The regular meeting of the Board of Public Works of the County of Calhoun was held Wednesday, September 20, 2006 in their office located at 13300 Fifteen Mile Road, Marshall, Michigan.
Present: Commissioner David D. Veramay, Chairman
Commissioner Charles E. Monaweck, Vice-Chairman
Commissioner Chester E. Travis, Member
Joanna Johnson, Assistant Managing Director
Pixie Coats, Human Resource Director
Angela Kline, Assistant County Highway Engineer
Also Present: Tom Frank, Albion Township Supervisor
Eugene Hamaker, Marshall Township Supervisor
Joe Bramble, Convis Township Resident
Jim Russell, Calhoun County Road Commission
Chairman Veramay called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. There being no additions or corrections to the regular meeting minutes of July 19, 2006 they stand approved as printed and distributed.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Mr. Randolph provided the Board with the following information:
Mr. Randolph said that the Duck Lake project is moving along very well. He said that we are waiting for Rural Development to give us the go ahead to advertise. The financing looks very good for this project. We hope to get everything all lined up by the end of the year.
Mr. Randolph reported that we do have our Brownfield grant and it is going well. We hope to have a meeting with the townships. We will be able to have some phase I and phase II work done with this grant.
Mrs. Johnson said that she attended a meeting yesterday with Mr. Purcell, County Administrator regarding the Solid Waste contract.
Mrs. Johnson stated that Mr. Purcell didn’t feel that a lot of ideas or end results were coming out of the committee and lacked long-term strategic vision. Mrs. Johnson stated that Mr. Purcell would like us to have a strategic visioning session with an outside facilitator. He said the County would put out an RFP for that type of facilitator or consultant to bring the committee together. Mr. Purcell stated that these thoughts would be expressed to the Commissioners for feedback. The next meeting will be October 9th at 4:30pm at the Road Commission. Mr. Purcell said that the Solid Waste funds may be used to pay for the facilitator or consultant.
Commissioner Veramay stated that it is his understanding that we are the ones that run the Solid Waste from the Board of Public Works and if we aren’t, then we should discuss the future of Solid Waste.
In the meeting we told Mr. Purcell that it was not the intent but Mr. Randolph was waiting for County direction and the direction from the Solid Waste Committee.
Mrs. Johnson recognizes that we are at a very difficult path. She said that we went to the meeting with very open-minds and to try to work together with the County. We did make it clear that we have actively spearheaded the process and we are moving along in the right direction.
COMMISSIONER’S COMMENTS
Commissioner Veramay said we needed to understand that we are one of the few counties that get money from landfills. Every county, under Act 641 has a Solid Waste Committee and they have to prepare a plan and this plan normally that comes out of the County budget. We are generating enough funds so that it doesn’t have to come out of the County budget. Commissioner Veramay said that people are trying to do things that legally they can’t do.
Commissioner Monaweck asked what the advantages or disadvantages would be if they took Solid Waste back to the County. Mr. Randolph said that the advantage would be that they can control the everyday activities and the disadvantage would be that we would have to close all the recycling and compost centers on our three sites immediately because we would not be able to support them and it would be a disadvantage to the public.
CITIZEN’S COMMENTS
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18, 2006 immediately following the 9:00 a.m. Board of Road Commissioners meeting. There being no additional business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:56 a.m
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