Landfill failures, EGLE consent order and operations bids push county to seek peer review and consider insourcing operations

Multiple St. Clair County committees addressed ongoing landfill issues tied to a 2023 failure at the Smith Creek landfill, EGLE enforcement actions and higher‑than‑expected bids to operate the facility.

What happened: public commenters and committee members recounted a catastrophic landfill gas/odor event in 2023 and EGLE referrals and fines. Citizens said the county’s contracted operator (CTI/landfill manager) failed to perform preventative maintenance; EGLE reportedly identified multiple infractions and fined the county for violations. Committee members discussed residents’ trust concerns and called for accountability and independent technical review.

Regulatory and remedial steps: EGLE has proposed a consent order that would include a fine with a portion held back (meeting materials described $108,000 to be held while the county proposes a SEP — Supplemental Environmental Project — for possible reinvestment in community environmental work) and a balance to be paid. EGLE held a public Q&A and a virtual official hearing; county and township officials said they would consider SEP proposals and community priorities such as park improvements, tree planting or educational projects.

Monitoring and immediate measures: committees approved final action to contract for perimeter air monitoring (Trinity Consultants) and advanced a drone‑based odor survey contract (Sniffer Robotics) and other monitoring work to comply with the consent order and improve real‑time odor detection.

Operational bids and next steps: when the county put operation of the landfill out to bid, low bids came in at roughly $2.9 million per year — substantially higher than the county’s 2024 outlays for landfill operations (county cited ~ $1.4M in payments to existing operators). Staff explained the cost gap is mainly due to union labor and equipment needs; the county is evaluating options. One option advanced by several commissioners is to internalize operations (bring landfill staffing and maintenance in‑house). County administration and staff were directed to produce a cost analysis and implementation plan (equipment, staffing, leasing vs. buying) for internal operation; Pulaski (the incumbent operator) offered a 90‑day extension and transitional support to allow the county time to evaluate insourcing versus a high‑cost contract.

Why it matters: the landfill issue mixes regulatory enforcement, community health, contractual oversight and county fiscal exposure. Committee members stressed they want independent peer review of technical work and a public accounting of whether the contractor met its contractual obligations.

Ending: committees voted to advance monitoring contracts, a drone survey and a peer‑review RFP; they also authorized staff to build a short‑term plan to evaluate internalizing operations and to return cost estimates to the board for a near‑term decision.