. There's also an HTTP natural, which is your number two. 00:07:30.852 --> 00:07:39.113 - And then lastly, polypropylene, which is going to be more like yogurt, butter tubs, sour cream, items 00:07:39.113 --> 00:07:47.292 - like those. All of those are accepted within this program and sorted. And once we get enough, we end 00:07:47.292 --> 00:07:51.422 - up bailing those. Those end up going to end users. 00:07:51.938 --> 00:08:00.434 - I have a couple that I did share with Tom. Didn't know if that is what more information you wanted on 00:08:00.434 --> 00:08:09.097 - that. Just a couple a couple notes on in 2025 that Cincinnati facility had an 85 percent recovery rate. 00:08:09.097 --> 00:08:18.010 - So that includes every ton that we received. You know that's not specific to the waste reduction district. 00:08:18.010 --> 00:08:21.758 - About 8 to 10 percent of that is going to be 00:08:22.434 --> 00:08:31.467 - material we didn't want anyway. So we have your recovery rate somewhere between 93 and 95% for materials 00:08:31.467 --> 00:08:40.070 - that are going to Cincinnati. Some of the end users that we utilize is KW Plastics. They would take 00:08:40.070 --> 00:08:48.931 - the milk jugs, the yogurt tubs, and then Tab Packaging is another partner that we have that would take 00:08:48.931 --> 00:08:52.286 - the PET bottles. And we also work with 00:08:52.802 --> 00:09:01.186 - For items that would be more like an other or for some reason didn't get sorted correctly, we'd go to 00:09:01.186 --> 00:09:10.146 - Eastman, which is doing kind of like a reverse engineering, if you will, of plastics. It's called paralysis. 00:09:10.146 --> 00:09:18.366 - And so they're actually taking it back to oil, believe it or not. What questions do you have on the 00:09:18.366 --> 00:09:22.558 - program itself? And is there anything that I could 00:09:22.786 --> 00:09:30.980 - potentially answer. Oh, I'm sorry. Actually, before we get to that, I know you all want to talk about 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:39.335 - the hefty renew program. The hefty renew program is currently being piloted in our Cincinnati location, 00:09:39.335 --> 00:09:47.530 - so it is a partnership with us and hefty that we can. I believe it's five counties within with within 00:09:47.530 --> 00:09:52.350 - Cincinnati and northern Kentucky that it can take styrofoam 00:09:52.706 --> 00:10:02.212 - Let's say like dinner, silverware, right? Like one use silverware. I guess it wouldn't be silverware, 00:10:02.212 --> 00:10:11.811 - it'd be plasticware, right? Shrink wrap, chip bags, right? Items that are very hard to recycle. We are 00:10:11.811 --> 00:10:18.334 - currently doing that with them. There's an orange bag that residents, 00:10:18.466 --> 00:10:26.134 - put into their trash can along with their single stream. So it'll go in their single stream in the orange 00:10:26.134 --> 00:10:33.441 - bag. And honestly, all we are doing is hand pulling it out when we get those bags. The bags are sold 00:10:33.441 --> 00:10:40.675 - at grocery stores and I believe some hardware stores as well. So the Kroger's, Meyers of the world, 00:10:40.675 --> 00:10:46.462 - the Lowe's, the Home Depot's of the world. That is currently what is happening. 00:10:47.042 --> 00:10:55.394 - We've had a few folks similar to you all asking for it to be expanded. Where we struggle with expansion 00:10:55.394 --> 00:11:03.585 - is we're not the only recycler, we're not the only processor in Bloomington and surrounding areas. In 00:11:03.585 --> 00:11:12.017 - that Cincinnati market, there really aren't, there isn't anyone else who is taking this material similar 00:11:12.017 --> 00:11:15.550 - to we are. So we're, us and Hefty have both 00:11:16.898 --> 00:11:25.422 - It's been slow, if you will, or hesitant to expand it because we don't want the other folks in the industry 00:11:25.422 --> 00:11:34.025 - getting these orange bags, a resident doing what they think is correct, and then it ends up in the landfill. 00:11:34.025 --> 00:11:42.076 - So I'm saying all that to say that our competitors are going to receive these orange bags if it would 00:11:42.076 --> 00:11:44.286 - be expanded to your county. 00:11:45.986 --> 00:11:54.352 - specifically to residential. If there's a way that maybe we could try to do it potentially at like your 00:11:54.352 --> 00:12:02.396 - drop sites, that might be a conversation that we could have. I would need to get that approved from 00:12:02.396 --> 00:12:10.842 - my end, but I don't think that we'd be able to have it go to residents. Sorry, I'm getting a phone call. 00:12:10.842 --> 00:12:14.462 - All right, thank you so much, Mr. Carpenter. 00:12:14.562 --> 00:12:23.618 - Um, are there questions, um, about the plastic recycling or, um, specifically the hefty renew program 00:12:23.618 --> 00:12:32.497 - commissioner Thomas? Yes, I've been, um, an advocate for adopting this program and I think it would 00:12:32.497 --> 00:12:41.642 - only work if it, if it came out of our drop sites, um, our rural transfer sites. So I think that would 00:12:41.642 --> 00:12:42.974 - work. Um, and. 00:12:43.522 --> 00:12:54.826 - I also have a question about sort of the grocery store style bags as well being accepted. Yeah, sorry, 00:12:54.826 --> 00:13:05.802 - I tried to decline a phone call and it accepted it. I don't know if you all can see me or not. I've 00:13:05.802 --> 00:13:11.838 - got a blank screen actually. Can you hear me at least? 00:13:12.578 --> 00:13:22.480 - Yes, we can see you and hear you. Thank you. I can't see you. All good. The grocery bags, not something 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:32.097 - that's acceptable within our program. It could go into a hefty bag, but it was a tangler for some of 00:13:32.097 --> 00:13:36.382 - our machines, how they currently are set up. 00:13:37.922 --> 00:13:45.718 - And that was my question was whether the hefty program accepted those as well. We do have a few grocery 00:13:45.718 --> 00:13:53.215 - stores that take them here. But I know that a lot of them end up in the landfill, unfortunately. So 00:13:53.215 --> 00:14:01.086 - I would appreciate it if we could move forward with having some conversations about using our drop sites 00:14:01.890 --> 00:14:09.030 - to collect this. And I don't think it's confusing with our trash program, which is also an orange bag, 00:14:09.030 --> 00:14:16.240 - but it has very different lettering on it. So I could see that we could get around that and we can make 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:23.310 - this work. So I'd be very, very happy to see this moving forward in terms of conversation with Rumpke 00:14:23.310 --> 00:14:26.014 - and then with our district. Thank you. 00:14:30.530 --> 00:14:47.359 - Are there other questions for Mr. Carpenter? Yes, Councillor Wells. Does the HEFTA program take the 00:14:47.359 --> 00:15:00.318 - soft? Yeah, I wasn't clear on that either. What was the question? I'm sorry. 00:15:00.482 --> 00:15:10.049 - cutting out a little bit. Does the hefty program accept the grocery store plastic bags? It would. 00:15:10.049 --> 00:15:19.909 - It would. Okay, great, that's awesome. Shrink wrap, if you would happen to get some of that at home, 00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:29.086 - it would be Ziplocs. Yeah. Yeah, so it does take flexible. Okay, soft plastics, that's great. 00:15:30.626 --> 00:15:44.269 - So Commissioner Thomas indicated support for kind of moving forward with conversations around this program. 00:15:44.269 --> 00:15:57.406 - Is that something that you are able to facilitate? So I'll take this back to my manager and talk about, 00:15:58.530 --> 00:16:07.514 - having it only being a drop site. If it's only a drop site, I think that we can make that work. We were 00:16:07.514 --> 00:16:16.412 - mostly worried about it going to residents and ended up at other folks. So I think that it's something 00:16:16.412 --> 00:16:25.137 - that I could at least get piloted at worst case. Okay. Yeah, I think it'd be great to explore a drop 00:16:25.137 --> 00:16:26.174 - off system. 00:16:28.002 --> 00:16:37.831 - It is a little confusing that the hefty renew bags are orange and our bags are also orange, but we'd 00:16:37.831 --> 00:16:47.660 - have to be very careful in our messaging. I have a question about the end use or reuse of the bailed 00:16:47.660 --> 00:16:56.126 - plastics from your Cincinnati locations that you mentioned. A couple of companies that 00:16:56.226 --> 00:17:05.733 - purchased that plastic from Rumpke. You mentioned one of them reverse engineers the plastic back to 00:17:05.733 --> 00:17:15.335 - oil. How do they do that and what's the environmental footprint of that? I wish I was an engineer to 00:17:15.335 --> 00:17:26.078 - really help you with that. Be honest with you, I don't know all the way. The company's name is Eastman Chemical. 00:17:26.274 --> 00:17:34.542 - I'm not as in the weeds on that is if you show me a bottle or a different type of plastic and probably 00:17:34.542 --> 00:17:42.730 - tell you what it is, but I wish I had a little bit more information on that and I can follow up with. 00:17:42.730 --> 00:17:50.918 - And is there ever a situation where? Bromkey stores the bailed plastic and nobody buys it and then it 00:17:50.918 --> 00:17:53.406 - ends up going into a landfill. 00:17:55.778 --> 00:18:06.242 - pretty lucky that we have long term. We've also been super conservative so we have long term contracts 00:18:06.242 --> 00:18:16.909 - with folks on on material not only plastics but fiber paper glass and we know that we can't go backwards 00:18:16.909 --> 00:18:23.614 - if we say yes to a material. So no is the shorter answer to that. 00:18:24.866 --> 00:18:33.077 - You know, we get material, like I said, towards the beginning, we do get material that we cannot recycle 00:18:33.077 --> 00:18:41.210 - and that does go to the landfill. But as far as like pop bottles, yogurt tubs, and you know, milk jugs, 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:49.108 - like those are getting. All right, that's great to know. Any other questions for Mr. Carpenter? Yes, 00:18:49.108 --> 00:18:50.750 - Councillor Williams. 00:18:51.042 --> 00:19:00.262 - Going back to what you said in the beginning about the recovery rate, and I understand you said it was 00:19:00.262 --> 00:19:09.303 - like 85%, but that includes stuff you didn't want. I'm assuming that's the non-recyclable items that 00:19:09.303 --> 00:19:15.390 - make their way into the stream. So then from the 93% recovery rate, 00:19:15.522 --> 00:19:23.605 - the 7% is just contaminated, not clean enough. What is the 7% that's rejected? That's correct. Yeah, 00:19:23.605 --> 00:19:31.689 - a lot of it is contaminated. It ended up in the wrong spot. Some of that we are trying to resort. So 00:19:31.689 --> 00:19:39.852 - we have a kind of like a rejections line, if you will, that'll put it back into the pile. I will tell 00:19:39.852 --> 00:19:44.254 - you that that's ability is getting an upgrade in 2027. 00:19:44.738 --> 00:19:53.419 - Our Columbus facility is, even with all of the material that we get, our recovery rate is closer to 00:19:53.419 --> 00:20:02.360 - like 95%, period. Wow. And Cincinnati is going to be getting an upgrade to be very similar to Columbus 00:20:02.360 --> 00:20:08.958 - in 2027. So that's positive statements for the future. Yeah. That material. 00:20:14.850 --> 00:20:24.010 - This has been really, really interesting. Thank you so much, Mr. Carpenter, for joining us. Any other 00:20:24.010 --> 00:20:33.259 - questions? Right. And we'll try to follow up about possibly doing the HEFTE program as a drop-off. Mr. 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:42.239 - McClasson, anything else? I'll work with Tom and Joey on some logistics on that, and also with more 00:20:42.239 --> 00:20:44.574 - of the personnel as well. 00:20:47.010 --> 00:20:58.184 - All right, sounds good. All right, well then we can move on to our next agenda item, which is resolution 00:20:58.184 --> 00:21:09.358 - 202602. Can we get a motion on the table, please? I move that we review and accept the resolution 202602 00:21:09.358 --> 00:21:16.062 - to amend the waste reduction district of Monroe County bylaws. 00:21:19.010 --> 00:21:24.651 - second. All right we have a motion and a second. Mr. McClassen could you please tell us about 00:21:24.651 --> 00:21:30.893 - this resolution? Yeah so interestingly enough when Mr. Ellis was appointed to our board and was getting 00:21:30.893 --> 00:21:35.454 - him materials I thought that he needed to prepare to be in this position it 00:21:36.898 --> 00:21:43.291 - Looking at the bylaws that I was sending to him, I realized they had not been updated since we had done 00:21:43.291 --> 00:21:49.869 - our name change, since the state enacted laws allowing and governing electronic participation at meetings. 00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:56.446 - But we needed to make those updates. You can see in the memo on page 50 of the packet in addition to that. 00:21:56.642 --> 00:22:04.052 - There's also some minor language changes in an attempt to clarify how meetings are noticed, that it's 00:22:04.052 --> 00:22:11.461 - in accordance with the open door law, the payment of claims under the resolution 2022 that allows for 00:22:11.461 --> 00:22:17.854 - claims to be paid without prior board approval, and CAC appointments and reappointment. 00:22:18.594 --> 00:22:26.744 - So you have with the resolution, you have a clean copy of the revised bylaws and behind that, a red 00:22:26.744 --> 00:22:35.058 - line version showing the changes that were made. All right, thank you. Good to get caught up with our 00:22:35.058 --> 00:22:43.371 - bylaws to reflect how we do things and what we're called. Are there any questions from commissioners? 00:22:43.371 --> 00:22:45.246 - I mean, board members? 00:22:50.626 --> 00:22:59.397 - I just want to highlight a couple things. In Mr. McGlass' memo he does say the board may convene provided 00:22:59.397 --> 00:23:08.002 - no official action is taken. In my experience almost any action we take would be receiving information. 00:23:08.002 --> 00:23:16.277 - So I don't really think we can meet without a quorum. I added because it has been a question in the 00:23:16.277 --> 00:23:20.414 - past where we've had members have to leave before 00:23:20.642 --> 00:23:29.292 - meeting adjourned and whether or not we could continue the meeting. We can as long as we don't talk 00:23:29.292 --> 00:23:38.289 - to each other or hear anything. Yeah I think it's uh it would be safer to to say that we could not meet 00:23:38.289 --> 00:23:47.285 - at all um for all practical purposes. I'm reading that I was trying to think what what I mean yeah what 00:23:47.285 --> 00:23:49.534 - would there be left to do 00:23:51.970 --> 00:24:01.001 - I guess we could go out for a drink or something. The other thing that caught my eye when reading through 00:24:01.001 --> 00:24:09.521 - the bylaws is that the appointment, let me find, in section 3.3, members of the board, paragraph A, 00:24:09.521 --> 00:24:18.126 - the term of directors who are elected officials and appointed to the board from the membership of an 00:24:18.126 --> 00:24:21.278 - executive legislative or fiscal body 00:24:21.826 --> 00:24:29.062 - have terms coextensive with the director's term of office on that body. So this is not how 00:24:29.062 --> 00:24:37.331 - we've traditionally had the appointments from the county council, which have been made separately every 00:24:37.331 --> 00:24:45.362 - year. And actually, until a few years ago, the city council also was making them every year until we 00:24:45.362 --> 00:24:48.542 - discovered that we weren't supposed to. 00:24:48.674 --> 00:24:56.663 - Maybe that's something, Councillor Welch, you can. I will make note. But that would also be for years. 00:24:56.663 --> 00:25:04.807 - We do it yearly. So if I could clarify, because I raised, with regard to the county council appointment, 00:25:04.807 --> 00:25:12.795 - I have raised that issue with the council office and their attorney is looking at it. However, I would 00:25:12.795 --> 00:25:18.302 - note for the record that what's in our bylaws is the statute verbatim. 00:25:18.818 --> 00:25:28.903 - So that is what it is. So but but what that section also is the statute requires the county council 00:25:28.903 --> 00:25:39.392 - to appoint somebody to our board. And in Mr. Ellis's case, the seventh member of our board is appointed 00:25:39.392 --> 00:25:42.014 - by the commissioners from 00:25:42.402 --> 00:25:50.241 - um the executive or legislative body of the municipality not having the largest population in the county 00:25:50.241 --> 00:25:57.706 - And the statute does specify that that is a two-year term Even though it's an elected position Even 00:25:57.706 --> 00:26:05.620 - though mr. Ellis's position is elected but in our case, you know That could be from either the ellisville 00:26:05.620 --> 00:26:09.054 - town town board or the steinsville town board 00:26:09.762 --> 00:26:17.795 - There are two municipalities not having the largest population in the county. Historically, we have 00:26:17.795 --> 00:26:25.829 - always had a representative of Ellsville on our board, and that's worked out fine. But the way that 00:26:25.829 --> 00:26:34.183 - the statute is written, that seventh position is identified separately and specified to have a two-year 00:26:34.183 --> 00:26:39.646 - term. Right, and it's not appointed by the town board of Ellsville. 00:26:39.906 --> 00:26:48.699 - It's appointed by the county commissioners, right? The way it was explained to me is referred to county 00:26:48.699 --> 00:26:57.238 - commissioners and they're the ones that actually make the efficient. Right. And I think historically 00:26:57.238 --> 00:27:06.115 - the commissioners have allowed the town board to select who they want to be appointed in the commission. 00:27:06.115 --> 00:27:08.990 - All right. I will say, I'm sorry. 00:27:10.018 --> 00:27:17.372 - my term next year December 31st so I'm on a different cycle so depending on that election I mean we 00:27:17.372 --> 00:27:24.799 - can get back on that cycle. Right and that's if you know depending on the outcome of the election we 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:32.300 - would address that if we need to at that. Well that would match the cycle wouldn't it you said it was 00:27:32.300 --> 00:27:37.374 - a two-year term for service on this. Right that would be like a year 00:27:38.882 --> 00:27:51.065 - Your term will end on our board will end December 31st of 27. Which should coincide with your current 00:27:51.065 --> 00:28:03.486 - term in office. All right, any other questions or comments about Resolution 202602 to amend the bylaws? 00:28:07.458 --> 00:28:15.724 - to the public. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on resolution twenty twenty 00:28:15.724 --> 00:28:23.829 - six oh two? None. I think we're ready for a roll call vote. Mr. McClassen. I just for the before the 00:28:23.829 --> 00:28:31.854 - vote would note for the record that the current and revised bylaws to amend the bylaws both require 00:28:31.854 --> 00:28:37.150 - a two thirds majority or five affirmative votes for this to pass. 00:28:37.922 --> 00:28:50.478 - I mean, everybody. Yes, so it needs to be a unanimous vote today. I can do math. Ellis? Yes. Madeira? 00:28:50.478 --> 00:29:02.912 - Yes. Thomas? Yes. Wilkes? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right. Thank you, 00:29:02.912 --> 00:29:06.974 - Mr. McGlasson, for bringing that 00:29:07.554 --> 00:29:22.714 - us and that this is our bylaws uh we'll move on to resolution 20 2603 um do we have a motion this is 00:29:22.714 --> 00:29:36.222 - the resolution to amend the district approved vendor list uh i move that we review and uh 00:29:36.450 --> 00:29:44.711 - resolution twenty twenty six oh three to amend. Strict approved vendor. It- commissioner Madero seconded 00:29:44.711 --> 00:29:52.814 - so we have motion a second. Mr glass and could you take us through this this is becoming very familiar 00:29:52.814 --> 00:30:00.446 - here. We keep on revising it. Would refer you to the memo on page seventy three the packet- and- 00:30:00.578 --> 00:30:09.189 - This is something that we do need to update from time to time. Yes, it does seem like it's happening 00:30:09.189 --> 00:30:17.800 - more frequently of late, but we have had some name changes of current vendors, some new vendors that 00:30:17.800 --> 00:30:26.581 - we're using. But I think in this revision, this request, the big one is adding Amazon Capital Services 00:30:26.581 --> 00:30:28.286 - to our vendor list. 00:30:28.482 --> 00:30:39.091 - As indicated in the footnote on the memo, our Amazon business account allows us to be invoiced for purchase 00:30:39.091 --> 00:30:49.700 - if we so choose. We have some things like Sharps containers that we will buy in bulk off Amazon. Currently, 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:56.478 - that is the best price that we have found for those. And rather than 00:30:56.610 --> 00:31:04.776 - putting a significant expense on the credit card. We would prefer to be invoiced for that. And then 00:31:04.776 --> 00:31:13.106 - the other issue that came up with the recent grant award, where in the terms of the grant, we request 00:31:13.106 --> 00:31:21.436 - that the district purchase the materials, if the grant request is for the purchase of any supplies or 00:31:21.436 --> 00:31:22.334 - materials, 00:31:22.434 --> 00:31:30.366 - that we make those purchases directly. And again, Amazon was the vendor identified by the grant recipient 00:31:30.366 --> 00:31:38.147 - where they would like to purchase those products. And that was a $3,000 grant award. So we again didn't 00:31:38.147 --> 00:31:45.630 - want to put the significant expense on the credit card. Also think that for the purposes of grants, 00:31:45.794 --> 00:31:53.116 - It's a cleaner process if we're doing that and having a separate invoice for that purchase rather than 00:31:53.116 --> 00:32:00.580 - on a credit card bill with multiple other purchases included in that. So that's the reasoning for asking 00:32:00.580 --> 00:32:07.901 - for Amazon Capital Services to be on there, you know, with the understanding that, you know, we're not 00:32:07.901 --> 00:32:15.294 - going to invoice every 20, $50, $100 purchase that we do through Amazon. It would be larger expenses or 00:32:15.426 --> 00:32:25.196 - expenses specific to grant awards. All right, thank you for that explanation. Then we have a few name 00:32:25.196 --> 00:32:34.965 - changes and catching up with getting back the green up network on our list and things like that. Some 00:32:34.965 --> 00:32:45.118 - new vendors or some, I guess, not necessarily new vendors, but new to get added to the list as we counter 00:32:45.346 --> 00:32:55.411 - gotten to the point where we're regular transactions with. Right, any questions for Mr. McClassen on 00:32:55.411 --> 00:33:06.373 - this resolution? Comments? Directors? Is there any member of the public who would like to speak on resolution 00:33:06.373 --> 00:33:14.046 - 2026-03? Right, seeing none, I think we're ready for roll call vote. Thomas? 00:33:16.386 --> 00:33:27.137 - Yes. Wilkes. Yes. Edmonton-Smith. Yes. Ellis. Yes. Vera. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Right, thank 00:33:27.137 --> 00:33:38.415 - you very much. Moving right along, we have resolution 2026-04, Monroe County landfill financial assurance. 00:33:38.415 --> 00:33:42.526 - We have a motion. Yes, move to approve 00:33:42.626 --> 00:33:52.129 - Resolution 2020604, which is the waste reduction district Monroe County landfill financial assurance. 00:33:52.129 --> 00:34:01.446 - All right, it's been moved and seconded by Commissioner Madeira. Mr. McClassen, you want to take us 00:34:01.446 --> 00:34:12.254 - through this annual exercise, please? Certainly, and I'll get a little more detail for Mr. Ellis's benefit on this. 00:34:12.354 --> 00:34:21.889 - The state does require owners of landfills, both open and closed, to annually make a demonstration that 00:34:21.889 --> 00:34:32.158 - the financial resources are available to complete the necessary closure and post-closure work of that facility. 00:34:32.770 --> 00:34:41.412 - We annually, there's a formula that's in the Indiana Administrative Code that's used to estimate the 00:34:41.412 --> 00:34:50.225 - remaining, for our purposes, post-closure cost for that facility. Our engineering firm calculates that 00:34:50.225 --> 00:34:58.782 - for us and provides us that dollar figure, that estimate that we need to make the demonstration on. 00:34:59.362 --> 00:35:08.265 - There are seven mechanisms in the law that you can make this demonstration, purchasing bonds, insurance 00:35:08.265 --> 00:35:17.254 - policies. But one of them as a government entity that is available to us is a local government financial 00:35:17.254 --> 00:35:24.702 - test option. However, the district, based on the post-closure cost estimate remaining, 00:35:25.026 --> 00:35:32.776 - We don't meet the revenue threshold to qualify for that But Monroe County does and for the past nine 00:35:32.776 --> 00:35:40.526 - to ten years the county has graciously made that demonstration on our behalf So what this resolution 00:35:40.526 --> 00:35:48.506 - in essence does is approve staff Taking that request to the County Council again this year to make that 00:35:48.506 --> 00:35:50.654 - demonstration on our behalf 00:35:56.034 --> 00:36:06.684 - Thank you. Are there any questions from directors? That's our boats. This. There's there too. You sites. 00:36:06.684 --> 00:36:17.536 - Listed right. Correct and why. What's the difference once construction what is the construction demolition 00:36:17.536 --> 00:36:21.086 - landfill which is as much smaller. 00:36:22.210 --> 00:36:30.903 - But that is under a separate permit number from our municipal solid waste landfill. So we do a combined 00:36:30.903 --> 00:36:39.429 - total estimate, but for the purposes of submitting everything to the state, we have to separate those 00:36:39.429 --> 00:36:48.039 - two permits. But they're at the same location generally? Yeah. Got it. Thank you. All right. Any other 00:36:48.039 --> 00:36:48.958 - questions? 00:36:51.426 --> 00:37:02.935 - from the directors. Seeing none, we'll go to the public. Is there any member of the public who would 00:37:02.935 --> 00:37:14.331 - like to comment on resolution 202604? Right, seeing none, I think we're ready for a roll call vote. 00:37:14.331 --> 00:37:21.054 - Wilkes? Yes. Thomas? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Ellis? Yes. 00:37:21.570 --> 00:37:31.617 - Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Right. Thank you so much. And we'll move on to department reports starting 00:37:31.617 --> 00:37:41.289 - with. I just would note because it's absent on the agenda this time. The CAC did not meet in March and 00:37:41.289 --> 00:37:46.078 - not have anything they felt the need to provide a. 00:37:51.074 --> 00:38:00.204 - So briefly, the legislation session is over. That helps. That makes this report much more brief. So 00:38:00.204 --> 00:38:09.517 - as discussed and approved at the last meeting, we did reopen the community grant program for a second 00:38:09.517 --> 00:38:17.278 - round of applications. Set a due date for those of 4 PM on Friday, May the 15th with 00:38:17.410 --> 00:38:25.243 - plan to be that the CAC would review those at their May 21st meeting and bring the applications and 00:38:25.243 --> 00:38:33.702 - the CAC recommendations to the board at their June meeting. To date, we have not received any applications, 00:38:33.702 --> 00:38:41.769 - but we have had inquiries and there has been interest expressed in that program. We do anticipate that 00:38:41.769 --> 00:38:46.782 - we will get some applications on the second go around for that. 00:38:46.946 --> 00:38:54.481 - Rainbarrel and compost bin ordering is a website is still there and available. I would note we did at 00:38:54.481 --> 00:39:02.164 - some point yesterday we had a technical issue and it did go down. We had we got a couple of calls about 00:39:02.164 --> 00:39:09.773 - that but it was back up and operating before I left the office to come up here this afternoon. So that 00:39:09.773 --> 00:39:16.126 - is back up and running. I think April 15th I believe is the ordering deadline and we. 00:39:16.610 --> 00:39:25.967 - have orders in and ready available for pickup beginning April the 24th. And then I think the last thing 00:39:25.967 --> 00:39:35.145 - that I would just like to know because we've had some discussions about the new website accessibility 00:39:35.145 --> 00:39:44.323 - requirements and have reviewed the new accessible rich internet application area requirements and the 00:39:44.323 --> 00:39:46.302 - ADA website and their 00:39:46.818 --> 00:39:57.145 - you know, fact sheets and so forth about those requirements and the implementation of those. And our 00:39:57.145 --> 00:40:07.881 - legal counsel has opined that there is a separate designation in the ADA rules and definitions regarding 00:40:07.881 --> 00:40:15.038 - that of a special district government that our attorney believes that 00:40:15.490 --> 00:40:22.270 - based on how the state defines us, how the ADA defines a special district government that we qualify 00:40:22.270 --> 00:40:29.251 - as that. And that is important because special district government's compliance date is not until April 00:40:29.251 --> 00:40:36.030 - 27 of 2027. So we have another year. That said, as we've discussed, we had already begun the process 00:40:36.030 --> 00:40:42.206 - of reviewing our website and making revisions and updates and working toward the compliance 00:40:42.338 --> 00:40:51.345 - And maybe with a little less sense of urgency, but we're going to continue to work on that and try to 00:40:51.345 --> 00:41:00.441 - meet those requirements sooner rather than later and not have to worry about that deadline. With that, 00:41:00.441 --> 00:41:09.713 - I would be happy to answer any questions. All right. Thank you. Are there any questions about the report 00:41:09.713 --> 00:41:11.038 - we just heard? 00:41:12.450 --> 00:41:24.741 - You didn't say this out loud, but in your report, you noted that, I think it was social media, had promoted 00:41:24.741 --> 00:41:36.350 - Bee City USA for Bloomington. And I was wondering if you knew of anything about the program, frankly. 00:41:37.250 --> 00:41:45.114 - I apologize, I do not. Okay, don't worry about it. Oh, you do? Oh, cool. Yes. Yeah, so Bee City USA 00:41:45.114 --> 00:41:53.449 - is something that was brought to us by the City's Environmental Commission last year and the City Council 00:41:53.449 --> 00:42:01.313 - approved a resolution to have the city become an official Bee City. And it is spearheaded by Joanna 00:42:01.313 --> 00:42:06.110 - Sparks in our Parks and Recreation Department. And they have 00:42:06.690 --> 00:42:12.911 - of a steering committee made up of parks and rec, environmental commission members. I think they were 00:42:12.911 --> 00:42:19.499 - trying to get somebody from IU and from the county as well. So I don't know exactly who is on that steering 00:42:19.499 --> 00:42:25.659 - committee, but it exists. I'd be happy to give you the email of Joanna if you want to. I'll look her 00:42:25.659 --> 00:42:31.454 - up. That's great. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions on the administration report? 00:42:34.690 --> 00:42:41.687 - I think we can move on to Joey Long and recycling, reuse, hazardous materials, et cetera. Mr. Long. 00:42:41.687 --> 00:42:48.754 - Hi, everyone. I will start with the recycling and reuse. Our materials for the art supervisor was on 00:42:48.754 --> 00:42:55.822 - a short-term leave. I met with a lot of customers while she was gone and talked to them about stuff. 00:42:55.822 --> 00:43:02.819 - And there's a lot of appreciation for what she does. And I just happened to notice her hire-in date 00:43:02.819 --> 00:43:04.638 - and we're a little early, 00:43:05.762 --> 00:43:12.514 - We're coming up on 36 years of service for Mary Hunter. So we want to say thank you and she has made 00:43:12.514 --> 00:43:19.600 - a lot of friends and customers out there. So, you know, we want to acknowledge that and I've been letting 00:43:19.600 --> 00:43:26.486 - people talking to a lot of people about what she does. So that's really nice. The hazardous materials, 00:43:26.486 --> 00:43:33.439 - the staff will be meeting with the city department hand. We will be doing a training on safety and what 00:43:33.439 --> 00:43:34.174 - to expect. 00:43:35.074 --> 00:43:43.078 - We look forward to every year to helping the hand department to do two neighborhood cleanups. We assist 00:43:43.078 --> 00:43:50.774 - them with what they take and we make sure it gets sent out the proper way. So that's coming up real 00:43:50.774 --> 00:43:58.470 - soon. I will know shortly on what two neighborhoods they will do and I will put that out there. The 00:43:58.470 --> 00:44:00.702 - rural recycling centers, we, 00:44:00.834 --> 00:44:07.820 - I acknowledge there is some gravel work and some potholes starting to show up after the rains and stuff 00:44:07.820 --> 00:44:14.604 - again. So we do have plans to work with that. I've met with our contractor and we have some ideas on 00:44:14.604 --> 00:44:21.455 - again, how to keep fixing those and slowing those downs. Other than that, everything's been operating 00:44:21.455 --> 00:44:28.172 - as normal. If you guys have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Thank you very much, Mr. 00:44:28.172 --> 00:44:30.590 - Long. Any questions on that report? 00:44:34.690 --> 00:44:41.135 - I'll just chime in and say, Bryan Park neighborhood, which is in my district here in the city, recently 00:44:41.135 --> 00:44:46.898 - did a survey of what the neighborhood wanted to work on together and the number one response 00:44:46.898 --> 00:44:53.158 - was a neighborhood cleanup. So those are really popular and I really appreciate the district teaming 00:44:53.158 --> 00:44:59.355 - up with HAND to do those. I will actually be meeting with HAND tomorrow. I have a meeting with them 00:44:59.355 --> 00:45:01.214 - and I will give that to them. 00:45:03.714 --> 00:45:11.748 - Yes, that's great. Yeah, I don't know if Brian Park is going to be chosen this year. I think they recently 00:45:11.748 --> 00:45:19.332 - had one. So yeah, I only do it once every two or three years. Yeah. All right. If there are no other 00:45:19.332 --> 00:45:27.066 - comments on that report, we can move along to landfill and environmental compliance. Oh, and I do want 00:45:27.066 --> 00:45:31.646 - to recognize Mary Hunter. She has been an institution at the 00:45:32.226 --> 00:45:41.686 - South Wallet Street Recycling Center and a great steward of our Material for the Arts program. Now we 00:45:41.686 --> 00:45:50.960 - can move on to Lee Paulson and Landfill report. Good afternoon, Lee Paulson, Landfill Environmental 00:45:50.960 --> 00:45:59.678 - Compliance Director. The report pretty much speaks for itself. I noted in there that we had a 00:45:59.906 --> 00:46:09.478 - We had a what they call a soft violation with our NPDs with the treatment plant. Our total suspended 00:46:09.478 --> 00:46:18.956 - solids exceeded our monthly average just barely. This is the first exceedance we've had in probably 00:46:18.956 --> 00:46:27.486 - four or five years of any type. So it's not really, it's not a big deal, but it's a deal. 00:46:27.618 --> 00:46:35.137 - So we made appropriate adjustments with our treatment system and so far since then, we have been in 00:46:35.137 --> 00:46:42.730 - compliance with that. And other than that, got through the harsh winter and we're trying to get back 00:46:42.730 --> 00:46:50.324 - out there and get ready to get back on some roads and getting ready for our May groundwater sampling 00:46:50.324 --> 00:46:56.414 - event. It's not in the report because I just received the verification from ITEM 00:46:56.514 --> 00:47:04.558 - that we continue to do what we've been doing, how we've been doing it. Our numbers within our data are 00:47:04.558 --> 00:47:12.679 - all fairly consistent depending upon which sampling event it is, whether it's the winter or the summer. 00:47:12.679 --> 00:47:20.723 - Marybeth and I are working on that. This year is we're not planting any trees because we filled up the 00:47:20.723 --> 00:47:24.862 - areas that we had trees or area that we could plant. 00:47:25.058 --> 00:47:32.426 - Marybeth and I are working on trying to tackle some invasive species out at the landfill and the surrounding 00:47:32.426 --> 00:47:39.185 - areas. So we're hoping to do that here and there over the next couple of weeks before we get in the 00:47:39.185 --> 00:47:46.080 - groundwater. So we'll see how that goes. But if you guys have any questions, I'll be happy to answer. 00:47:46.080 --> 00:47:52.975 - All right. Thank you for that report. Are there any questions for Mr. Paulson? I just have one on the 00:47:52.975 --> 00:47:54.462 - total cases for 2026. 00:47:55.554 --> 00:48:03.726 - that's 48 total cases. But then 15 private properties and 36 roadside cleanups. Is that 48? Are those 00:48:03.726 --> 00:48:12.299 - included in the 48? Is that 48 in addition? Because that's 48 total for the year so far. So that's through 00:48:12.299 --> 00:48:20.391 - three months. That's a little lower than what we normally are. But considering January and February, 00:48:20.391 --> 00:48:25.438 - we're not very conducive to be outside and people doing stuff. 00:48:25.570 --> 00:48:34.910 - and it's it's not a number of concerned about concerned about but that's why we're hoping that now that 00:48:34.910 --> 00:48:44.071 - the weather is a little better that we can be out and try to tackle some more roads. That does add up 00:48:44.071 --> 00:48:53.950 - to. But you want 51 and not 48. That's all I'm saying is. Okay, I might have just mad about matter of my bad. 00:48:54.466 --> 00:49:05.961 - Okay, I just didn't know if those were separate from the 48, but they're not. So, yeah, sorry about 00:49:05.961 --> 00:49:17.570 - that. All right. I do have a question. The gallons generated, gallons of leachate was really high in 00:49:17.570 --> 00:49:22.398 - March. There were 572,000 gallons hauled. 00:49:24.994 --> 00:49:32.823 - We saw that we approved a large claim for that hauling as well. Can you just explain, I always get confused. 00:49:32.823 --> 00:49:40.077 - So if we have a lot of rain, is that more leachate, less? That's definitely more. The more rain, the 00:49:40.077 --> 00:49:47.475 - more leachate. That's just kind of how that goes. March was kind of an interesting time because we had 00:49:47.475 --> 00:49:52.862 - such a cold winter and it sustained for a while. So the groundwater froze. 00:49:52.962 --> 00:50:00.922 - And as it slowly thawed out, that released that water as well. So on and being there's no ground cover, 00:50:00.922 --> 00:50:08.806 - there's no grass really to absorb, you know, start to use that water up to help it grow because it was 00:50:08.806 --> 00:50:16.766 - so cold. So we captured all of it, you know, and it was a fairly wet March. So it went from dry to wet. 00:50:16.930 --> 00:50:24.270 - and we just had a lot all at once and trying to address it as best we can and that was after we had 00:50:24.270 --> 00:50:31.684 - gotten the valve fixed so it was just there was a lot of a lot of moving parts all at the same time. 00:50:31.684 --> 00:50:39.024 - Okay yeah I didn't think about the the thawing that contributes to that. If I could add a couple of 00:50:39.024 --> 00:50:45.630 - things to that too that uh you know our some time ago you know we when we were looking at 00:50:45.890 --> 00:50:53.713 - the relationship between rainfall and leachate generation. Our engineer, we have the outdoor above ground 00:50:53.713 --> 00:51:01.094 - retention pond that all the leachate gets pumped into and then either pumped to the treatment plant 00:51:01.094 --> 00:51:08.474 - or hauled out of. Well, both area of that, he estimated that one inch of rain will result in 13,000 00:51:08.474 --> 00:51:15.486 - gallons of just rain falling into that pond. And the other thing that you also have, you know, 00:51:15.938 --> 00:51:24.301 - How about February, but definitely March and a little bit in April? You know, as we come out of winter 00:51:24.301 --> 00:51:32.095 - and the vegetation is still dormant, we don't get the runoff from the hills that we get in May, 00:51:32.095 --> 00:51:40.539 - June and July. The vegetation's all green and lush and it repels a lot of that rainwater. When you have 00:51:40.539 --> 00:51:44.030 - more vegetation, it'll absorb more of that 00:51:44.130 --> 00:51:53.876 - Or it also I mean allows less to get into the ground it runs off gets into the stormwater ditches and 00:51:53.876 --> 00:52:03.813 - exits the problem now coming into contact with the trash That's it Well, so other landfills Some places 00:52:03.813 --> 00:52:12.126 - have No pond or they have a covered pond. I mean you're just pointing out. This is a a 00:52:12.258 --> 00:52:20.152 - as a factor, so I'm just curious if it's different elsewhere. Want to know the estimates Mr. Pulse has 00:52:20.152 --> 00:52:27.815 - gotten to cover the pond? I know. Cool with it being open. I'm just curious, honestly. Covering the 00:52:27.815 --> 00:52:35.862 - pond is something we've investigated, and there's a handful of options that cost aside or are reasonable 00:52:35.862 --> 00:52:41.150 - to do, but they're expensive. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars. 00:52:41.634 --> 00:52:52.035 - to do that. And there are also a number of facilities that are closer to a municipal waterworks and 00:52:52.035 --> 00:53:02.749 - can do a direct connect on the sewer line. Okay, thank you. All right, any other comments or questions 00:53:02.749 --> 00:53:09.406 - on that report? All right, seeing none, thank you, Mr. Paulson. 00:53:10.626 --> 00:53:18.721 - We now I think are at the point in the agenda for general public comments. Are there any members of 00:53:18.721 --> 00:53:26.977 - the public who would like to make a comment? Don't all rush here at once. All right. And then we have 00:53:26.977 --> 00:53:33.534 - comments from directors. Would any director like to make a comment at this time? 00:53:40.226 --> 00:53:43.646 - I think that is it for today, so we are adjourned. Thank you.