Great River Regional Waste Authority Summary of Special Meeting Wednesday May 12, 2004 Legal Council Statement: Looking
back we have seen this agency go through troubled times and difficult
financial and managerial times with all sorts of concerns and accusations and
second guessing. Government agencies
with great public responsibility coupled with public scrutiny. In certain actions the only thing we can
do is provide facts and information that are subject to open meetings and
sunshine laws. Our agency has been
constantly under scrutiny and as Commission members you have a difficult duty
because you have to balance your loyalties to constituents that you represent
your cities and counties. Yet you
have a great duty to operate as a team here for the best interest of the
mission that this agency serves. This
mission is compounded by the overlay of rules and regulations not only from
the IDNR but also from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and many
other concerns and factors from the time to those loyalties conflict and it
makes it difficult. My job as legal
council is not to justify decisions but to guide legally through regulations,
statutes and conflict of interest that might exist between counties and
cities and in response to all of that, I did look at some of the recent
suggestions. I, too, was quite
concerned in the manner these questions came up and knowing that these
questions were not founded in fact. This agency has worked
very hard with the City of Ft. Madison on the sewer project and helped others
to put those issues to rest and the level of tension has risen and fallen
over the years. We have had others
outside the planning area looking at joining because how well the commission
has done. I’ve seen this commission
go from deep red pockets to being able to operate very efficiently. The WMF is a standing source of
tension. It has worked well and
everyone has paid their share and it is everyone’s intention and goal to
continue to thrive and be a very valuable organization not just for Southeast
Iowa but also for the rest of the state.
We get calls from other counties about the WMF because it is a reality
that every agency is either faced or will face as they go from there old
landfills to subtitle D landfills. There is a lot of
perception going on and sometimes perception is more important then reality
to a lot of people and certainly sells a lot of newspapers. We hope we will work very hard to keep
peace and it will make my job easier as legal council because I don’t want to
get into a legal rise with the City of F. Madison over their legal and
contractual and statutory obligation to pay their WMF even though Ft. Madison
would like to use this money for something else, the reality of that is that
money don’t come from the City of F. Madison, it comes from the residents of
Ft. Madison that benefit from the services that GRRWA provides. That money does not belong to the City of
Ft. Madison, they are merely a collector Facts and
Information: Since 1995 our
tonnage has increased by over 20,000 tons.
Our construction tonnage has gone up every year. Our Source Separated Organics in the
compost has increased so much that we have a 99,000 ton potential of waste
companies from Davenport, St. Louis, Des Moines, and even Illinois. This can be composted and bagged and turn
into a great revenue for GRRWA. Bond Schedule: We have been paying the bond payment and
remaining balance left is 3.5 Million. WMF: The revenue generated from this also
allows up to offset composting and recycling and yard waste disposal. Air Space Analysis: We are waiting on Air Quality Bureau. 4.8 yrs of permitted air space. With construction of a new cell we have to
start moving in that direction at least 2 yrs prior. And it should be know that we have space
beyond our debt. Upcoming
Decisions: Five Items we need to
start discussing is Compost expansion with the possible tonnage that could
come in we have outgrown our compost pad.
We are looking next year at 4 million bags to be produced and sold
here. This can offset other
debt. Gas & Energy and EPA
guidelines with the cities landfill and ours the total tonnage now will
require us to put in a gas collection system.
Thursday - December 04, 2008 - 02:34 pm CST
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