Hazer Archer, manager of the Sandpoint Landfill, told the Eddy County Commission that the landfill needs layout and operational changes to improve safety, reduce wait times and extend life of existing equipment.

Archer described several proposals: improved signage and traffic flow at the tipping station, netting to control litter, daily cover and dust-control protocols, and a redesign of the public tipping area into a pit-style tipping floor with automated scales and a separate commercial/residential flow. "If we were able to build this road right here coming in, we would set another set of scales ... and it would be automated," Archer said, explaining that an automated pit and separate tipping station would reduce vehicle-machine interaction and nearly eliminate waiting times for commercial haulers.

Archer said the county is pursuing an 80-acre future expansion with the Bureau of Land Management that would provide decades of capacity, and that the proposed pit and tipping floor would make operations safer by keeping the public off the working face. "That would allow all the trash to be dumped into a pit where at that point, a dozer's compacting it, and the only people that go up on the face of our dump site is our vehicles," he said.

The manager described equipment maintenance challenges and said the county has had success with heavier-duty military surplus trucks for landfill work. "These military trucks, they don't get stuck. They're hardy ... they're working really well for us," Archer said, describing lower downtime and reduced repair frequency compared with on-road trucks. He reported major clutch and transmission costs on on-road trucks and said the department is proposing to buy two more military trucks because of their resilience in the landfill environment.

Commissioners and staff discussed costs, permitting and the need to ensure the public is routed to a safe tipping floor. Archer said some changes (signage, telephone poles for netting and foam-filled tires) have already been implemented; larger elements (tipping pit, automated scales, road and pit construction) would require design work and capital funding. Archer said the expansion work could yield capacity measured in decades and asked for direction on next steps including cost estimates and engineering.

The presentation included comparisons to an established pit-style transfer/tipping station in Las Cruces and emphasized training, equipment upkeep and seasonal traffic considerations. Archer said the landfill currently serves as a backup for Eunice and accepts extra tonnage when neighboring facilities are unavailable, and that maintaining reliable equipment is critical to avoid service interruptions.

The commission took the report under advisement and did not vote on capital funding at the meeting. Archer said he will pursue cost estimates and coordination with BLM and engineering consultants for the larger capital elements.