Standing Committee — Minutes

SEVEN MILE CREEK LANDFILL STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 30, 2025 Members Present: Jessica Janssen, Joe Knight, Kathy Campbell, Richard Arnold Members Absent: Lane Berg, Matt Steinbach Others Present: Phil Schumacher, Mark Vinall, John Blackmon Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 1:02 p.m. Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the August 1, 2024 Minutes by Jessica Janssen and seconded by Kathy Campbell. Motion to approve the October 24, 2024 Minutes by Richard Arnold and Kathy Campbell. Public Comment: None Landfill Data Presentation and Summary Presented by GFL Representative, Mark Vinall: ● The tonnage for the fourth quarter totalled 90,588 which is lower in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2023. This may be due to one customer redirecting tonnage to a competitor recently. ● Host fees were paid to municipalities for September, October and November. ● Leachate collection is down during Q4 Sector 1 and up in Sector 2. This may be due to the new pumps for gas wells running better. ● County Q was swept 49 times and litter picked up 44 times in Q4. ● The landfill receives food waste from UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire. Compost site was inspected on October 15, 2024. ● Surface emission is monitored each quarter to measure methane gas emitted. Submitted Return to Compliance letter 11/7/24 to WDNR after completing corrective action. Set files were sent to WDNR in December for Sectors 1 and 2. ● Semi-annual groundwater monitoring was completed and results sent electronically to the GEMS database in October. 12 private wells were tested and samples will be in Q1 2025 review. Town of Seymour received a copy of well-testing results. ● 2024 Annual Report will be presented to the committee in August, 2025. Discussion and Action Items: Phil presented the Health Department Seven Mile Creek Landfill Inspection Report: ● All waste is being placed in Phase 14A. The average waste is 1300-1400 tons per day. Current peak elevation of the landfill is 1084 feet. ● Gas collection upgrade project is complete. Intact sections of the rain cap are holding up well. ● Leachate collection has decreased to approximately 38,000 gallons per day during Q4. Leachate is being hauled to Chippewa Falls, Menomonie and Medford wastewater facilities. Property Protection Letter to Residents: John will send out the Property Protection letter to eligible residents and include a summary of the gas collection project. Sociological Payments: The annual payments were not received by eligible residents until January 22nd. The Controller was asked to look into processing the payments earlier in December. Completing the eligibility list by December 14 and getting checks processed by the due date of 12/31 is challenging. The postal strike in Canada added to the delay in receipt of the checks. John thought everyone on the list from the Planning and Development office would receive a check, including the estates of Dale Johnson and John Anderson. He will find out if these checks were cut. Mark will provide a report of the 2024 Sociological payments at the next meeting. Whether an estate is eligible to receive the sociological payment if the person occupied the property for a portion of the year, but died prior to November 30 will be brought to Atty. Anders Hellquist by Jessica and Atty. Speerschneider by Mark for their legal interpretation and clarification, as approved and stated at the 10/24/ 24 meeting: “Pamela Johnson informed the Committee that her father, Dale Johnson, died in April. His 40 acre property was at 7222 Olson Drive, within ¾ of a mile of the landfill. The property was sold on 9/25/24. It is believed that the home and 15 acres will not be owner-occupied by the new owner during 2024. The remaining 25 acres are vacant and owned by Pamela Johnson. She believes the estate is eligible for the sociological payment for 2024 for the term her father resided on the property. A second resident, John Anderson, 9409 Burnell Drive, died during 2024 and his estate also transferred to his family. This property is within one mile and on 90th Avenue. It’s believed that no one is presently residing at the home. Is the estate eligible to receive the 2024 sociological payment? The Agreement states that “to be eligible, the property must be an owner-occupied dwelling as of November 30 of the year of the program for which payment is sought.” It is unclear as to whether Pamela Johnson and Duane Anderson, Personal Representative, are eligible to receive a payment for 2024 based on the contract language. Motion was made by Matt Steinbach and seconded by Lane Berg that Jessica request Attorney Anders Hellquist provide a legal interpretation or clarification as to the intent of the contract language and the impact of death, estates’ rights, and partial year occupancy on the eligibility for the sociological payment.” Other Business: ● GFL is contractually required to pay $1500 per year to cover expenses of administering the Standing Committee. This sum is to be paid to the SMCL Trust Fund by the 15th of December of each preceding year. Jess will ask the City Finance Director what the fund balance is for this account and report at the next meeting. ● Jess contacted the City Finance Director about the possibility of receiving the monthly host fee from GFL by ACH. The City will now accept this form of payment and expedite payment to the Town. Mark will contact Eric and Kelly to confirm the process has been set-up. ● Richard requested information regarding GFL’s sale of the Environmental Service Company to a private equity group. According to Mark, GFL is using the assets to pay down debt and acquisitions. GFL retained ownership of 40% with an option to buy it back. Nothing has been sold off from the waste facilities. Seven Mile Creek Landfill is owned by SMCL,LLC, technically a subsidiary of GFL Everglades Holdings, LLC. If SMCL is ever sold to another owner, all the contract terms would be assigned to the new owner. ● City of Eau Claire will increase the water bill to city residents by 4% due to the cost of removing PFAS in certain wells. Richard asked if the level of PFAS in the groundwater at the landfill is being measured, so a baseline for safe drinking water can be established? Phil said PFAS standards for drinking water have not been set by the WDNR. Once they are set, testing will occur, but it will probably be costly. Mark commented that the groundwater at the landfill is tested regularly for contaminants. It was suggested Richard contact Michelle Skinner, with the Altoona Lake District, for information about measuring PFAS in Lake Altoona. Announcement: Jessica announced that she will not be running for Town of Seymour Chair in the April election, and this will be her last meeting as Chair of the Standing Committee. John Allie will be running uncontested for Chair, along with Supervisors Kerry Parker and Ken Schick. Agenda Items for Next Meeting: Property Protection Letter to Eligible Residents: GFL 2024 Sociological Payment & Process Report: GFL Legal Interpretation and Clarification from Atty. Helquist and Atty. Speerschneider: Jessica/John Allie and Mark Standing Committee Fund Balance: Jessica/John Allie Host Fee ACH Payment Process Update: Jessica/John Allie Next Meeting Date: May 8, 2025, 1:00 p.m. at the Seymour Town Hall Adjourn: Motion to adjourn at 3:08 p.m. by Joe Knight and seconded by Richard Arnold. Respectfully submitted by, Kathy Campbell Secretary