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Solid Waste director outlines landfill projects, CWD response and proposed fence funding
Summary
Solid Waste Director Dave Frunty updated commissioners on a landfill manifold relocation funded from emission-credit proceeds, an asbestos-laden hotel demolition under DEQ review, a chronic wasting disease response that includes a proposed $175,000 fence CIP, and progress on the South Area landfill expansion NEPA review.
Solid Waste Director Dave Frunty gave commissioners a detailed update Jan. 30 on multiple landfill matters, including a manifold relocation, the Quality Inn demolition site, a chronic wasting disease (CWD) response, recycling revenue and the South Area landfill expansion.
Frunty said a landfill-coop-operated manifold used for landfill-gas extraction was moved out of an active fill area in November–December at the coop’s expense. Frunty explained the coop requested to use marketable emission-credit funds to reimburse the county; the fund held about $131,000 before the transfer and the Solid Waste Board passed a motion supporting use of the funds. Frunty told commissioners he had submitted a budget amendment request for the county’s portion and expected the county to bring the formal budget amendment forward for approval.
On the Quality Inn demolition site west of Kalispell, Frunty said the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) enforcement is involved because of asbestos concerns and that, to his knowledge, little or no material has been removed from the site. He said contractors familiar to the county (Kirby Environmental) had been identified as potential abatement contractors but, as of his last contact, had not begun work.
Frunty said chronic wasting disease had been found in deer culled at the landfill: of about 70 deer culled since discovery, 15 tested positive, a roughly 21 percent infection rate. As a control measure the landfill and Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) have discussed fencing options; Frunty said he has programmed $175,000 in next fiscal-year CIP funds to build chain-link fencing (with an option to add three strands of barbed wire) to enclose the facility and reduce deer access. He said the county is seeking cost-sharing with FWP but that no firm FWP financial commitment had been received. Frunty described culling operations conducted by FWP and Kalispell SWAT as an important control partnership.
On the South Area landfill expansion, Frunty said DEQ reworked the NEPA document and that staff expect it to return for final review in early February; if so, the county would enter a 30-day public comment period that could put a final decision and permit activity into mid-April or May in the best-case scenario. Frunty emphasized that a heavy public-comment workload could extend the timeline.
Frunty also reported that Evergreen Disposal/Valley Recycling was the only respondent to an RFP for the blue-bin recycling program and has a three-year contract with two one-year renewals starting Jan. 1; Pacific Steel removed recycled metals in the year’s second baling and the county received roughly $275,000 in revenue from that metals haul. Frunty said refuse tonnages have leveled near 160,000–163,000 tons per year and that the county plans $1.9 million transfers per year for five years to fund liner costs and the South Area opening, contributing to a larger $20 million plan for expansion.
