After repeated odor reports, committee asks staff to study on‑site weather station

Committee members and residents told the Landfill Advisory Committee they continue to receive periodic odor reports concentrated in early morning and late evening hours. Royce reported receiving four recent complaints (one in May, one in June and two in the prior two weeks) and said many complaints came from the west of the landfill. Staff recalled that in the winter months odor reports were more frequent and that the county moved abatement sprayer equipment between Q1 and Q2 in response.

Committee members said the county has only recently begun systematically recording complaints (about six months of entries) and urged better data to distinguish seasonal, weather‑related and operational causes. "We have not, in the past, really tracked and kept a record of complaints ... we have begun doing that in the past six months," the Chair (unnamed) said.

To help correlate odor reports with meteorological conditions, the Chair moved that county staff — specifically Mr. Coleman — research the cost, siting and obligations for a recording weather station on or near the landfill, and also identify potential funding sources (grants or private donations). The motion was seconded and carried unanimously. Committee members noted a weather station on the landfill could supply on‑site conditions during complaint periods and help the county and DEQ evaluate odor reports.

Royce and other staff said they will continue to collect complaint metadata (time of day, weather, location) and return with cost estimates and potential funding options at the next committee meeting.