By: Jennifer Britt
The Parsons Advocate
Jody Alderman reported to the board that the new trash compactor was working above the expected rate. The old compactor yielded a .56 per cubic yard but the new one is yielding a .80 per cubic yard. A .75 per cubic yard is considered great. Normally there would a year wait time to establish the rate but with the new compactor’s system the numbers can be calculated at any time.
The Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Secretary/Treasurer Carol Helmick reported to board members that there was a total of 5,645.3 tonnage accepted at the landfill for the month of November in 2022. Bringing the fiscal yearly total to 30,729.45 and a difference of 2,343.44 from November of 2021. That is a 33 percent increase in tonnage compared to the prior year and by comparison month to month (November 2022 vs. November 2021) a 71 percent increase.
There was a total of 49 loads and 303,601 gallons of leachate hauled from the landfill to a treatment facility for the month of November in 2022. There were 20 loads hauled to Moorefield, 18 to Westernport, and 11 to the City of Thomas. Total treatment cost was $8,971.19. This leaves a 46 percent decrease from month to month and a 2.8 percent decrease for year to year.
The top ten sales customers for the landfill have changed slightly for the month. There was sales total of $297,103.10 for the month of November. The top five customers have 89 percent of the sales. Region VIII is still the highest sales customer with 47 percent of the sales at $140,718.95. Sunrise Sanitation had $67,536.06, and City of Kingwood had $26,156,46. M&M Transport had $18,278.71 and Hott Disposal had $13,081.44. The remaining of the top ten have eight percent of the monthly sales and include North Fork Disposal, Republic Services, City of Parsons, Valley Proteins, and City of Petersburg. Three percent were accredited from other account receivables in the amount of $9,027.81.
Accountant Mark Joseph provided board members with the operating financial report. The report included the balance sheet and income statements for the landfill.
Director Mark Holstine asked the board members to review the proposal presented by Jeffery Craig from the Renewable Natural Gas Company. In the prior board meeting Craig provided information on a potential proposal to design, construct, and operate a landfill gas collection system at the landfill. The collections system would cost between one and two million dollars and would be a solution to the leachate collected at the landfill. Renewable Natural Gas Company would pay for the construction of the system and the landfill would collect royalties from the collected gas.
Craig was present during the meeting and said, “What we would be asking for is to approve this proposal in concept because really the commitment comes from when we negotiate and sign the final agreement. So, what the approval does is give us some comfort to go out spend the money on engineering, do the in-depth evaluation, before we sign the contract.
We obviously do not want to sign a contract we are not 100 percent sure we can deliver, and you do not want us doing that either. So, what the proposal really says is ok we like what we see, we approve in principle subject to final approval. Which will actually be the contract. And I provided a draft copy of that. That would be the sequence.
I added the business numbers as well, because someone is bound to ask along the way what would you gain from this each year. I put the conservative number of $200,000 that you would be looking to get from royalties each year. I think that is a very fair and probably conservative number that you can reasonable expect.”
Holstine also reported that his board would be sending a letter to the Tucker County Commission requesting the chairman of the Solid Waste Authority have board seat on the new Blackwater PSD. Holstine expressed the need for the seat to be held because the landfill would be the PSD’s largest customer. Holstine said, “There is some stuff in our letter that has credentials that I can provide to that being that we are probably going to be the largest customer of the Blackwater PSD. We definitely think we should have a seat at that table.” Commissioner Fred Davis stated that the commissioners had discussed having a three-person board that included the mayors from Davis and Thomas, but he would mention to the other commissioners that there may be a need for a five-person board instead.
The next meeting of the Tucker County Solid Waste Authority will be held on February 7, 2023, at 3 p.m. and located at the Tucker County Landfill office at 284 Landfill Road, Davis, West Virginia.