Consultant asks Montgomery County for $12,000 to address DEC review of local solid waste plan

A consultant working on Montgomery County's local solid waste management plan told the county meeting that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) returned the county's draft with substantive questions and requested further work, and the consultant proposed a $12,000 contract amendment to prepare required analyses and a draft local law.

The consultant said the county's plan — work that began before the COVID-19 pandemic and was finished under a contract retained about a year ago — was submitted to DEC on Dec. 10 and the county received DEC's review on May 8. The DEC letter, the consultant said, raised multiple questions about the waste and recycling data in the plan, county contract operations and the status of those contracts, the county's waste importation policy, public-facing website content, the lack of a countywide mandatory recycling law, hauler licensing, and what DEC characterized as an insufficient exploration of alternatives.

The consultant said the plan must use data private haulers and private disposal and recycling facilities report to DEC through the agency portal and that county staff and the consultant's analyst, Alyssa, have already responded to or revised data items to DEC's format. "We can very readily handle the DEC questions on the data," the consultant said.

The more time-consuming work, the consultant said, is the state-required evaluation of alternatives. Under DEC regulations, the county must evaluate 15 categories of alternatives for quantitative and qualitative impacts, identify needs for new programs and propose schedules to implement them. The consultant described creating a spreadsheet that lists the 15 alternatives and then completing multiple columns of economic and qualitative analysis for each — work the consultant said aided Saratoga County through a similar review.

DEC also asked why Montgomery County does not have a mandatory recycling or source-separation local law. The consultant referenced the New York State Solid Waste Management Act of 1988, which required municipalities to enact local laws by 1992 to separate recyclables from nonrecyclable material for recovery. The consultant said DEC is looking to the county — the designated planning unit — to show how it will enact and implement any needed local law.

County staff involvement is already under way, the consultant said: county staff (Ken) and the county attorney have been engaged and the consultant has provided sample local laws for consideration. The consultant said decisions the legislature must make include who a local law would apply to (residences, businesses, industry), phasing, and which materials would be required for source separation. The consultant noted a state statutory economic test that limits required recycling when it is not economically viable, and acknowledged that, as county staff (Megan) pointed out, recycling can be more costly than disposal in some cases.

On costs, the consultant said the original contract to prepare the plan was $25,000, of which the consultant has billed $24,787. The consultant said their firm has spent an additional $17,000 that has not been billed and that the firm will absorb that amount; they proposed a contract amendment for an additional $12,000 to complete the alternatives analysis and work on a local law. "I'm not happy to be here asking for more money at all," the consultant said, adding that the firm wanted to help the county secure DEC approval.

Legislators asked questions about whether Saratoga County hired a recycling coordinator after its review (the consultant answered that Saratoga's board did not approve the coordinator in two budget years), how the county became the planning unit (the consultant said counties were designated planning units after MOSA dissolved), and whether towns and villages within the county might already have local laws that could satisfy DEC (the consultant said he was not aware that such town-level laws would relieve the county of the planning-unit responsibility).

The consultant offered to follow a sample approach used for another county, which included detailed spreadsheets of alternatives, economic and qualitative analysis, website and public information improvements, and a budget analysis for potential new positions such as a recycling coordinator (the consultant said DEC can pay 50% of a coordinator's salary, leaving a county match). The consultant said the county attorney has begun reviewing sample laws and that moving forward would require policy direction from the legislature.

Next steps were not set during the meeting; the consultant said the firm could prepare the additional analyses and draft local-law language if the legislature directed staff to proceed.