APPROVED Nashua Region Solid Waste Management District Meeting Minutes June 26, 2008

Transcription

1 APPROVED Nashua Region Solid Waste Management District Meeting Minutes June 26, ) Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 11:42 a.m. with the following representatives present: Steve Williams NRPC x17 Minda Henderson NRPC x23 Jill Simonetti NRPC x16 Mike Fimbel Town of Mont Vernon Dave Lent Town of Merrimack Bruce Berry Town of Amherst Jeff Babel Town of Hollis Sally Hyland City of Nashua Tammy Scott Town of Milford ) Approval of November 29, 2007 Meeting Minutes The November 29, 2007 meeting minutes were distributed for review by the NRSWMD meeting participants. Mike Fimbel moved to accept the minutes of November 29, 2007, seconded by Bruce Berry. Motion passed unanimously. 3) Report on Spring 2008 Collection Events a. Public Education and Outreach A variety of outreach channels have been employed during the 2008 season to promote HHW collections across the region. STANDARD MEDIA: Standard media outlets are the most widely utilized form of public outreach for HHW Collections. Press releases and public service announcements are sent to the following media outlets roughly 3 weeks prior to each scheduled Household Hazardous Waste Collection. Nashua Telegraph The Hippo Hudson-Litchfield News Pelham-Windham News Amherst Citizen Milford Cabinet Hollis-Brookline Journal Merrimack Journal Bedford Jounal Milford Observer Broadcaster Hollis Times Windham Independent WZID 95.7 NHPR LOCAL CABLE ACCESS AND TOWN WEBSITES: Prior to each event, a press release is ed to the cable access and town website contacts in each of the Solid Waste District communities. In towns that APPROVED NRSWMD Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 5 June 26, 2008

2 have special formatting requirements for public service announcements, the appropriate forms are completed. ADDITIONAL GENERAL OUTREACH EFFORTS: A variety of fliers are produced at the beginning of the season for NRSWMD members to distribute in their communities. This year s materials included a full page (8.5x11) flier with pertinent collection information, a reduced version suitable for mass mailings, and a full page electronics flier. Finally, several communities requested additional fliers and posters for use during Earth Day events to promote the HHW program. Just prior to the 2008 season, NRPC s website, including the HHW page, received a significant update. This helped to make HHW materials and relevant information regarding collections more accessible and user friendly. Next year, NRPC should investigate notifying the Board of Realtors about the upcoming event schedule, as well as considering a partnership with local Boy Scouts to have a troop fundraiser in conjunction with the HHW collection events. b. Participation and Materials Collected Minda Shaheen provided a summary report of the spring 2008 collection events to date. In general, total participation his down somewhat from the 2007 collection events (578 vehicles in 2007 compared to 426 vehicles in 2008). Comments at events are still positive; most participants communicate an understanding of the program and why it is worth paying for. April 2008 May 2008 (Milford) June event Total event Total st Time % new households 45% 45% 40% 46% 65% Returning Total Vehicles Total Households The proportion of new participants to total participation has remained relatively stable from 2007 (65%) compared to 2008 (46%) Collection Events 2008 Collection Events (Milford) 2007 (Milford) 2008 Material 14-Apr 5-May 7-Jun Total 12-Apr 3-May 5-Jun Total Adhesive Cans 0 0 Aerosol Cans Antifreeze , ,173 Fluorescent Lamps Batteries (total) Batteries, Cadmium Batteries, Lead Acid Batteries, Lithium Corrosive Acid Corrosive Alkalai Flammable Liquids ,288 2,288 Mercury APPROVED NRSWMD Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 5 June 26, 2008

3 2007 Collection Events 2008 Collection Events (Milford) 2007 (Milford) 2008 Material 14-Apr 5-May 7-Jun Total 12-Apr 3-May 5-Jun Total Oxidizing Liquids Paint 5,228 13,840 7,511 26,579 6,000 5,061 2,658 13,719 Pesticide Liquids 300 1, , ,000 1,900 TOTAL (in pounds) 7,193 15,715 9,253 32,162 7,950 6,844 8,161 22,954 Total Vehicles Pounds per Vehicle Cost per Vehicle $ $83.79 $94.72 $92.42 $ $ $ $ The Milford Satellite Collection Event had a new participation rate of 84%, with 72% of Milford residents as first-time participants, and 63% of Amherst residents as first-time participants. (Milford and Amherst represent the two towns with the highest number of participants for the May 5 collection.) The collection event was reported to have run very smoothly with a number of participants commenting on how much they appreciated the satellite opportunity. Bill Ruoff and Tammy Scott are both hoping to host another Milford collection in future seasons. 4) Pharmaceutical Collection By all accounts, the pharmaceutical collection was a successful pilot program for the District. Three 55-gallon barrels of prescription medications collected (approximately 300 lbs) Three 5-gallon pails of controlled substances collected 74 participants NRPC met with Sally Hyland, Scott Pollock, Marty Gaffney, and a representative from the police department on the results of the pharmaceutical collection event with the purpose of getting a feeling for how the event was received by all involved. All agreed that the event is a very worthwhile effort from both public health and public safety perspectives. Another pharmaceutical collection event has been scheduled for October 2, from 4:00 6:00 at the Nashua Public Works Garage. The event will retain two police officers rather than just one, with the extra officer to provide additional security for the event. It will also be held separately from the HHW collection in order to allow more efficient vehicle flow and ease of participation. 5) Evaluation of Satellite Collection Events The Milford Satellite Collection Event is being used to evaluate the relative success of the satellite collection event since it is really the only data point that is comparable from 2007 to At the 2008 event, the new participation rate equaled 45%. The 2007 event had higher overall attendance than in 2008, but the numbers of repeat participants remained almost exactly the same, meaning that participation was lost in new participants, and the data indicate that those were primarily new participants from Milford that were lost and not replaced by either repeat participants or more first-time users in The collection event was reported to have run very smoothly with a number of participants commenting on how much they appreciated the satellite opportunity, even though the weather for the event itself was rainy and chill, likely depressing participation, somewhat. APPROVED NRSWMD Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 5 June 26, 2008

4 6) RFP for Disposal Vendor Marty Gaffney, Envirosafe, provided NRPC a letter dated June 18, 2008 indicating that Envirosafe is being purchased by Triumvirate Environmental, Inc. The new company will be honoring existing contracts, but will not be making any new waste day contracts at this time since this is not an area in which Triumvirate specializes. Therefore, we will need to go out to bid for another waste disposal vendor upon conclusion of the 2008 collection events. The schedule for the RFP will be to send it out in October for responses to be received by mid November. Consultants will then be interviewed by the selection committee, with a consultant being selected in December so that the year s collection event schedule can be confirmed in early January, at the latest. Mile Fimbel and Bruce Berry indicated some interest in participating in the selection committee. 7) Budgeting Steve Williams provided copies of the proposed FY 2009 budget, which includes a grant amount of $30,000 from NHDES (reduced from $53, in FY 2008). Details of the budget can be found in the attached spreadsheet. Dues for FY 2009 were already approved in June 2007, so the decision becomes whether we elect to have either six or seven collection events in the FY 2009, due to the ~$12, deficit incurred by having a seventh collection event. Discussion centered around the Hudson event, which had a low attendance last year, and which has not yet been advertised as of the date of this meeting. Some concerns were expressed that a Hudson representative has not historically been in attendance at the District meetings and that communication has been spotty in the past few years, therefore there may be some political discomfort at having to host the collection event, but this has not been directly expressed to NRPC. Bruce Berry moved to reduce the FY 2009 collection season by one event, the Hudson event, and to maintain three collection events in the Fall (August, October, and November) and three collection events in the Spring (April, May, and June) and thereby accept the FY 2009 budget as amended. Dave Lent seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. In regards to municipal assessments for FY 2010, discussion centered on the approximate rate of increase that is built into the budget, assuming a no grant contributions from NHDES. All agreed that 5% is the maximum rate of increase that would be acceptable to the towns, but that 2.5% can be sometimes hard to support. However, all also agreed that individually they cannot do even a single event for the amount of dues that they pay, so if 5% is necessary to cover the costs, then 5% is reasonable. Mike Fimbel moved to raise the assessment rates for the FY 2010 budget by 5%. Seconded by Bruce Berry. Motion passed unanimously. Dave Lent motioned to approve the FY 2009 budget, with a second from Sally Hyland. Motion passed unanimously. Billing statements are generally sent in July, with payments to be made by September. APPROVED NRSWMD Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 5 June 26, 2008

5 8) Proposed FY 2009 Schedule Dates for the FY 2009 schedule were discussed, and included the following three Fall events: August 2, 2008, October 4, 2008, and November 1, 2008; and the following three Spring events: April 18, 2009, May 2, 2009, and June 4, Jeff Babel moved to accept the FY 2009 collection dates as presented. Sally Hyland seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9) Other Business NHDES Accounting Error: NRPC has drafted a letter to NHDES in response to a February 2008 letter indicating that the grant amount for FY 2009 would be reduced to $30,000 in part due to a large number of grant applications this year, and in part due to the perceived lack of efficiency in the NRSWMD program. NRPC explains this perception as a data accounting error, since NHDES only recorded the District as having collected 9,220 pounds of material in 2007 when in fact it was 71,045. While grant announcements have already gone out across the State, it is too late for the District to receive any additional monies for FY 2009, but NRPC feels it is necessary to correct this error and restore faith in the District program at the State level. At this time NRPC is unaware of the source of the NHDES data error. Amherst Transfer Station: Amherst is in the process of redesigning the layout of its transfer station. Stay tuned for the results! End-of-Year Reporting: Mike Fimbel indicated that the end-of-year summaries that are produced by NRPC might be a good document to submit in the annual Town Report since there are a number of individuals, particularly in small towns, who sit down and read their Town Report cover to cover. It might be a good way of reaching an audience that typically might be missed by our traditional outreach efforts, and might give some increased exposure to the HHW program. Suggest that District representatives be given the reports, and they can then decide whether they need to be forwarded on to the Town Clerk or another entity for use in the reporting effort. HANDOUTS DISTRIBUTED: 2008 Total Participation (to date) Spreadsheet Summary Data for June 5 Pharmaceutical Collection Milford 2007 and 2008 Satellite Collection Event Comparison APPROVED NRSWMD Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 5 June 26, 2008