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Muskegon County approves 10-year lease with Resource Recovery Corporation to secure processed foundry sand
Summary
The Muskegon County Board approved a 10-year lease with Resource Recovery Corporation to receive processed foundry sand for the Resource Recovery Center, providing a steady low-cost source of daily cover material and reducing the county’s need to buy pit sand.
The Muskegon County Board of Commissioners on March 12 approved a 10-year lease with Resource Recovery Corporation (RRC) that will allow the company to process spent foundry mold sand at the county Resource Recovery Center.
Wade Vanden Bosch, Muskegon County public works director, told commissioners RRC manages spent foundry mold sand from local foundries and is relocating operations; the proposed lease would bring processed sand to the county site. “We are a sand starved facility,” Vanden Bosch said, adding that processed material would be 1-inch minus and would arrive without the large chunks present in unprocessed loads.
Under the agreement staff described in the packet, the county would accept an annual minimum of 30,000 tons and receive a handling payment per ton. Vanden Bosch said during the meeting that the negotiated handling fee in the packet is $2.75 per ton and that RRC paid the county to take material; the packet also shows the county would receive an annual minimum (30,000 tons) that the staff estimated equates to about $82,500 a year. Vanden Bosch cautioned the board that site location matters for infrastructure: bringing RRC onto the far-west portion of the property could require a gravel road and staff estimated a road might cost on the order of $100,000.
Commissioners questioned the lease’s automatic renewal language and staff said the document includes automatic renewals for two-year extensions but that the board can amend the language so any renewal returns to the board for approval. Vanden Bosch said the 10-year primary term is intended to match the county’s landfill-capacity planning horizon and allow flexibility beyond that period.
Chair described a site visit with staff and the vice chair and thanked Vanden Bosch and Resource Recovery Center staff for negotiating the agreement. The motion to approve the lease carried on roll call.
The board directed staff to review and, if desired by the board, amend the renewal language to require board approval before automatic extensions. The lease’s site location and any needed road work will be decided in follow-up discussions with RRC and returned to the board if substantive changes are needed.
