The DeKalb County Ad Hoc Solid Waste Committee met on Monday, April 12, 2007, @ 9:00a.m. in the Legislative Center’s Freedom Room .  Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order.  Members present were Ken Andersen, Vince Faivre, Pat Vary and Roger Steimel.  Staff present were Ray Bockman, Paul Miller, and Bob Drake.   Others present were Chris Burger and Ron Swager of Patrick Engineering, Lee Adelman, and Dale Hoekstra.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes of February 2007.

PATRICK ENGINEERING DISCUSSION

Mr. Ron Swager of Patrick Engineering said that today’s meeting was to bring the committee up to date on what research they have done so far.

They wanted to first speak on the waste demand, which of course, relies on the population of the County. They found 3 sources for projected population, which were Department of Commerce, the Census, DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation.  He said that based on 2005 numbers - the total of the County’s disposal equals 91,462 tons.  This is a per capita generation rate that equals 5 to 5 ¼ pounds per person, per day (found on page two of their power point report).

Page 3 shows the projected waste disposal.  The graph is based on 270 disposal days a year, with 7% out of county disposal and 10% of total from out of county.  If they apply those project numbers to the remaining capacity of the DeKalb Landfill, you would see that it would close in the first half of 2015 (Page 4).  If the restriction on out-of-county waste is listed and the landfill starts accepting 1,000 tons per day, starting in 2008 you can expect the landfill to close by the first quarter of 2010 (see page 5). 

Page 6 shows the estimated costs for a transfer station.  Mr. Swager explained that the Rochelle City Council approved the landfill expansion @ 1,000 tons a day. 

Mr. Miller asked what made Rochelle’s decision only 1,000 tons a day? 

Mr. Chris Barger said the siting process. 

Ms. Vary asked, they are almost at capacity now?

Mr. Barger said yes, that’s true.  He said that 378 tons is an older number, it is closer to 1,000 tons a day.

Mr. Steimel asked if more waste is coming from the North or East?

Mr. Barger said that he can’t really tell us, but he would suspect - from the East.

Mr. Miller said that we have been talking about the Rochelle expansion for a while and so it may become a major recipient from waste from the East with all of their closing landfills.  Maybe the 1,000 tons a day may not be the big draw that he thought it would be.  Maybe that will effect what DeKalb County decides to do.

Mr. Swager said that there are two additional proposed landfills in Kendall County and will be big draws in the area.

Mr. Adelman said that there is one called Fox Moraine that is off of Route 71.  Another one is called Willow Run at the south end of Kendall County, near Grundy County.  They have turned in the application and if it is approved it will take a couple of years to open.  It will be near I-80.

Page 9 shows the projected development and operating costs for a new landfill and the tipping fees of active landfills in Illinois.  The yellow triangles are the costs for the conceptual transfer station on page 9 of the power point handout.

They also put together some costs for a transfer station for 500 tons per day (page 10) and the estimated operating costs totaling $10.73 per ton.  

Mr. Burger and Mr. Swager also passed out a handout to the committee that summarizes the task progress for the committee members.

Mr. Adelman said that the information that he is going to provide is informational and not self-serving.  He said that Patrick has done a very good job of a snapshot of what the current conditions are. 

He continue by stating that Rochelle’s landfill is a 1/3^rd owned by the City of Rochelle, 1/3 owned by the Rochelle Disposal and 1/3 owned by William Charles of Rockford Blacktop. 

There are some restrictions on that site.  Eighty-acres of a front line site with a cost associated with it of $2 to $8 million.  The exhumation costs will cost between $6 - $8 million that is unlined.   The first cell to develop would be the 80 acres.  If you go back to the tipping fee slide, the cost per ton would be $55.12. 

Mr. Adelman said that Waste Management does control about 80% of DeKalb County’s waste.  The other 18% is controlled by Northern Illinois Disposal, Rochelle Disposal and Winnebago Reclamation who is beginning to increase due to the fact to extend the life of their site. 

Mr. Adelman said that the other option that the county has would be to take the waste to another entity instead of Rochelle to keep competitive tipping fees for DeKalb County citizens.

Their Elburn site was reconfigured and is now able to handle close to a 1,000 tons a day.  They cannot handle more volume there though, said Mr. Adelman.

He further stated that the Rochelle site offers an opportunity because it is market driven.  They might adjust costs with DeKalb County.

The alternatives:  to create a transfer station on the existing site.

If restriction is lifted he feels that there would still not be enough to support a transfer station.  It doesn’t make sense to bring 1,000 tons from Elburn and haul it to DeKalb County.  We don’t have enough volume to make it work.

The Elgin facility is now open and they invested $13 million into it.  They handle 2,000 tons a day with a capacity of 3,000 tons a day.

Ms. Vary said that we would not need a showplace for a transfer station here.

Mr. Adelman said that the question to ask is, do we have enough volume to support it here?  The answer is no. 

Mr. Hoekstra also said that there is not enough direct haul traffic either because it has to be a proximity of 15 to 20 miles to haul the waste. 

Mr. Adelman said that there are two applications from Kendall County for a waste disposal site and possibly another one coming. 

Ms. Vary asked could we increase the present landfill to hold what you want?

Mr. Adleman said that the reason why DeKalb County residents enjoy such low rate of $18 is because of that close proximity to a liner disposal site and not a transfer site. What they ask drivers to do each day is to serve 800 homes a day.  That driver needs to able to make a trip to the landfill and back to the residences in one hour.  Which means 20 minutes to landfill, 20 minutes in the landfill and 20 minutes back to the homes/subdivisions. 

They did submit to the County an alternate site, which would be at the western edge of DeKalb County.  Issues are solvable if this is what the County wants to do.

Mr. Hoekstra said that if you wanted to increase the height of the current landfill they would need to do more research on that.  That is if the waste disposal was 1,000 tons a day, he continued.  Currently he feels that the elevation is 50 feet. 

Mr. Adelman said that they think that the Host Agreement would specify the number of years that you would feel comfortable with for 1,000 or 2,000 tons a day agreement.  As of today, they have nothing under options.  It would be an acquisition.

Ms. Vary said that she was interested in acquisitioning more air not land.

Mr. Steimel said that the County’s recycling program is a success here because of the help with Waste Management.  If we get above 300 tons a day the semi trucks will start to come in.  If you talk about a transfer station coming in at 1,000 tons a day, then you are talking about 70 trucks a day coming into the County. We are not close enough for direct haul as Mr. Bockman has pointed out.  So anything above 300 tons a day is going to come in by semi for landfill or transfer station.  Rochelle shows a 1,000 tons limit is all that they can handle in capacity.  He sees the 1,000 tons a day as a limit, he sees a lot of trucks, and this is an issue.  If it goes to 2,000 tons a day here in DeKalb - he does not want to discuss it.

Mr. Hoekstra said that a lot of variables go into play.  The variables would be how many years will it serve the residents?  How big is the site?  What are the capacity amounts?  We have been your providers for years and are willing to listen to you.  We are willing to look at expanding higher.  We need your parameters to do this.  That is why we are here.

After a brief discussion Chairman Tobias asked if the committee would like to meet again in one month?  Mr. Drake asked if Waste Management could come up with two scenarios, one showing 1,000 tons a day and one showing 2,000 tons a day.  Mr. Drake said that he would like to see how much you could expand?  How many years could you provide to the people of DeKalb County at that landfill? 

The committee asked if the Waste Management could get information to them within the 1-month timeframe?  You don’t have to attend the meeting if you can’t, but could you get the information to us by then?

Mr. Adelman asked if they do it on the assumptions of availability of property?

Mr. Drake said that he understands the availability of property but just do it on the one that we have now. 

It was agreed that the next meeting will be May 16^th @ 9:00a.m.  The committee will be looking at 3 years (year 2010) @ 1,000 tons a day with an increase of capacity at current landfill.

Mr. Drake said that he wants numbers on expansion on height increase, too.

The committee would like the information by 5/11/07 or 5/14/07 from Waste Management.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                            Respectfully submitted.

                                                            _______________________________  

                                                            Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

RAT:mcs

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