FARMINGTON BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S
MEETING MINUTES
JULY 2, 2003
(Workshop-Public Session)
Attendance: Chairman Joan Funk, Gerald McCarthy, Matthew Scruton, & Barry Elliott
Staff: Director of Water/Waste Mgemt., Dale Sprague & Town Administrator Ernest M. Creveling
Guests: Engineers Mike Penney and Mike Redding, of GEO Insight
The workshop convened and was called to order by Chairman Funk at 6:00 p.m. She said tonight’s’ workshop is to focus on the closure alternatives for the Farmington landfill.
Dale said he spent a great deal of time to put together the options, which would progress the landfill from its existing small-scale operation to a more sophisticated one. He said in fulfilling the Selectmen’s wish to explore all the options he is submitting a fair comparison. Dale said he must warn the Board there are a lot of variables in the process, but he said he tried to use good judgment, to average the numbers (valid and reasonable). He said tonight they need to look at the magnitude of the numbers and what they span. Dale said he tried to eliminate several variables, such as the offsetting revenues; using instead the cost per ton for the first equation, in order to establish a feel of how much it is currently costing the Town of Farmington to get rid of garbage. He said the
numbers tonight are gross numbers, only calculating the principal interest payments, labor, utilities and the cost of operation, and Dale said these are gross operating costs only.
Option # 1
Dale said with a gross operating budget of $136,000, including current groundwater monitoring costs, the current cost to Farmington is $40.00 per ton to dispose of municipal solid waste (MSW).
Option # 2
Dale said initially with a transfer station and recycle facility, a Farmington owned and operated facility, including bonding the construction of the facility over time, with closing costs and closure and post closure monitoring, the Board would need to automatically add $400,900, for a total of $545,000. Barry asked if the 20-year closure costs are included and Dale said yes. Barry asked if this is the cost without inflation and Dale said yes. Matt then asked if option # 1 includes closure costs and Dale said no. Ernie said Dale is just trying to provide relative figures.
Option # 3
Dale said this option is to consider continuing the operation of the landfill. He said GEO Insight has provided ample information concerning this particular option. He said one idea is to operate a small cell, rather than a huge lined one; which along with the associated costs, would be very manageable and could be operated over many years. Dale said the state might allow Farmington (with a plan, of course) to continue to run the landfill with future plans for a small cell and could perhaps be permitted another 8-10 years of operation of the existing landfill. He said some precedent has been set with that allowance. Dale said then at ten years, the Town could close the existing landfill and move into the new cell. He said he tried to account for timing of the cell construction and the
necessary bonding and when the post closure costs would begin. Dale said costs could be $312,000 to $420,000 with a per ton cost of anywhere from $95.00 to $128.00, noting the per ton cost for a transfer station would be approximately $160.00. Gerry asked how Dale derives the cost per ton and he said he figures the gross operating expenses for one year, to include operating, principal & interest payments, etc. and then divides it by the number of tons Farmington produces. Gerry wondered if the amount/type of service provided at the landfill would change and Dale said he’s not taking into consideration any revenues, noting he’s not concerned with that right now. Dale said in his thought process, he has tried to eliminate the revenue, working instead with only the cost to run. He said once an option is chosen then the revenue side can be looked at more closely. He said he’s basically looking at the gross operating expenses.
Dale said in returning to the review of Option # 3 the Town may get 25 years of time with this particular option, but tonight is a gross overview only. He said these options are to look at the Town’s cost to run versus contracting out to the private sector. Joan asked if a small cell, is it possible other cells would be needed and Dale said it’s so far into the future, there is no way to predict. He said the regulations
Selectmen’s Minutes 07/02/03-Pg. # 2
could/would change so much over this time, that he wouldn’t be able to venture a guess.
Option #4
Dale said this option would give Farmington a fairly significant volume to accept outside MSW. He said New Durham generates 1,000 ton per year and for every $50,000 Farmington brings in, reduces the gross by $15.00 per ton.
Option # 5
Dale then referred to GEO Insight’s proposal and the accompanying tables. He said for a full-blown landfill or multiple cells, if the Town is “out to make a buck”, there is an opportunity to make money, if the Town chooses to treat it as a business. The engineers from GEO Insight said by adding communities to the picture, the time frame to remain open/available would be slightly reduced. They said there is a point where a certain amount of material would need to be brought in, in order to “break even”, then once that is accomplished, any extra is “gravy”, so-to-speak.
Barry said options 2-5 offer the opportunity not to have to raise the tax rate so substantially. Dale said the engineers have said all this hinges upon the NH Dept. of Environmental Services (DES). Gerry said option #5 would mean that Farmington could perhaps be competitive like Waste Management (WM) and charge another community less than WM. Dale replied this is the problem with this option, then the Town ends up in bidding wars and simply couldn’t compete with the “big guys”, because they would “blow us out of the water.” He said Farmington could possibly charge hauling fees, as another source of revenue. Gerry asked what state intervention there would be if Farmington runs its own operation and the GEO Insight engineers said DES is in favor of community
operations, so it should be “hands off”, aside from the regular monthly inspections.
Dale said the Town would basically still be a “drop-off” facility with this option. He said Farmington has a great deal of liability exposure with the public being within the landfill area and by creating a transfer station/recycle center; it would keep the public out of this. Dale said there are 100’s of variations for this particular scenario.
Dale mentioned that he’s throwing Option #6 into the picture, because he felt it was important to develop an RFP to solicit proposals similar to Casellas. He said he’s simply looking out for the Town’s best interest in order to maximize the number of allowable disposable years, noting it’s a trade-off based upon what the Board wants to give Farmington. He added he just wants to provide for balanced discussion. Dale said he feels once the proposals come in and are reviewed by Administration, the Waste dept. and the Selectmen, they can take the interest accrued from Capital funds and subsidize the operation of a transfer station (if in fact the Town can generate 5% return on their money). He said he’s just throwing this out as another option. Joan agreed the Board
would be remiss not to explore all options. Matt said he likes to look at options and would like to put out a non-binding RFP to further explore this particular option. Dale said okay. Barry said if any other bidders are like Casella, the Board shouldn’t deal with them, adding the Selectmen would have trouble “selling” this to the community and they might be best to pick “middle ground”. He said so many issues are presented when contracting the service out. Joan asked if other companies asked to bid, would be as large as Casella and Dale said no, not in that echelon of waste management. Dale said he did ask for their litigation history and they have said there is none. The engineers from GEO Insight said Waste Management is #7 nationwide. Gerry asked if the Town goes along with option # 3, would they be granted an extension and Dale said he didn’t factor this in, calculating gross figures only and
assuming there was no grant money.
The engineers said in speaking with Dale Kemp of NHDES, they were told it would be no problem for Farmington to obtain grant funding, but hinges upon the federal government and pending budget cuts. Dale said he’s included details on how the figures were derived and he tried to use good judgment. Matt reiterated the need for due diligence to explore all options, including the issuance of RFP’s for other outside contractors.
Ernie said in meeting with two other companies they have been able to learn more about smaller competitors. Dale said it is important to review his information. Ernie asked one of the engineers when they could have the RFP ready and was told in approximately two weeks they could have a draft RFP prepared for Dale, Ernie and the Selectmen to review. The engineers asked how many companies to solicit and Ernie said as many as they can. They asked if Waste Management should be one to solicit and Ernie said yes, why not. They also mentioned that DES should be willing to grant permission for the extension because of the Cardinal landfill’s ongoing issues.
Selectmen’s Minutes 07/02/03-Pg. # 3
The meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynn C. Seaboyer
Admin. Asst.
| 
