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FARMINGTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S
MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 31, 2003
(Public Session)
Attendance: Chairman Joan Funk, Barry Elliott, David Hall, Gerald McCarthy & Matt Scruton
Staff: Ernest M. Creveling, Town Administrator, Director of DPW Dale Sprague
The meeting convened and was called to order by Chairman Funk at 6:00 p.m.
Casella Proposal
Chairman Funk said this evening the Selectmen will be viewing a presentation by three representatives of Casella Waste, Inc. She then introduced Mark Popham of Casella. Dale Sprague asked the Board if they had the opportunity to review his list of pro’s and con’s. The Selectmen said they had reviewed them. The reps. From Casella then presented four extra copies of their proposal. Mark said he’s the Landfill Development Coordinator. He then introduced his two other co-workers. Mark said Casella was invited to look at Farmington’s closure status and is now expressing their interest in helping to provide assistance with the financing of the landfill closure without having to fund it through the Town’s own resources. He said Casella is looking to take the 12
acre existing site and cap it, according to DES standards and then propose to construct a ten acre double lined disposal area adjacent to the existing site. Mark said Casella is looking to efficiently cap the existing landfill, with groundwater protection, noting obviously this approach would enable the Town to consider taking in additional waste. He said the proposal itself consists of the approach from permitting through, design and final cover; guaranteeing effective closure through DES, financing, constructing and approval through Casella. Mark said this includes permitting and engineering. He then showed a diagram of the landfill area, as well as the liner and capping systems, with their respective cross section diagrams. He said the outline of the proposal summary includes: 1. proposing to perform all permitting, 2. engineering and technical services and environmental monitoring and reporting, 3. to
perform recycling area construction, 4. to perform all construction of the double-lined composite landfill expansion, 5. to construct and operate the facilities required to collect the leachate management works, 6. to provide the management of the Wastewater Treatment Plant dewatered sludge, 7. to provide engineering for permitting for the unlined landfill and the lined expansion, the installation and operation of the required LFG (landfill gas control) management system, 8. to provide for disposal of residential/municipal solid waste (MSW), 9. to provide for the hauling of recyclables and NHDES waste ban materials, generated by the Town of Farmington residents, 10. to provide the performance bond to cover the financial assurance for the completion of the work as outlined in the proposal (to ensure the work is completed), 11. the development of a payment bond-a financial
mechanism for the payment of royalties, 12. to host and run the annual household hazardous waste collection day, 13. to provide for a 30-year period, the post closure monitoring, 14. to reimburse the Town for full time landfill monitor at the site (for State and Federal requirements), 15. to provide royalty payment of $10.00 per ton for out of Town MSW disposed of at the landfill facility.
Mark said Casella is looking at bringing in material from outside the Town of Farmington, in order to help finance the project. He said they understand this is the Town’s property, so they are willing to pay for the material which is brought in from outside of Town. He then opened the meeting to questions. Chairman Funk asked Mark about the outside waste and Mark said Casella would bring in a maximum of 500 tons per day of MSW. Joan asked for more information, as it pertains to groundwater protection. One of the other representatives said the double-lined expansion would include a sub-grade layer, a geo-synthetic clay layer (needle woven into a fabric-like material),a final polyethelene sheeting (thicker mil.), then a geo-composite layer and membrane with a leak detection
layer/secondary layer), which would act as a type of collection system to help monitor the leachate. He said there would be another primary layer, then a protective blanket, after which the waste material is collected; above all of this layered system. Joan then asked about the treatment of the leachate and if it would occur within the Town’s facility. Dale said he wasn’t sure, but feels it would depend upon the type of material. He said the engineering firm of GEO Insight could assist in this process, noting it would also be dependent upon the upgrade of the current wastewater treatment facility. He said Casella could handle and remove the material, if necessary. One of the Casella reps. said they could pre-treat the material if needed too.
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Mark said overall this would be considered a small landfill site. He said the volume generated at any one time wouldn’t be substantial, noting Casella would only work five acres of the site at a time and then cover it as soon as possible, in order to minimize the volume of leachate and in order to handle rainfall. Mark said it would be 6,000 gallons per day, maximum. He said there is very informative literature regarding the levels of materials present in leachate and generally it is not difficult for larger communities to take in leachate, if Farmington couldn’t handle it.
Matt asked if Casella would be pursuing the purchase of additional lands for expansion and if so, of what benefit would it be to Farmington. Mark said Casella is treating this as a closure project, it is not the intent of the proposal. He said they are approaching this as the Town’s intent to become a transfer station site. Barry said since Farmington has a moratorium against the import of sludge, it means this wouldn’t be allowed. Mark said the proposal would not involve bringing in sludge. He said there’s merely an opportunity to consider. He said Farmington sludge could be used for feedstock to create compost soil for use on a site (not necessarily for the Town of Farmington). Mark informed the Selectmen the feedstock is an acceptable vegetative material for
landfill capping. Barry asked about the gas management plan, as part of the closure DES requires. Mark said Casella would look at and perform analysis for a passive or an active gas treatment system to solar flare off the methane. He said during the active operation of the landfill, gas collection and venting may need to occur and it would be a permanent system. Barry asked how long it takes. One of the reps. said the first initial years of gas generation are the highest, then it tapers off. He said a passive system could also be easily converted to an active system for gas collection and control. Barry asked if it is a five year or a three year plan, saying he noted references to both lengths of time and the rep. said it is a five year plan. Mark said their attention would be to tend to the unlined section of the landfill first, while operating the current landfill and while constructing the lined section of the expansion. Gerry asked
about Casella’s region of operation and Mark said his company has three sections and ME and NH are in the eastern region, noting waste material would be coming from both. Gerry said groundwater monitoring is supposed to be for a 30 year period at a cost of $20,000 per year, wondering if Casella would be performing the 30 year monitoring and Mark said yes. One of the reps. said Casella would bond this or would pay the Town of Farmington to tend to it. Gerry said both sides of the landfill are gravel pits, asking what would prevent Casella from creating a huge landfill running from Farmington to Rochester. The rep. said the Selectmen can prevent this, noting Casella needs to be partners with the towns and Selectmen they work with, not working against them. The reps. explained this is a small project and stands to be win-win situation, explaining they do not want to bring one 25-year project to the table without local support, saying that type of
expansion is too difficult to make happen and only the lawyers stand to win. Gerry expressed his concern about the affect of this proposal to the area residents of Peaceful Pines Mobile Home Park (PPMHP) around the landfill. Mark said the impact would be no more than the current affect on the area. He said the hope is there would be less of an odor problem, because from an economic and leachate standpoint, they want to close out the areas as soon as possible.
Barry said there are other things at the landfill, such as construction debris, septage lagoons, sand dumping, snow storage in winter and sand/salt storage, wondering what would have to happen to these and Mark said Casella has pledged all other current municipal uses could be accepted within Casella’s plan, except the lagoons. Mark said eventually DES would have additional requirements for the lagoons and their location anyway. Mark said there is flexibility for the landfill footprint and another one of the reps. said as far as on site monitoring, it is best handled by the monitor that Casella is offering to pay for. The rep. added that the area would only be open to residents of the Town of Farmington, if that is what the Selectmen would desire.
Mark said Casella can minimize the nuisance consideration to include dust, odor and litter. He said they are committed to sweeping and would set up barriers with netting to prevent litter from flying away and perform compaction and cover immediately. Mark said they must be diligent at all times with the cover to minimize the nuisance conditions. Dale said he had two comments, one is they are working to accept sludge upon the upgrade of the wastewater treatment facility and even if the Town doesn’t perform the closure, the Town would still have the same problems. Barry asked if Mark had any idea of how much MSW the Town of Farmington generates and he said approximately 30 tons per week, at an estimate of 3-5 lbs. of waste per person per day. Barry expressed his concern about the
condition of the Watson Corner Road and the bridge, to handle increased weights and loading. Mark said the recent evaluation of the bridge rated it
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structurally sound. Barry said another problem is the bridge couldn’t fit a tractor trailer and a car simultaneously. Dale said the bridge is indeed structurally sound, but the width is a problem. One of the Casella reps. said drivers are repeat drivers, familiar with the routes and they maintain radio communication to help ease such problems. Barry said he definitely sees this as an important issue to address, despite scale house and dispatch communication. Mark said Casella could erect temporary signalization for the location, if necessary, saying he feels this is something they should be able to deal with. Walter Mills said the road is posted for weight limits, so how can this type of weight load be handled at this time of year. Barry said it could be handled with the Town’s Road Agent (Hwy. Supervisor).
Mr. LaPierre said as far as he’s concerned the bridge is a serious issue, as well as the hill nearby, noting in winter people simply cannot stop on that hill, agreeing also the bridge is indeed too narrow for even one truck and one car, never mind two trucks. He added that in winter the bridge is only one lane wide. Mark suggested the Board view how Rochester deals with their facility, Turnkey.
Ed Mullen spoke about the Town’s problems with the effluent into the local river ways, coming from the existing landfill. Mark said what Casella is looking to do is to cap the unlined landfill, just as the Town was planning to do, just sooner versus later and the other ten acre expansion would have the impervious layers. He said over the long term, whatever Casella brings in would be into the lined area only and they would work to cover the existing as soon as possible. Ed said, so if Farmington took over, the Town would cover the landfill flat, but if it is performed by Casella, it would be capped mounded. He then asked if Casella would monitor the wells between the landfill and the Cocheco River and Mark said Casella would pick up what the Town of Farmington currently does and what DES and
the engineers require.
Ms. Janet Kalar asked what guarantee would there be that the Town of Farmington would not have serious contamination problems such as the problems Casella is currently having in Bethlehem with the contamination of private well(s). Mark said he wasn’t personally familiar with this problem. Barry asked, if Farmington has problems would Casella address them? Mark said obviously they would address them. Chairman Funk said this is not the issue for discussion tonight. Janet said she had information pertaining to Casella’s reputation.
Walter Mills asked about the dollar value of the project. Mark said the capacity of the Town’s landfill is 820,000 cubic yards, 620,000 tons or $6,000,000 in dollar value to the Town of Farmington. Walter said he wanted the gross value. He said he felt the proposal is good, but he still has a lot of questions. He asked the Board, with so much value “in the hole”, so to speak, why not have Farmington control this project alone? Walter said there’s a great deal of value in trash, so why not generate a business within Farmington, to offset the tax base? He said this too would be win-win situation.
David asked if Casella is insured against problems with leakage/contamination and Mark said they have the ability to obtain environmental impairment insurance, but candidly, the Town of Farmington has an unlined site and with the neighboring contaminated site, they might not be able to carry insurance for the entire site, due to the adjacent and existing activities. David said currently employees can monitor what’s coming in, but how would they monitor truckloads and how does the check and balance system work in this case? Mark said in the operation of a site they would split it into two aspects, one where the residents would be permitted to go and one area of the site for the commercial trucks, who he added, are reputable and always known to Casella and from one of their operations. He said
quality control is a priority to deposit, noting they track the commercial pickups and then accumulate and control. David asked what happens in five years when Farmington is looking to construct a recycling facility, wondering if Casella would assist in the process. Mark said Casella’s proposal looks at the entire plan. He said they would make sure the final aspects of the site are as they should be. Mark said Casella wouldn’t object to a drop off site, but DES would ultimately have the final say in this too. Barry said he too liked the proposal when he first looked at it, agreeing with Walter that perhaps this is something Farmington could do on its own, but after further reviewing he said the Town of Farmington has all it can do to handle what it already does. He said if you really look at it from a business standpoint, it’s not realistic. He then asked about the State and Federal reimbursement funds and if they are still
available, no matter who closes the landfill. Mark said since the landfill would still actually belong to the Town of Farmington, the Town should still be eligible.
He said Casella is essentially only the contractor to Farmington. Ed said garbage has to go someplace and he too is in favor of the operation, but he has the misfortune of driving Rte # 125 behind the garbage trucks on their way to Turnkey, with trash flying off the trucks, wondering if Casella would do anything to
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mitigate what falls off the trucks. Mark replied, this situation is completely rectifiable. Another rep. said Casella would maintain the roads on the trucking routes. Janet Kalar said if the Town doesn’t start the closure of the landfill now, Farmington won’t be eligible for the closure funds. She then said the last time the bridge on Watson Corner Road was checked, it wasn’t for 50 truckloads per day, it was only for the load tolerance during the short term capping of the Cardinal landfill. One Casella representative spoke up and said 50 truckloads would be the maximum per day, in order to allow for seasonal increases and inclement weather, noting usually it would be more like 25-30 per day, five days per week. Barry agreed the point being, the Town would still need
to look into this and Dale agreed it would require further evaluation.
A resident in attendance asked if the project could be scaled down and if so, would it still be worth Casella’s while, yet still benefit the Town of Farmington. Mark Popham said perhaps, but it would certainly change the presentation of benefits per se as to what Casella would perform and what the royalty payment would be. Ed Mullen then asked the Board if they’ve availed themselves of the knowledgable sources within the area to discuss this situation and ask for their advice. Ernie said no, not yet, noting this is the first proposal in two years and there is much more to explore. Ed asked if it is the Town’s intention to go outside for advice and Joan said yes. Walter Mills said he was looking at the 30-year plan to make it a profitable venture for Farmington and said he
feels Dale should look, along with the Town’s consultants, into performing this venture on its own, wondering if it might be feasible. Joan said the Selectmen would be looking at all angles. Matt asked if Casella would bring new jobs into the area and Mark said no, that this is a specialized business and would be difficult to treat as a learning curve. Joan then asked if the intention is to utilize the Town’s current employees and Mark said Casella would bring in its own staff, which would free up current employees for other Town projects. Mark said Casella would consider re-hiring Town staff, if the employee matches the situation. Another representative said Casella has some jobs for non-skilled laborers.
Walter Mills said in consideration of traffic studies, would the Board consider asking Casella to absorb the costs for a traffic study to be performed by an outside source. Mark said it could actually be the blending of two pieces together in that Casella is willing to look into the study and to work closely with the community public officials concerning other traffic issues for day-to-day operation. He said it is not Casella’s intention to drop a lot of work on Farmington or on the Police dept.
Walter then asked about a quality control/quality assurance program. A representative said in the construction of a liner system and capping system there is also an oversight person performing reports which have QA/QC incorporated into them. Charlie King asked if adding 60’ to the landfill would be above the ground and a representative explained they would plan to expand the total landfill footprint and only one portion, a ridge portion of it, would be 60’ (the spine of the landfill). Ed asked if Casella would be willing to work with some of the agencies in the area (who would act as consultants) regarding their plans to add additional Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to the unlined area. Mark explained that since their plan is to cap the landfill as they go, leaching would be minimal
and the net result would not worsen the current situation. Ed asked if Farmington plans to cap the landfill within one year and Dale said yes, but it would be dependent upon what occurs with the Cardinal landfill, about which he is still awaiting information. Ed and Charlie asked why isn’t Casella proposing to line and cover the existing landfill, before adding to the landfill footprint and Mark said this could work against the desire to reduce the contamination, by causing other problems. He said Casella has developed a proposal of what they envision and then Farmington and Casella can negotiate, which is generally what follows a proposal. He said often times parties will come back to the negotiation table, prior to an agreement with their final negotiations, particularly after NH DES input. Gerry said he believes the Town’s contracted engineering firm would know what DES would approve of. He then expressed his concern if Farmington
approves of this proposal and agrees to receive outside MSW trucked into Town, then what could happen to the road after 20 years time, and if big business buys the area land to expand the operation for their profit, then it could be to the aesthetic detriment of Farmington. Charlie King asked how much tonnage is at the landfill now and Dale said he couldn’t even venture a guess. Mark said Casella hasn’t guesstimated the amount at the site. Another representative spoke about the capabilities of Casella’s operation to ensure minimal leaching and maximum efficiency. Walter Mills asked what benefit is there to having a slope on the cap of the landfill and a representative explained the point of it is to have water run off the cap of the site, using a 5% slope.
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Barry said he was curious, if Farmington approves of the proposal, what’s the length of time within which they must respond, wondering if this needs to go before Town Meeting. Ernie said if the Selectmen
decide to approach the project and since this is an agreement of over one year, they would probably want to take the issue before Town Meeting. Barry said, so realistically the Board of Selectmen/Casella wouldn’t even get approval until next March (2004). A Casella representative said he wasn’t sure if everyone was “on the same page”, noting it would be at least six months before Casella could start anyway. Mark said they are really looking a seven-year proposal.
Ed Mullen wondered when and if the Selectmen could have some professionals present to discuss this issue further. He said the Board owes it to the community to have this and should ask Casella to fund this too. Barry said this is only the beginning of exploration, although he is happy to see tonight’s participation/attendance. He said this meeting is only conceptual to see if perhaps they want to move forward. Naomi Preble suggested the Selectmen call other towns currently working with Casella to learn firsthand of their experience with Casella, noting she feels this would behoove the Town. She said proactive investigation is needed. Ivan Preble said he worked, for a while, at Waste Management and said he asked them why they had such a large legal staff. He said he learned
this was due to unagreed practices that Waste Management had engaged in, going on to say if Farmington lets Casella into Town, the same thing would happen. Walter Mills asked what “subtitle D” means and Mark said it’s a category the Federal government uses to classify landfills. He then wondered if useable items disposed of at the landfill could still be set aside for use, versus disposal and Joan said it could be considered. A representative said the State of MA encourages this and Dale said it would certainly be workable. Mr. LaPierre said this usually looks worse than the dump/landfill, a classic example being that of the Town of New Durham. Dale said most facilities visited frown upon this practice.
Walter Mills asked about the thirty-year bond for the closure, wondering if Farmington would be responsible for the thirty-year monitoring costs. Mark said generally $20-30,000 is the cost for post closure monitoring programs, which Casella is proposing to provide. Walter then questioned the indemnity clauses and the Selectmen said they too wondered about this, but said they are really not at that point yet in their investigations. Walter said he’s not opposed to the proposal, but would like to see the landfill have access from Rte # 11.
Gerald McCarthy motioned to adjourn. David Hall seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous.
The meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn C. Seaboyer
Admin. Asst.
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