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Public works reports 40‑year C&D landfill expansion application, recycling compactor outage and maintenance savings
Summary
Public Works Director Devin Bagley updated council on vehicle maintenance cost savings, a submitted application to expand the county's construction & demolition landfill, a temporary outage at the BeltLine recycle compactors and improvements to parks, roads and recycling operations.
Devin Bagley, Chester County public works director, briefed the council July 7 on operations across several divisions, reporting savings from the county's in‑house auto maintenance shop, a submitted expansion application for the county's construction and demolition (C&D) landfill, and a temporary outage at the BeltLine Recycle Center that was corrected by midday.
Bagley told council the county's auto maintenance shop conservatively saved about $30,000 in labor and more than $35,000 in parts last year compared with outsourcing repairs. He stressed the larger benefit is reduced vehicle downtime for emergency vehicles: "That doesn't happen if you have to get the emergency vehicle to, particularly ambulances, if you have to take them to get repaired," Bagley said.
On the landfill, Bagley said the county submitted an expansion application to DES that would permit a multidecade increase in C&D capacity. He and staff described the planned expansion as covering much of the footprint of the old municipal solid waste landfill and estimated it should provide roughly 40 years of additional C&D capacity, subject to regulatory review and a required cap at the end of the facility's life. Bagley said the county remains in compliance with South Carolina DHEC and is awaiting DES's response to the expansion application.
The county experienced a major maintenance issue at the BeltLine Recycle Center earlier the same day when both compactor units were inoperable; staff closed the gates and arranged a roll‑off dumpster and technician. Bagley said the outage was resolved by lunchtime. He also reported progress on adding electrical and TV recycling centers at convenience sites, tracking waste streams by type, and improving customer communication and signage at the landfill.
Other public‑works notes included: - Parks and recreation has been merged into public works; staff are working on a Dawson park master plan with the parks advisory board and hiring a parks supervisor. - The department has begun tracking work order turnaround times and is testing a work‑order system to improve communications and clarify whether road issues are county, state (SCDOT) or private responsibilities. - Resource recovery: the county submitted the expansion application to DES for the C&D landfill; initial estimates project about 40 years of capacity on top of the old landfill footprint, with an eventual cap required at closure.
Council members asked for additional detail about the size of the expansion footprint and whether the expansion would be properly lined; Bagley said the expansion would sit on top of the old landfill and noted the stipulation that a cap will be required at the end of the site's life. Councilmember questions about cost recovery prompted Bagley to say a rate study is planned to determine whether operations "pay for themselves."
