Okay, seeing as we have a quorum, I'll call to order this meeting of the Waste Reduction District of
Monroe County Board of Directors for Thursday, October 8th, 2026. Mr. McClassen, will you please call
the roll? Edmund Smith. Thomas? Yes. Wilkes? Here. Jones? L? Thompson?
You have a quorum all four present in the room. Thank you. So for your information, we've included the
executive committee meeting minutes in the packet from August 4th and September 1st. Are there any questions
or comments about those? There's a typo on packet page three. Minor.
It's it says insured instead of ensued. It is under. Find it again. It's under the discussion of resolution
2026-09. Yes. And we get that corrected Mr.
Do you see it? On page three of the package you said? Yes. That's under the executive committee minutes?
Yes. Those minutes are as approved by the executive committee. We didn't catch it. Sorry. I think the
meaning can be guessed though.
We'll move on to the minutes of the board of directors meeting from August 13th, 2026. We did not have
a meeting in September. So these are the most recent board meeting minutes. Are there any comments or
corrections? All right. We get a motion please. Move to approve the board meeting minutes.
Okay we have a motion and a second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right that
passes. Next we'll move on to the controller's report and we'll start with the cash flows that were
emailed out yesterday Mr. Arnold. Okay on the operating budget is the end of September
$5,163,328.66. The debt service fund was $241.76. And the capital fund was $1,057.03. And the landfill
post closure report was $838,048.53. Are there any questions?
Are there any questions from members of the board about the cash flow statement? Okay, we can move on
to the payroll and claims, please. Okay, on page 25 of the packet, there's a summary of the claims.
Since our last meeting, claims of $365,866.73 has been approved. And there was no payroll this last
week, but we had claims of $76,012.21 for a total amount of $441.
All right, that was seconded by Commissioner Madeira. I don't know if we can hear her from where she's
sitting, but thank you for putting that motion on the table. Are there any questions about the payroll
and claims? I'll note that
The claims that were emailed yesterday included $65,400 for 10 new drop-off containers. So that was
a big purchase, but necessary.
If there are no comments or questions from board members, we'll go to the public. Is there any member
of the public who would like to comment on payroll and claims? There's nobody here in the NatU Hill
Room. I don't see any hands raised online. So do we need to do a roll call for this, or can we do a
voice vote? The voice vote is fine. All in favor of the motion, which is to approve payroll and claims
as presented, say aye.
Aye. Any opposed? All right, thank you, Mr. Arnold. We'll move right along to resolution 202608 for
a public utility easement. Mr. McClassen. Yeah, I'll refer you to the memo on page 107 of the packet.
As you can tell by the number, this is a resolution that's been in the works for a little while now.
We've been working with the National Guard Recruiting Office as well as Duke Energy as a part of the
recently completed renovations to the recruiting center. They did install four EV charging stations.
that the National Guard has indicated will be available to the public. I believe two of them are metered
and will be available for public use. But unfortunately, due to the location of those, in order to get
electric service to those, they need to cross the northeast corner of our property. So that's what this
easement grants is Duke Energy the right to run electrical service through that portion of our property
to these EV charging stations.
All right, can we get a motion on the table, please? Move that we approve resolution 2026-08. Second.
All right, we have a motion and a second. Are there any questions or comments from board members? I
have a question. Yes, Commissioner Thomas. Mr. McClassen, this is not going to impact at all any of
the current operations at the Waste Reduction District.
No, as I mentioned, this is the northeast corner of the property and it is, in essence, a corner of
what right now is just a grass field between a creek that runs just to the north of our building and
our recycling center and the armory. So it's just wanted to verify. Thank you. Any other questions or comments?
Let's go to the public. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on resolution 2026-08
granting a utility easement to Duke for the National Guard EV charging stations? Seeing none. All those
in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. I believe that passes. Was that four ayes? Very good.
The next resolution is 2026 13 leachate hauling agreement. Yes, and refer to the memo on page 115 of
the packet. As indicated in the memo and since 2019 binafano utilities has been hauling leachate from
the landfill that's generated in excess of what we have the capability to treat on site.
hauling that and disposing of it at the Ellisville wastewater treatment plant. They have asked for a
price increase I think is understandable given fuel costs and the current economic environment. I've
provided in there some information on the city of Bloomington's Dillman Road wastewater treatment plant
and some of the
that were proposed to be imposed on us by CBU back in 2019 that ultimately led us to seek alternatives
for managing that leachate and I think you can see that based on the current industrial waste rate that
they charge which our leachate would be subject to and the hauling rate we were paying to our previous
vendor in 2018
Uh, even with the price increases proposed, we're still seeing the cost savings over, uh, that amount.
All right. Can we get a motion on the table, please regarding this resolution? We have approval of resolution
20, 26, 13. Second that. Thank you. Are there any comments or questions from directors? I have a question.
Yes. Commissioner Thomas.
It's a little confusing because it appears that the new price to haul is actually $70 for the 4,200
gallon. And then the $200 is the fee that they're charging themselves back to themselves for the actual
treatment.
is that correct? Because it says on page 118, it says that's the price and it says including disposal
fee. But then when you go further into the page 120, it says
under item four that the cost is $200. And then it says this cost shall be itemized separately. But
if it's included in the price of the hauling, I'm not sure I understand why it would be listed separately.
So the hauling is actually 70. So I guess the $270 figure
is for hauling and disposal of leachate from the landfill. Under Exhibit A on 120, that $200 is the
cost for them to bring us what's called a mixed liquor, which is actually a seed load from the Ellisville
treatment plant to the landfill.
Like right now, the water. The other side going back, right? The water treatment plants not running
right now. So when we start that up, we need a seed load. We need a bloat of water that has the bugs
in it for the treatment process. That's that mixed liquor. And that's and that's $200 total, including
hauling. Correct. OK, all right. That makes sense. All right. Thank you for that. Thank you for that
question. That was a good one. I didn't catch that earlier.
Any other questions or comments about the agreement or the resolution? Seeing none, we'll go to the
public. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on resolution 2026-13 and the attached
agreement? All right, seeing none, I think we can vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
All right, that resolution is adopted and we'll enter into that new agreement with Bynum-Fanio. I believe
next we have departmental reports cruising right along here. Yeah, I'm going to start with the administration
report. The memo on page 121 is a report in detail to summarize
the budget was presented at a work session to the county council on september the 16th there were some
some questions you know regarding potential property tax changes that may come down the pike and what
impact that might have on the district's financing and if there would be if the district has considered
requesting any local income tax dollars at this point obviously you know we've
We have not discussed that as a board. But and then some questions regarding the cost of living adjustment.
I believe that we are. Well, I know our budget passed a three point five percent increase. I believe
the county is looking at a two percent increase. So there's some questions about that. But ultimately,
the budget was as presented was moved forward on a six to one vote from the county council. We did have
the public hearing on that on just this past Tuesday the sixth and there was no public comment at the
public hearing on the budget and the council does not vote at that public hearing so it was
it will it awaits adoption on I believe the 20th that sound right but at this point given we're how
things have gone I don't anticipate that there'll be any issues with the budget being adopted
I will let Mr. Paulson report on the waste tire amnesty day. The Association of Solid Waste, Indiana
Solid Waste Management District is having its annual conference next week. We have a number of staff
and CEC members that are planning to attend one or both days of the conference. And then also that last
bullet point under the general updates, kind of want to expand on that a little bit. As I did attend,
a conference put on by Circular Indiana on Monday, and the entire morning was devoted to battery, was
termed EPR, Extended Producer Responsibility, and Representative Miller was in attendance. He has indicated
that he does plan to submit another battery recycling EPR bill as he did last session, this upcoming session,
and is agreeable and in fact kind of requesting working with a number of you know interested parties
including the Association of Solid Waste Districts, Circular Indiana, Professional Battery Manufacturers
Association, Waste Haulers Association. On that bill you know there's
we've seen a lot of these fires. Aside from the you know the environmental importance of battery recycling,
there's a public safety component to this. I think we're of all seen the news reports of some of the
fires that have occurred either in facilities or on vehicles traveling on interstates that are loaded
with predominantly lithium lithium ion batteries and. They do pose a significant hazard if they're not
The bill last year had near unanimous support, really was kind of derailed due to a procedural issue
because it was a short session and because it involved funding that the state would have to make available
to either the battery service organizations or the collection sites.
It needed to go to the Ways and Means Committee, and by the time it got out of the Environmental Affairs
Committee, there was not time for that to happen. So we do anticipate another bill coming this next
session and are hopeful, confident in its ability to move forward and get passed in some way, shape,
or form. Thank you very much for that update.
Are there any questions for Mr. McGlassen about the administration report? All right. We can then move
on to the recycling reuse and hazmat report from Mr. Long. Is he online? Make sure to enable him to
show his video.
It will need Joey Long and Lee Paulson to be able to participate electronically. There is. All right,
hi everyone. I will start off with the recycling and reuse report. We've completed completed another
clothing shipment to Martin County 3850 pounds of clothing, 412 pounds of shoes.
382 pounds of purses for a grand total of 4,644 pounds. And all that clothing and stuff will be used
in Martin County for their area. What is not taken there will then be shipped out to be recycled. Our
green business network, been working great with our waste reduction specialist, McKenna Conway.
We've had seen an increase in recycling. Some of our businesses are asking for extra pickups throughout
the week for the remaining of the year. So that's a plus. She's been doing a good job meeting with everybody
and increasing our numbers. Our household hazardous waste, our sharps program has really taken off.
We're seeing a lot of people coming in asking for sharps containers for their used needles.
And we are getting a lot back, so we're constantly working with people every day on that. So we're very
happy to report that the sharps program is increasing a lot. The rural sites, we have received all the
new boxes that we paid for. So anybody out of the site should start seeing nice pretty blue boxes showing up.
have good reports on the ones that's already there. You know, people have commented how nice they look
and it's nice seeing the stuff. And with winter coming, we do have some fall parking lot gravel work
planned at the sites. I've been talking to the vendor. We plan on getting the parking lots in the best
shape that we can before all the ice and snow is hit. That's all I have. If you have any questions,
I'll do my best to answer them.
Thank you, Mr. Long. Are there any questions for Mr. Long on the recycling, rural centers, Hazmat? A
quick question. When you talk about improving the lots, the drive-through lots at the rural sites in
advance of winter, is that just gravel? Yeah, it's gravel. Because the ground is soft, we get potholes
quite a bit, so we pack gravel in there.
quite a bit. We do try to degrade it in a way to get the drainage to run off. We are working with that.
We've met with a couple of different vendors at different sites for drainage as the ice and snow melts
where the water's gonna run to. Yes, Councilor Bolts. Thank you. In Martin County, and I think you might
have said this at a different meeting,
is it or what agency is it that we're delivering to? It's Martin County Solid Waste so we actually don't
deliver they come and pick it up so when we have a truckload full they come and pick it up for free
because they don't have as many organizations that can get you get clothing like that so they take it
and go through it and let the surrounding counties down there go through it
And whatever can be reused in that area they take, then they ship off and everything else to be recycled.
All right. That's good to know. And do you have any idea how much utilization they have of those items
and how much they end up then forwarding off to recycling? I can find out. I honestly don't know on
this shipment. This is what the numbers that they reported back to me, but I can ask them how much they
actually got to use out of that.
Just in general, it would be good to know. I get a lot of questions around fabric and clothing recycling.
If it's just not good enough to go to someone else, what do I do with it? Would this be a good option
for folks? It may be. We do separate different stuff. So we have one big box that we put clothing in.
But inside that box, we separate stuff. So the shoes get separated.
the purses get separated, you know, like suspenders or something like that. I know we was separating
socks and I think we were separating rags. Now the animal shelter, we do ship to the animal shelter
too. They always look for towels, rags and stuff like that for the animals. So we also do that on the
side, but I don't track how much we give them because it's kind of like an as needed basis. So when
they say we need some, we collect it for them and we get it to them. And they walk down the hill.
we take that load to them. So we depend on how much we run a forklift up the hill to them. Okay,
thank you. So along those same lines, I'm wondering how long it took to gather all these donations of
4,644 pounds. Is that like over six months or a year? It really depends. This is our, I believe, third shipment.
If you count in some from last year, you're probably looking about every four months. It's a lot. Yeah,
but that could go up and down like in the wintertime. We're definitely going to slow down. We slow down
in the wintertime and some of this stuff. People hold it up and bring us a large amount in the spring
so we get it. It's just how often they bring it to us. Alright, thank you. Any other questions or comments?
Thank you, Mr. Long. We can move on to Mr. Paulson's report, Landfill and Environmental Compliance.
Good afternoon. Lee Paulson, Environmental Compliance Landfill Director. The report is what it is. We're
still waiting for items response to our May 26 groundwater sampling event, which is an
Unusual usually we get it anytime from this time to the end of the month before we start on November
sampling event. There wasn't anything that was out of line or anything like that that would have raised
any eyebrows or anything like that. So it's just more of them taking the time to get through a pretty
lengthy report before they report back to us. But I would anticipate that document coming any time.
in the next couple of weeks, so we'll kind of go from there, but pretty much operation is normal here.
We've been shut down at the landfill, so we've been trying to spot clean the weeds that are in the pond
a little bit here or there, Marybeth and I, while the pond is still low. Our plan is to turn the treatment
plan on next week. We have a new computer system that we're putting online that is just different than
what we've had before.
So we're going to try to go slow and play with it, make sure we understand it before the weather gets
pretty ugly and need it, need it. And then Tom had mentioned the tire amnesty numbers. Those are the
last page of my part of the report. We saw less people this time around, but we still took out over
1,200 tires.
Any tire we're taking off the side of the road or somebody's property that's not ending up that we have
to go pick up somewhere is an extremely positive thing. It was still a nice day, which may have contributed
to not as many people coming just because it had been not good. Then it was a beautiful day out that
Saturday. But we're still pleased with the turnout. I still think it's a very positive thing for the
community.
As long as we can keep getting that grant money, I know the core of us are all happy to do the work
to make it happen. If you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer. Let me know. Thank you very
much, Mr. Paulson. Yeah, it is great that we can offer that event to preempt some of the cleanup that
you would have to deal with later. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any questions or comments on this report?
I think then we can go on to general public comment. Does any member of the public want to give a general
comment? I don't see anybody. All right. Comments from directors. I just wanted to mention, we talked
about this in the executive committee,
Starting at our next board meeting, we'll have our, and actually probably sooner than that, we'll have
our claims in a new easier to read format. So both the claims that are emailed each week and then the
summary of claims for the next board meeting. So thank you to Mr. Arnold for working on the new format.
I think it'll be. You're welcome. I enjoyed doing it. I think it'll be much easier for us all.
Yeah, we show templates, examples to the executive committee. We do think that it will be simpler to
read and understand. But obviously, if any board members have any questions or problems understanding
it, feel free to reach out to John or myself. And then I wanted to ask, is the CAC scheduled to meet
this month? Yes. We haven't heard from them in a while. Yeah.
They have not said anything to me about canceling next Thursday's meeting. I'm not sure what they have
planned as far as an agenda, but I have asked them to meet because we still have not approved the joint
meeting minutes from July. They need to get that done so they can be presented to the board. All right,
so hopefully we'll have a CAC update next time. Any other notes or questions from directors?
Seeing none, we can adjourn.