Jan. 10—A newly-formed Landfill Task Force took its first steps toward addressing the facility’s capacity crisis on Friday during their inaugural meeting at City Hall.
The St. Joseph Sanitary Landfill, a 14-cell facility opened in the mid-1980s, has seen a near 50% increase in yearly waste in the last five years driven by low and stagnant dumping fees.
An influx of waste combined with past cell construction delays has put the city’s lone open cell (7), and the entire facility as a result, in jeopardy of closing.
Members of the task force and city officials mulled over a variety of options before agreeing that the likely short-term solution is to put a cap in the near future on the amount of daily waste by haulers.
Alarming new estimates discussed on Friday indicate that with the current rate of dumping, approximately 215,000 tons per year, cell (7) could now fill up by May instead of July, while a new cell (8) isn’t likely to be open until September.
However, city officials are expected to present the latest estimates on available airspace, staff resources and a timeline to the task force at an emergency meeting scheduled for Jan. 16, so the committee can determine how swiftly reductions need to be made and what the most effective reduction plan is to buy time for cell construction to finish.
“The board’s looking forward to getting those numbers back from us, and in talking to the DNR and seeing what they will allow us to do,” St. Joseph Public Works and Transportation Director Abe Forney said. “Whatever that decision turns out to be. We just want to make sure that the landfill is open for our community.”
Forney confirmed that the city recently requested a new waiver from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to allow for additional emergency storage space.
Task members used the early portion of the meeting to get up to speed on the situation and appoint Terry Petersen, owner of Redgate Disposal, as chair of the board.
Meetings will take place on the second Wednesday of each month moving forward.
The seven-person committee is tasked with reviewing landfill data and providing recommendations to the City Council for a long-term plan.
The task force is comprised of three trash haulers, two area residents, one business owner and one member of the City Council.
In addition to addressing short-term needs to keep the landfill open, task members will create a five-year plan during their 12-month appointment for dumping fees to ensure maximum life expectancy and open future landfill cells as quickly as possible.
Members of the City of St. Joseph’s Landfill Taskforce Committee include:
* Terry Petersen — trash hauler and committee chairman
* Bill Blacketer — area resident and former St. Joseph Landfill superintendent
* Jason Eslinger — Councilmember
* Doug Hutton — business owner
* Ashley Schmidt — trash hauler
* Gordon Ide — trash hauler
* Erick McGuire — area resident
A timeline for construction of cell 8 was a key talking point during the meeting on Friday.
Among the many components involved in designing a new landfill cell, two key processes include lining it with clay and later plastic once all dirt is removed.
The liners serve as a barrier to prevent cracks and seepage into the ground.
While estimates show the landfill could now reach capacity by May, the city’s contract for the second phase of plastic lining work doesn’t begin until June 1, and cannot be moved up due to contractor scheduling.
Dirt removal and clay lining will be carried out internally by landfill staff before then, however, officials and the task force want alternative options if it isn’t completed in time.
Committee members sought assurances from Public Works officials that enough staff and equipment was on hand to complete the work by June 1, otherwise hiring an outside contractor may be needed.
Additionally, city officials confirmed at Friday’s meeting that they have hired a new landfill superintendent following the retirement of Rod McQuerrey in recent weeks.
Darkota Cloud, a current city employee who works in Street Maintenance and supervises at the landfill, will now oversee operations at the facility going forward.
Cloud’s first day on the job will be next Monday, Jan. 13, and the new Landfill Superintendent will play a vital role in developing and carrying out plans to maintain the landfill.