I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Executive Committee the Waste Reduction District of Monroe County and Mr. McGlasson can you please call the roll. Pete Monsmith? Here. Thomas? Here. Wilts? Here. Note that Ms. Wilts is here virtually. Dr. Wilts can you start your video or is it not feasible? It is started. Just a minute. We have to. We can do that at the next district meeting. Certainly. Can you not hear me? We can hear you but we can't see you. You have to be visible to vote. Right. My video is turned on. First case scenario. Is there a sticker over it? First case scenario we can do it at the next board meeting. Yeah. The three of us can vote at the next board meeting on the minutes. That's the only thing we have to vote on. There is. There are two of us here. We could vote on the minutes. Yeah. As Councilor Wills. And Councilor Wills was not in attendance for the RMI meeting. No. This is your second set of minutes. Okay. All right. Let's just keep moving. Okay. So we will look at the executive committee meeting minutes for our meeting with Rocky Mountain Institute about the landfill solar on April 29th. Their motion to approve. And move to approve. Okay. So let's vote on those minutes. Councilor Wills. Oh, Councilor Wills can't vote because can't see her. Oh, we can't second that. Oh, okay. Well, I'll second it. Okay. Commissioner Thomas. Yes. I'll vote yes. And then we have the executive committee meeting of April 29th. Motion to approve that one. Motion to approve. Second. Commissioner Thomas. Yes. I will also vote. Let me just forward. Sorry. There were a couple of minor corrections. Yes, I received those and those are incorporated in the version here for signature if they're approved. Okay. The only substantive ones was that. Commissioner Thomas, you were not there as far as I recall. Yeah, I was not there and I am listed as virtual. Yeah. Right. But I can still vote on that because I watched the meeting after. And then the only other substantive correction is that Mr. Whitty is the chairperson and not the vice chairperson of the CAC. Correct. I did try to demote him. You're not getting away with that. Okay, sorry. So now let's vote. Commissioner Thomas. Yes. And I'll vote yes. Got the executive committee meeting minutes done. Any comments on the board of director meeting minutes? I had a few small corrections that I put in the drop box. Yes, I've seen those and have made those for back. Any other questions, comments on those minutes? No. Councilor Wilks. Okay, well then we can just move those to the floor for approval. Mr. McGlass, would you like to tell us about resolution 2025-09? Sure, as mentioned in the memo on page 11 due to a recent resignation and one of the site operators and moving staff around to fill that regular scheduled position and looking at our scheduling and scheduling patterns with time off and time off available to our regular site operators, Mr. Long and Joey Long and I thought it would be in the best interest of the district to actually hire two replacement site operators at this time just to help alleviate some potential scheduling issues that we saw for people taking the time off that they want or need. As indicated in the memo, the replacement operators don't have any impact on the budget. It's just an extra body to fill in when somebody's off which is going to happen whether we have three replacement operators, four, five, or six of them. So what this resolution, all this resolution does is increase the pool of replacement operators from five to six and I would note for the record in interviewing replacement reviewing interviewing candidates for the replacement operator position, we actually did have two that that we were interested in hiring and it was a difficult decision. We had to hire somebody at that time so we do actually already have a person in mind for the position that the board approves this change. Great, sounds good to me. Councilor Wilks, do you have any questions or comments on that one? I do not. Mr. Thomas? No? Okay so we can move that to the whole board. Next we have a declaration of surplus property. Yeah if you recall we did the last board meeting. I'm going to check the courier auto group for the two new green business trucks. Those are both in our possession and up and running for us now so we have two extra trucks that are taking up space on our lot that we'd like to get rid of. One of them still has some value to it the other one is ancient. Well yeah on the on our asset inventory you know one does still have some value and I mean that's just a function of you know the we generally apply a 10-year expected lifespan to those vehicles and so we purchased it five years ago and that's just a function of the depreciation given the expected life of the vehicle. It's declared surplus. We use the GovDeals auction website and you know we have the ability to set minimums and we'll endeavor to get as much out of it as we can. Will that money oh yeah so that'll be money that we'll just go to our reserves. It'll just be a miscellaneous income it was not budgeted revenue for the year and there is no bearing on our appropriations. Two just language things in the actual resolution. So at the end of the first paragraph it says it's intended and be considered surplus property for the purpose of resale reuse or recycle. I would change that to recycling. Recycle is not down. And then the same thing under number one. The thing I would like to see is specificity about trying to sell at an auction. What if it doesn't sell at auction then what happens? So you know because it could be donated there might be somebody they're good right. So I think it's important to know what's going to happen. If it doesn't sell at that it's going to auction if it doesn't sell at auction we're going to do whatever. I just think that kind of specificity is really good to have for transparency sake. And would that be something that we put into the now there for the resolution or that be something in the memo regarding the agenda item? I think memo's fine. I think it's fine. I just think it's helpful about that. Yeah what are your plans? Yep yep you're going to try to sell out to sell at auction we're going to do this. The money's going to go when it gets sold at auction. I can see you now. Yeah that's a good idea. Thank you Julie. Any other comments on this item? No. Now we can't hear you Kate. I don't have any comments. I logged off and logged back in to get my camera to work. So okay let's proceed. All right. Okay well then we can move on to the next item on the agenda which is the Back to Earth Collected Composting Programs Report. This is a kind of a follow-up to the discussion at the last month's board meeting with the proposed service agreement for the next phase of this but it became apparent in that discussion that not all board members had seen the interim report that was provided last November by one sustainable joe and I mentioned at that time that he was also working on a final report given that the initial agreement term had just ended. So both of those reports are included in here for informational purposes and discussion of their desire to do so. Sister Wenny wants to stay with us here if there's any questions and I would note that I I do have a follow-up to this if after there's any questions or discussions regarding the um Mr. Wenny do you want to add anything or I don't have anything particular to point out just happy to answer any questions that you have about the reports that are included in the packet. Thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Wenny or comments? Um it was curious that the I think it was site number two the the amount of materials just kept going up and down up and down. Yes yeah any idea what's happening there? Yes I mentioned briefly in the report that it's just basically the inconsistency of users entering the weight of the material weighing it and submitting it before they add it to the bio. So I noticed that trend the very the very first dip in April of their first um I guess would be their their fourth month participating and so I spoke with the turners there who were adding the material and they mentioned that there were no significant fluctuations in their generation and just that they weren't consistent in weighing and submitting the weight which is why I also noted that of the totals provided for the program about 10 to 20 percent I would estimate that about 10 to 20 percent more material was diverted than what was recorded. So you can you can see particularly with site number two because they contributed about half of the overall program totals but the the overall program totals vary with or fluctuate with the same variations that that particular site does and I did what I could to reinforce the value of weighing the material I showed them their weight trends so they were aware of the impact it was having and it was I guess the matter of an item that's beyond my control. Yeah how does the so does the the family the household that brings the material are they the ones who are supposed to weigh it? Yes. And is there scale there or how does that work? Correct there is a scale stationed at all of the compost bins and the reason that site number two is an exception is they are a co-op house so they aren't the same apartment style individual households all bringing out their same waste they as a house accumulate all of their waste together and they only had a specific number of residents bringing the waste out so that's why they're in I guess I'm making a comparison that in an apartment setting if one person wasn't weighing the material they would only represent a small fraction of those at the site all together so there everyone is each household bringing out weighing the material whereas at the co-op there was only a certain a small number of people sub to the residents who were bringing out the material for the whole household so that's why they forget exactly it has a bigger impact exactly so their weigh-in process was a little bit different in that respect okay but otherwise and then except the city's finished the amount so that was my follow-up okay so I think it's important to look at kind of the conclusions that Joe reached that are outlined at the end of the November report feasibility of broad spectrum implementation I mean the upshot really is that it's working it's a good program but it's not financially yeah needs a subsidy because you're never going to make that self-supporting it's not that was never the plan nice well but then it begs the question of who's gonna keep paying for this you know and well I think the I mean when we were discussing you know the pilot and getting that started you know the idea was that the district through its contractor once named Joe would help get this started and then the idea being that the apartment complex and its and its management maintenance route would eventually take over the management and there doesn't seem to be I guess that the the participants at this point they don't seem to be jumping in jumping in to take that over I guess what I would say is the the bulk of the cost is creating the site assembling I guess the cost of materials and assembling materials the maintenance cost is lower and I think something that properties would be able to assume over like the post-partner period I think that the from discussions I've had with the existing participants the property managers are willing to pay the estimated amount for operation going forward for their particular site because they are spending less on waste hauling out of the facility is that right so far it's been out of an interest in providing or providing the service to the residents that's good yeah but what I guess my conclusion is that I don't expect that any site would be willing to pay for the entire cost including the whole upfront for giving it this and I guess that's what I meant when I said that you know a district to its contractor would get this started we're going to bear the brunt of the upfront cost to construct bins and educate residents and stuff but yeah then whether it be through you know interest you know a good pr to attract tenants that hey we have this program if this is something you're interested in you know that yes and ultimately the the complex would take it over and manage and run the operation moving forward I'm just wondering what so we've we're planning to renew the pilot but at what point is it no longer a pilot and it's just a program that well I mean do we then do we then offer grants to apartment complexes or somebody like once that's something that you know that we can consider we have already discussed you know in the next year's budget possibly establishing some sort of a community grant program that could go towards something like this I think and you correct me but and the next service agreement that the board had already looked at last month you know what's in there is some is some continued support for the existing complexes but the bulk of the focus and both the funds are to get this established an additional complex but what we weren't turning we weren't turning our backs at this point on the existing participants but we want to start steer them toward making the commitment to it and either take it over and have this as a part of your community at your complex you know and I hope that that's what happens well I don't want to see it just go by the wayside and get left and you know and abandoned but at what point do we say we've done our part and it's it's up to you to make this continue that's exactly my question so the line I've taken so far by May is I've informed the participating site managers that the intent is for after the partner period that they will assume the cost of the program going forward and that as Dominic mentioned the proposed contract for phase two is almost is designed entirely for new sites with a possibility to provide funding to existing sites on an as needed basis where both the district and one sustainable joe agree that it's rented so it's much less continued support for existing sites than it is establishment of new sites with the possibility to retroactively support existing sites if deemed necessary and I guess they requested and exactly and I guess in my mind what was for the existing sites was more of a time commitment to resident turnover hey we have a new group of people that are interested but they have no idea what they're doing so okay we're going to devote some time to you to educate your new residents that want to do this. It seems like a weekly video could be made. It could. Distributor has been trying to use that. It seems you know that the cost should be zero. I don't know. Are any of these four sites heavy on student population? Are they mostly not students? I would say they are mostly really ballpark around students. Half the sites are half within. Sorry each of the sites have a roughly half student population so the turnover is an issue. Yes yeah. Do any of the current participants I mean I guess looking specifically at the non-student residents within those complexes or you know is there something that we can do or any of them seem like they would have an interest in learning enough to spearhead it going forward and so that you we can take a step back. I see. And they can educate the new residents when they come in and like you produce some YouTube videos and that should be all you need. I would say for about half of the sites so two of the sites there's one one site that has very few residents and is the co-housing and I think that they are capable of doing that training going forward. I don't think they will rely very heavily on continued intervention and I think the same is also true or I hope to be true of co-op for a similar reason because it's a single household altogether. They have people generally assigned to certain responsibilities in the house and it seems that they have the intent to be able to transfer that knowledge going forward. Whereas with the two more conventional apartment style properties I don't think that any of the residents are interested in taking it up on behalf of the apartment and I don't think the property managers are necessarily interested in their staff and maintenance or I guess staff managers filling that role. So well I don't think that it would be a zero cost for them to have like continued training or support. I don't think it will be substantial and that's what I am expecting to be close to a realm that they would be willing to continue to fund going forward and so far from the discussions we've had and the estimates I've provided it looks like it will. Oh okay well hopefully now that would be the model as long as you're available to do that kind of follow-up right and they're willing to pay what it costs. Exactly and and so far that's the I guess arrangement and expectation but again like I mentioned in the initial report in November one big question is how long the equipment will last because that that will be a substantial cost to replace that would definitely be a barrier if it were you know needed to be replaced on a two-year basis versus a five or six-year basis. Well and in your updated report you already say there are some hinges and stuff that need to be built. Yeah there are small modifications that I'm already making with the intention of this phase creating greater florescence and longevity for the equipment. I think my concern is this should be getting us closer to having a program for the whole county community at rural sites etc and I feel like that should be the next the thing that we do next and it's not you know we're still talking about apartment complexes in the city I just feel like we need to we need a big program like this demonstrates that it works on a small scale and that there's a lot of counts of waste diverted which is great right but I think it would be really good to have some planning focus maybe starting with staff coming back to board but you know what can we do to develop a significant program that would be something that would either be a subscription base or something else for county residents across the whole county because we had something and they stopped us they ceased operations so you know what would it take to find do can we do an RFQ and see if there's anyone you know in the vicinity who can do this should we I don't know I just I just feel like this is like it's good to have statistical information about the value of the program you know number of residents how many pounds are diverted that's huge but I feel like grants to apartment complexes is not the best use of our time in the future I think getting a good program going would be a better use of our time I suppose and because we have so many people living in apartments that inside and outside the city limits and so that is a population that you're probably not going to get them to go to a you know a site to get rid of unless they're already bringing their recycling to one of our offices unless they're all right and very conscious and doing I mean you would have to do this as part of a recycling program for residents I mean I think recycling not posting those together for me but but for a big program we need a place that's going to take well we've had organic waste task force we've had some of these discussions if there is hobo incorporated I think we've referenced it about their board meetings they have a facility outside of Sheffield you know the mature we've looked at we've talked with them about what would it take to have collection in Monroe County to get into your facility and you know we're looking at eleven twelve hundred dollars a pool probably closer to seven or eight seven or eight well then you had the disposal on top so we're up roughly a thousand maybe a little bit more to get a box set and swabbed out but it gets full from Monroe County to Shelby and learned from their facility so and so we talked with MCCSC schools participating in such a thing is there another entity that we had identified reached out to? We talked to ANISA and IU which says you guys need to follow up on. Yeah and then the sustainability office of IU Bloomington. So they're probably on the less likely camp that are trying to do something on their own because it wouldn't pull it out completely. So we are we are looking at an option that is not most cost effective necessarily and that's part of the problem with doing it is there is there's nothing there's there's not a facility nearby to take that from place to and that's ultimately whether it's private facility a public partnership but the long-term solution is to have a facility in the area that will take that material. Yeah I'll just note that the target audience for this particular program is high density housing which happens to be in higher concentration in city limits that's yeah the difference is they're able to do it on their property whereas to get a very large inclusive program requires a processor in a whole different structure right right I understand that yeah I definitely agree though that I mean I just the last thing I heard at the last meeting was oh it's a high price pay okay well what else are we going to do like we can't just I don't know we just we used to go out and find one place that's expensive and then go well that's it it's expensive to move on I mean I just feel like we I just ask staff to think about other ways to accomplish something like this because it is a huge huge impact on our place I mean it's it's huge. Well I mean we have the task force so um I guess this is a request to ask the task force to comb through and see if there's any any other options. There might be an answer out there that's not a processor of the scale but what is it called well is it you know that yeah that's the one outside of Shelby yeah and there's also another business I don't think we've identified it's about the same distance that's south toward the river. Oh okay but same issue same yeah because it's a transportation issue yeah you know which which is you know cost and urban footprint yep yep there are options and if I think this is to me it's a it's a stomachable option if we go into it short term with a plan to do something local in the near future. Yeah but you got to have that local plan yeah I agree do that forever yeah. I mean Volkashi opens up some other possibilities right like you don't have to have a farm to do Volkashi. But you still have but you still have the solid product that needs to finish as has been described it's a it's a much shorter term but it still has to go and sit somewhere and finish composting yep and you know and again and again you get into the you know I get part of the the purpose of looking at the multi-dwelling and we referred to update at the board meeting you know a neighborhood centric model is is is to avoid standard the threshold that gets you on item trade-off you gotta look at registering or permitting a facility and that's 300 square feet is that threshold okay okay did you have some feedback um I mean I'm interested in the conversation I do think that Julie has a point about thinking about longer term solutions and it just makes me wonder if 300 you said 300 square 300 square feet is the compost pile by dimensions that is the items threshold that puts you under their purview to be permitted to register it's at the county parks you were cutting out I'm sorry sorry what if we had setups at the county parks I mean I'm just envisioning kind of a way to have places well that's that's just one of the things that was discussed at last month's meeting with the request the garden quest has and they have partnered with will debt park to do the finish to do the finished composting of the solid byproduct from the bokashi fermentation um you know but but again they're they're still limited to that 300 square foot threshold if I may add one of the I guess thinks apart or not right thinking about it in terms of distributed or centralized is how we've been doing it in the task force and then distributed model no matter what someone has to be able to maintain right right so there has to be I love it but yeah there still has to be somebody to be able to maintain it even if that's small volume so obviously a high amount of distribution makes it manageable for a small number of people but it also significantly limits the amount of waste we're able to take overall so centralized could collect from institutions in a way that decentralized can't yeah what I'm understanding about the Bokashi method is there's certainly it's a less labor intensive you know once you take that the solid product fermentation and do the finished composting because it doesn't sound like it's something that you don't have to churn consistently yeah so it's but it has to sit for a long time I think it was three to four months that's not for the fermentation process I thought it was like closer to two or three weeks yeah but then you have to bring you make juice off that and he's talking about burying the solids for I think but I thought he said it was like three months and then you should be able to yeah I thought it was I thought it was even longer than that between county parks and city parks yeah there might be oh I mean I mean maybe that's you know we're leading ourselves into another option that we should investigate yeah but yeah well anyway if the task force can keep working on it I think that would be good I think we need multiple approaches here you know I don't I don't think we should be satisfied no yeah I mean it's and I and until until there is a large-scale local option available it's you know multiple approaches well you know I think the things that we're doing are the best step that we can take at this point of course that you're talking about have a representative from extension on it Purdue extension is that Monroe County extension services we do not but they are you know I can reach out and grab them in the office so we get it certainly yeah it just seems like that might be a worthwhile resource we can extend that invitation certainly um I have a question about a different topic if we can move on um well we have the update on the if yeah the agreement was once the city the city has agreed to the MOU uh in essence um or um they got back to me we're uh fixing some of the some typographical errors and dates that need to be corrected on for the timing of it but they have agreed to the MOU um so I would ask if there's interest to bring the uh service space to the service agreement back to the board next week and then and then I had a question related that for the initial pilot agreement I could not find a record of where the board took action on the MOU we they have delegated that I signed I signed off on it and then once it was signed off on we brought the service agreement to the board stating that the MOU had been executed so the president the board chair didn't sign it either I that jogged my memory I think that was the case I think it was a matter of timing with the city where the board said that the executive director could proceed with the agreement so there would have been a vote though to say that right yeah I I'd like to go back through minutes um so we did it wrong last time yes but I but I have no problem with the board voting to allow Tom to sign I mean that's fine that's no big deal but by this I guess by the same token you know if I sign it and we bring everything to the board at next week's meeting and the board doesn't approve the contract the mo is null and void so are you saying that last year or two years ago you signed it before the board approved the the resolution the resolution for the service agreement said that the mo you had been executed and the dating of the signatures indicate that that's the legal question how it happened but I can go back to the minutes perhaps there was a consensus or a vote taken to delegate um the mo you um it's every regardless I you know I could just tell the city that all you know the mo you will have to go to the board for approval at the next meeting that's probably the why is that I don't know oh okay I don't know why why why would we shouldn't be yeah I think that would be the the clearest and most transparent way to do it is to bring both mo you and the contract agreement to the board under separate or the same resolution to be under separate resolutions wouldn't they oh I would say the same one yeah the same thing yeah you can just reference the mo you yeah so that could steal that means I got to rewrite the thing I can't just update enough no that's that's fine so yeah so the question is given that the city has agreed to the mo you is the committee agreeable to that resolution and the service agreement theme on the agenda for the board meeting yes David's shaking yes nodding yes shaking yeah that's what I meant to say consensus to bring that to the board at the next one that's what I okay all I have on that issue thank you Julie you had another topic what is the transition date for rumpy service one day two days ago for yesterday yeah so is there any information available at the rural sites or I don't see it on the website about the new expanded I need to I need to give a joey joey was trying to clarify some things with with runky on the coated cartons we know and we understand but I think that there was also potentially plastic or paper and or paper changes but we're soon to get that clarification we'll get information posted and we will get sign it new signage order to indicate the changes okay social media where do the experts go are they going paper they don't I mean I think it's a big deal and they just started applauding about it but I think you know it's a substantial amount of material yeah but now the little plastic spouts and that's them out and keep them so I'm ready to get rid of them that we now potentially get revenue yeah oh yeah what about the little plastic spouts I cut them out do those need to be cut out mr going yes to put the plastic spouts on the coated cartons on the milk cartons yeah you should take those off same thing with the uh folded tech you know this what about the plastic piece that's kind of built into the carton you can leave that in that that's not enough contaminant okay cut mine out well that's the message we need to get across yeah I would say cutting them out is the best practice yeah cut them out when I can but I got a basket full of ready to go now that's a big deal it's a huge deal really but I think yeah anything you could do that's flashing on the website and be helpful you can do that yeah my social media person is in peru right now oh I'm sure I'm sure I will do my best to make it happen is that kayla or elisa elisa okay but kayla can I'm not confident kayla can develop use canva and develop something that we can post and put some text with but we do on the website too it's it's one of the strongest social media and a lot of folks that do look at the website but what can I bring what can't I bring the recycle we strap people to the website okay any other um topics that um any members wanted to bring up I may I'm either going to be virtual for the morning or not able to attend so yeah why I Julie can you chair the July board meeting because I will not be able to attend yeah well that uh and we have budget stuff in July the budget first presentation for the budget but no action right okay but discussion and do we need to talk so we're gonna are we gonna talk about the budget I think second meeting again in July and I would anticipate I would provide you a preview of the presentation the other uh I think it's the other thing I need to ask to have on the agenda for the June board meeting is the joint joint meeting with the CAC in July to review the budget which historically has been either piggyback on the board meeting or the CAC meeting board meeting tends to be the easier one to do because the board members are already available there I would keep that if you can so but do you do I would do that if you can confirm that the board with the board okay all right make sure we have a forum okay got it anything else for the good of the order nope okay well I don't have anything else so I think we can adjourn ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance")