Kootenai County reports near-complete landfill expansion, spring opening for Ramsey self-service drop-off and rural site plans

John Phillips, director of Kootenai County Solid Waste, told the Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 14 that major infrastructure work and operations across the county are proceeding with only a few remaining items to finish.

Phillips said the Phase E3 expansion at Fighting Creek Landfill, awarded to Celine Construction after a December 2023 bid, is nearly complete. "The only work that remains ... is finishing up the leachate pumping station and the electrical components," he said, adding a final inspection with the engineer and contractor is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2025. Phillips said the final contract price looks to be approximately 3% over bid because of change directives, but that the project remains under the budgeted amount.

At the Ramsey transfer station, staff described a planned self-service drop-off area that would let small-load customers bypass the scales and dump into new dumpsters. Phillips said county crews placed and compacted rock base material last summer, recovered side slopes with topsoil and installed erosion control. The county has ordered 35 dumpsters for the area and is examining a used front-load garbage truck to handle container emptying; delivery of the dumpsters is expected within about a month and the drop-off area is anticipated to open in spring 2025.

On permitting, Phillips said the department has continued work with Jacobs Engineering, county Community Development, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and local health officials on permitting for a south cell at Fighting Creek. He said the south cell has been planned for more than a decade and would require a modification of the county's existing conditional use permit (CUP) to allow future operations to shift toward the southern property.

Phillips also updated the board on rural operations and a Wolf Lodge Bay property the county acquired for a future staffed rural collection site. He clarified that the property is not the former restaurant parcel but an adjacent site identified as 10599 East Frontage Road. JUB Engineering prepared designs and a special notice permit application was deemed sufficient in late December 2024; Phillips said legal notice ran in the Coeur d'Alene Press on Dec. 31, 2024, as required.

Angela Fizier, the county's business and finance manager, presented year-over-year volumes for 2024. She reported 375,540 customer visits and 149,733 tons at the Ramsey site in 2024 (up 0.07% in visits and 1.44% in tonnage from 2023), and a landfill tonnage of 221,686 tons (up 0.27%). For two staffed rural sites in the north, Athol and Chilco, she reported 223,221 site visits (up 11.39%, reflecting a 2023 closure at a nearby site) and 15,316 tons (up 6.42%). Fizier described 2024 as largely flat compared with prior years and said the county's planning growth rate for tonnage is 3%.

Phillips said daily landfill operations remain steady: Fighting Creek continues to receive about 550 to 800 tons per day of municipal solid waste; the landfill gas collection system is collecting about 1,390 standard cubic feet per minute, of which roughly 1,000 scfm is used at the landfill gas energy plant to generate electricity and the balance is combusted through permitted flares.

On staffing, Phillips said most positions are filled and retention has improved since a pay-plan implementation; one environmental technician vacancy remained open at the time of the meeting. He said environmental technician roles often require college-level coursework or equivalent experience because they include hazardous-waste handling, lab packing and environmental monitoring, but the department provides HAZWOPER training and encourages internal advancement when feasible.

Sunshine Recycling, the contracted rural-haul company, experienced driver turnover but reported operations have returned to normal. The county continues to pay the sheriff's office to patrol unstaffed rural sites; Phillips said patrols have reduced abuse and saved department cleanup hours.

No formal actions or votes were taken at the Jan. 14 meeting. Phillips said he expects to return to the board soon with requests related to final invoice approval for Phase E3 and with any procurement requests should the used front-load truck under consideration be deemed suitable.