February Board Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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JEFFERSON – BELMONT REGIONAL SOLID WASTE AUTHORTY
MINUTES FROM MEETING OF FEBRUARY 9, 2009
ROLL CALL:
PRESENT: Bruce Williams, Bruce Misselwitz, Tom Bottorf, William Weekley, James King, Mark McVey, Anthony Kolanski, Barbara Godwin, Commissioner Ginny Favede, Darrin Corrigan, and Chuck Dawson
ABSENT: Mayor John Abdalla, Edward Argentine and Commissioner Thomas Graham
OTHERS: Patrick Lanaghan, Dave Hays, Commissioner Thomas Gentile, Mark Thomas, John Mascio, Mike Bianconi, Katie Matz, and Dorene Unterzuber
A quorum being present, Tom Bottorf, Chairman, called to order the regular meeting of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority at the offices of Keep Belmont County Beautiful, 107 Plaza Dr., Ste. R, St. Clairsville, Ohio at 5:00PM on February 9, 2008.
Commissioner Thomas Gentile of Jefferson County was introduced as a substitute for Commissioner Graham.
Mr. Bottorf opened the meeting with reading Resolution 2009-2 that honored Mark Thomas for his service to the Jefferson/Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority. A plaque was presented to Mr. Thomas. He thanked the Board and explained that he was still a member of the Ohio Solid Waste Advisory Council until the summer and was willing to relay information to and from Columbus.
MINUTES: A motion to change the voting process to a “Yea” or “Opposed” vote on routine items in order to expedite the Board meeting was made by Jim King and seconded by Bruce Williams. VOTE: motion passed, without opposition.
A motion was made to approve the January 2009 reorganization minutes by Barbara Godwin and seconded by Chuck Dawson. Vote: motion passed, without opposition.
A motion was made to approve the January 12, 2009 regular monthly meeting minutes by Mark McVey and seconded by Barbara Godwin. Vote: motion passed, without opposition.
CORRESPONDENCE: Patrick Lanaghan
The fee report from Apex landfill for December 2008 was distributed to the attendees. The statutory fees totaled $75,412.76 and the contract fee totaled $37,706.38 for a total of $120,318.06. The fees for December 2008 was $7,000 higher that the December 2007 amount. Mr. Lanaghan reported that the January fee is projected to be about 15% below last years total.
Keep America Beautiful sent a letter to congratulate Keep Jefferson County Beautiful on the success of the paper collection for the Toronto food pantry.
FISCAL REPORT: Dave Hays
Dave Hays provided the Revenue and Expenditure report which showed revenues of $134,166.06 and expenditures of $145,390.86 and a net income of -$11,224.80 for the month. The general fund cash balance for January is $366,610.54, and the contract-fee fund cash balance is $537,916.58 for a total cash balance of $904,527.12.
A motion to accept the fiscal officer’s report and approve expenditures for January 2009 was made by Mr. Williams and seconded by Mr. Corrigan. VOTE: motion passed, without opposition.
Mr. Hays explained that he and Attorney Mascio have been discussing the policy for the Sam’s Club gift cards. Questions were raised about how the Board would like to use the cards. Some ideas were to give those cards to the schools, use the cards to service the vehicles or to use to purchase items for the offices.
A motion was made to move this issue to the Finance Committee by Mr. Williams and seconded by Mr. Dawson. VOTE: 10 Yea’s; 1 Opposed by Mr. Williams, motion passed.
John Mascio entered the meeting.
Mr. Lanaghan presented the proposed 2009 budget to the board for approval.
A motion was made to approve the 2009 budget by Mr. Corrigan and was seconded by Mr. Williams. VOTE: motion passed without opposition, Bruce Misselwitz Abstained.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Tom Bottorf
Mr. Bottorf briefly discussed the lawsuit between several solid waste districts and landfill operators against the Stark/Tuscarawas/Wayne Solid Waste District law suit concerning recently passed rules by the STW Solid Waste District. The board decided not to join the lawsuit.
The purchase of the Retrac Software was discussed. The Executive Committee approved going forward with this software as it will help with reporting requirements to the Ohio EPA.
A motion to purchase the ReTrac software at a cost of $6,400.00 was made by Mr. King and seconded by Mr. Kolanski. VOTE: Unanimous, Yea, by roll call.
Repairs for the Dodge pick up truck were approved by the Executive Committee.
The issue of hiring a temporary driver was referred to the Personnel Committee.
FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT: Jim King
There was nothing to report at this time.
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE REPORT: Mark McVey
There was nothing to report at this time.
PLANNING COMMITTEE REPORT: Chuck Dawson
There was nothing to report at this time.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT: Mr. Lanaghan
Mr. Lanaghan reported the Authority collected $1,607.000.00 in fees from the Apex Landfill in 2008, an increase of $15,000.00 from 2007. The transfer station in Belmont County increased from $46,000.00 to $59,000.00.
Paper recycling numbers continue to increase; Jefferson County collected over 250,000 pounds of paper in January.
The finals numbers for 2008 for both counties are 3,073,630 pounds of paper, 1,013,185 pounds of commingled for a total of 4,086,815 pounds of recycled materials. This amounted to a 48% increase over the 2007 totals.
The Authority returned $84,388.87 to local schools for their paper recycling efforts in 2008. Jefferson County schools received over $56,000 and Belmont County schools received over $28,000. In 2008, the money given to the schools from the plastic recycling was over $15,000.00 to Jefferson County and over $2,000.00 to Belmont County for a total of $17,810.00. In 2008, the Authority gave a total of $102,198.87 to schools in both counties.
There was a meeting with Bill Steiner, the Director of Portage County Solid Waste District to discuss transporting the Authority’s commingled recycling to the Portage County MRF for processing. Different scenarios were discussed and guarantees were received that the Portage County MRF would take all collected materials, regardless of market conditions.
Commissioner Gentile asked if a number can be placed on the containers so that people can contact us when they are full. We will print up some stickers to place on the containers.
Landfill Issues: Mr. Misselwitz stated the Concerned Citizens of Jefferson County have brought a lawsuit against the Apex Landfill operators. He also stated that there has been less activity at the landfill and it is no longer operating seven days a week.
OLD BUSINESS:
The advertising budget was discussed and it was decided that Mr. Lanaghan would be the primary contact concerning the Authority’s advertising plan.
NEW BUSINESS:
Dave Hays went to an Ohio EPA meeting that covered the topic of surviving tough economic times. Several districts are experiencing financial difficulties based on the current economic conditions.
Ohio EPA had these suggestions to save money:
· Charge fees for Household Hazardous Waste Clean Ups
· Focus on core programs; don’t create any new ones
· Reduce some of the existing programs
· Reduce spending on education and advertising
· Charge fees for Electronics Recycling
Ohio EPA will be more lenient with the districts as long as the districts meet their access goals. Mr. Lanaghan stated that the current economic conditions were taken into account when the budget was created and felt that we do not need to take any actions concerning the budget at this time.
Mr. Bottorf passed out information about shirts for the Board and to purchase more for the “Caught Green-Handed” program. Mr. Corrigan suggested purchasing more for the schools. Shirts are $6.95 a piece, and shipping is free. This issue was referred to Mr. Lanaghan. Authorization will be needed to move money around in order to purchase these shirts. Mr. Lanaghan will report the cost of the shirts to the Finance Committee for approval prior to ordering.
It was decided that the full board will take part in Mr. Lanaghan’s yearly performance evaluation during the March Board Meeting.
Next meeting was set for Monday March 9, 2009 at the Authority Office in Wintersville.
ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 6 pm.
ATTEST: _____________________________ ______________________________
Tom Bottorf, Chairman Bruce Misselwitz, Secretary
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