Great River Regional Waste Authority Regular Commission Meeting August 25, 2004 Minutes A meeting of the Great River Regional Waste
Authority Commission was held Wednesday, August 25, 2004, at the GRRWA
Transfer Station, Keokuk, Iowa. The following Commission Members were present: Chairman Marc Lindeen, Henry County Commissioner Steve Ireland, City of Fort
Madison Commissioner Susan Dunek, City of
Keokuk. The following were also present at the meeting: Mr. Tim Yoder, Director; Mr. Douglas
Napier, Legal Counsel; Ms. Colleen Lumsden, GRRWA Clerk; Mr. Wade Hamm; Ms.
Christine Collier Barker Lemar; Sally Johnson; and Gerry Baksys from the
media. I.
Meeting Called to Order Chairman Lindeen called the meeting to order at 7:00
a.m. Chairman Lindeen called for a
motion for enter into Rule 2B. Motion
made by Coimmissioner Dunek, seconded by Commissioner Ireland, roll call vote
Commissioner Dunek, aye; Commissioner Ireland, are, and Chairman Lindeen,
aye. II.
Approval of the Agenda Chairman Lindeen called for additions, deletions, or
corrections to the agenda. Commissioner Dunek moved to approve the agenda as amended seconded by
Commissioner Ireland. No
discussion. Motion adopted by unanimous voice vote. III.
Approval of July 30, 2004 Meeting Minutes Motion was made by Commissioner Ireland to approve
the meeting minutes seconded by Chairman Lindeen. No discussion. Motion adopted by unanimous voice vote. IV.
Public Comments None V. Barker Lemar Update Ms. Christine Collier reported to the Commission
that the Phase I Comprehensive Plan is complete and will be approved by the
IDNR. Christine will meet with Tim
Yoder and Wade Hamm to discuss Phase 2 leachate tie in line plan. Commissioner Dunek asked if the inspection
would interfere with the projects.
Ms. Collier didn’t see a problem. VI.
Directors Report Mr. Tim Yoder reported to the Commission
that GRRWA has had 5200 tons of solid waste brought in during the month of
July. This is the highest July
tonnage on record since 1994. The
landfill has been able to hold down time with equipment down to a minimum. Tim states that the CSA program should be
given credit for that, the operators are staying busy out on the
equipment. Tim and Wade are going to
put a safety program together and work on a safety policy. They will evaluate the training programs
and implement those The landfill
permit was approved and renewed until 2007.
The staff completed a waste sort, from Lee and Henry Counties. Tim has not had an opportunity to put
together reports and graphs to present to the board yet. Tim’s goal is to meet with the cities and
communities and let them know how their town is doing as far as recycling and
what they can do to boost the number of residents recycling. On the horizontal highspeed grinder, a
plastic roller came apart and the conveyor belt wrapped around it. One of the employees took it to Theco to
be repaired and it should be back sometime this week. Yard waste from Macomb, IL has been
delivered to GRRWA. Someone from
GRRWA will go to Macomb and Monmouth to grind their wood waste. The West Point sweet corn festival
completed its first year of bringing in food waste. The Montrose Watermelon festival is coming up and food waste
from that will be diverted into compost. The hook truck that is used in recycling
had to get new brakes and while it was getting repaired Truck Repair called
and said that a king pin also needed replaced. GRRWA had a group counselor from Genesis
Medical Center come and talk to staff about all of the bad publicity and negative
comments. GRRWA still has not
received any feedback from Bill Kelly or Ron Brown. Both have made more accusations in the media, no one other that
the media has asked for clarification.
Tim addressed issues and concerns about the bad publicity and harassing
phone calls he has been receiving at home.
He asked Commissioner Steve Ireland to tell the City of Ft. Madison to
get in contact with him and set up a meeting so these issues can get
resolved. Tim and his family have
suffered over this and he wants a written apology and an apology made public
in the newspaper. Commissioner Ireland commented that he was unaware of any suffering
and that anyone in the Director’s position would get some questions and be
expected to answer them. He did agree with Tim that all of this needs to
stop. Tim Yoder and Wade Hamm
attended the Caterpillar Governmental Customer Training and Safety Days. Tim gave a speech regarding our operations. Both staff members took a tour of the
Caterpillar manufacturing plant. Tim
Yoder received a letter from the Iowa State Penitentiary stating that GRRWA
will no longer have an inmate crew.
Tim Yoder and Doug Napier are going to try to set up a meeting with
Ken Burger, the Warden, to try to get the crew reassigned back to the
landfill. The IPERS audit showed that
in the past, GRRWA has been paying vacation, sick time and personal days and
taking IPERS out. Through the audit,
Tim found that we are not to be doing that.
The beneficiary forms have always been kept in the employees personnel
file but now must be given back to the employee. Tim received a letter from the Energy and Waste Management
Bureau on behalf of the United States EPA stating that the televisions and
computer monitors there are vacuum glass tubes that are hazardous and GRRWA
may have to look at getting a brown’s good recycling program started. Tim received a letter from the Lee County
Auditor’s Office letting us know that we do not have a wide enough door for
wheel chair accessibility, so we must get an estimate to widen our
door,. The Auditor did state that
there might be some possible grant money to help offset the cost of widening
the stoop and door entrance. The
project must be completed by the November election. The U.S. Composting Council is hosting an annual conference and
trade show in San Antonio, Texas.
There are some workshops and training events that would benefit some
of our staff by attending the classes.
Tim will get more information and present it to the board at a later
time. VII.
Legal Counsel Report Mr. Douglas Napier reported to the Commission that
selling our product under the Earthly Goods name needs to be protected. GRRWA needs to patent the Earthly Goods
name. Commissioner Dunek made a
motion to have Legal Counsel Patent the Earthly Goods name, seconded by
Chairman Lindeen. Motion carried by
unanimous voice vote. VIII. Action Items Resolution GRRWA 05-10: Resolution Approving Expenditures. Motion by Commissioner Dunek seconded by Commissioner Ireland
to adopt Resolution 05-10. No further discussion. Motion adopted by unanimous voice vote. IX.
Executive
Session – Possible Pending Litigation Commissioner Dunek
moved to enter into Executive Session, seconded by Commissioner Ireland, Roll
Call Vote, Commissioner Dunek, aye, Commissioner Ireland, aye, Chairman
Lindeen, aye. Entered into
Executive Session at 7:45 a.m. Executive Session over at 7:59 a.m. X.
Other Business Commission came back to regular session at 8:01 a.m. None XI.
Board Member Comments Commissioner Dunek reported
that there was a letter to the editor stating that one of the Keokuk Transfer
Station haulers were littering, the trash was blowing out of the top of the
truck. Tim let the Commission know
that the tarp does need repair and should be fixed by Thursday. Commissioner Ireland
asked about Whaley Waste and their appliances that we demanufacture. He wanted to know if Whaley’s is paying
$15.00 per appliance and do they get to keep the metal?. Tim stated that yes they are paying as
much as everyone else and the scrap metal is being left there. Chairman Lindeen
commissioned Commissioner Ireland to talk to the City of Fort Madison and
expedite a meeting between them and GRRWA as soon as possible. Chairman Lindeen also wanted to thank the
employees for doing a great job through all of the turmoil With no further business before the Commission,
Commissioner Dunek made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Commissioner
Ireland. Motion adopted by unanimous
voice vote. Approved as to form and
content as adopted at the September 29, 2004 GRRWA Commission meeting.
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XII.
Adjourn
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