County's trash taken to Perry
Effective Tuesday, Marion County's trash is now being deposited in a new landfill.
Commissioners voted to enter a landfill agreement with Hamm Waste Management, Perry, after visiting with representatives from both Hamm's and Waste Management of Kansas, Topeka.
Until Monday, waste from the county-owned transfer station was being dumped at Rolling Hills, a Waste Management of Kansas-owned landfill, located outside Topeka.
Charlie Sedlock, a representative with Hamm, told commissioners the company has two private transfer stations and serves as a disposal site for a number of counties, including Marion's neighbor to the north, Dickinson, which has used Hamm Quarry for approximately 10 years. The landfill has a capacity of 12,000 to 16,000 tons of solid waste a day.
"I understand you have a concern about environmental liability," Sedlock told commisioners. "Rightly so. You're buying into a service for today, but one that buys you liability for the future."
Hamm Quarry was established as a landfill in 1980 when the city of Lawrence said it needed a landfill and approached Norman Hamm. He then created a landfill. In 1990, company employees took over ownership.
"Right from the get-go, Mother Nature gave us one up," Sedlock explained, noting the landfill is located in an area where the likelihood of underground seepage is minimal. "We have a 140 foot layer of clay shale," Sedlock said. "It's highly impermeable."
The company also "does something different with liners," he said, using a sump system.
As an employee-owned company, Sedlock said Hamm does business differently than other landfills. For instance, the company offers a $1 million remediation policy to clients and uses a trust fund as a means of assuring the money will be available should clean-up measures be needed in the future.
"We use a trust fund," Sedlock said. "the only way that money can be released is by the state. Post closure is 30 years of maintenance or post maintenance. As employee-owners we're worried about problems with the site because that could affect our retirements and our future."
He noted the company is fiscally "strong enough" to get a corporate guarantee, and it operates conservatively. He noted as an employee-owned company, Hamm is not after quarterly results, nor has any security exchange requirements.
In the case of environmental problems, Sedlock said, the owners and operators of the landfill would be first on the liability list.
"If they're (owners) broke, they'll go after everyone else," Sedlock said. "If we're broke, idemnification does nothing for you."
Commissioners also heard from Waste Management representatives Bill Upman, environmental engineer, and Ken Madsen, area marketing and sale representative. Both appeared in front of the commission two weeks ago, and were asked to return with information regarding client protection if environmental problems are discovered.
Upman said the company purchases surety bonds, which ensures that the money is there should environmental problems occur.
"If we don't pay the bond our permit (with the state) is null and void," Upman said. "We have the cash, between $600,000 and $750,000, to close a facility. The funding for post closure is already in place."
Upman noted Waste Management used a trust fund, such as the one used by Hamm Quarry, until 1996.
"The bond is the better way to go for our corporation," Upman said.
Returning to his question of two weeks ago, Commissioner Leroy Wetta asked about Waste Management's idemnification policy. Madsen assured commissioners that in the event of environmental problems, the county's liability would be miniscule. "You'd be low down on the list, after us and all our big corporate clients."
Collett agreed that was probably true. But noted, "We understand how big players squeeze out small players."
Wetta asked if Waste Management's idemnification clause covered Marion County solid waste that had been shipped to the landfill during the past seven or eight years by previous transfer station owner, KC Development.
After checking with Waste Management attorneys by phone, Upman said the company could idemnify the county back to when the county took over operation of the transfer station on Jan. 1; however, it could not offer idemnification to the county for the years the station was owned and operated by KC Development.
However, Upman said KC Development owners had been covered by a similar idemnification clause in its contract with Waste Management .
Like a debate, after Waste Management officials talked, Sedlock again visited with commissioners about the difference between Hamm Waste Management noting its use of a trust fund was the "most expensive means of doing business," in terms of protecting its customers in terms of liability.
"The least cost would be for me to take our books, visit some state officials and have them give us a financial guarantee. The second, would be a surety. It's nice and it frees up cash flow allowing one to pay for producing quarterly reports. The third, is the most expensive, because I just made a $180,000 a year payment for the trust fund on our Nebraska facility."
Sedlock also noted that Waste Management of Kansas was a "much smaller player" than Waste Management of Houston.
Wetta moved to accept Hamm's proposal. For a time, neither Collett nor Commissioner Bob Hein said anything.
Finally, Collett seconded the motion. "Basically, it may be a 25 to 50 cent per ton difference. But I think a trust fund and the solidity of Hamm's group is a consideration when Waste Management of Kansas is not Waste Management of Houston — it's a subsidiary. I'd rather deal with the head honcho."
The motion passed unanimously.
Commissioners told Sedlock they would like to have a five-year contract. He noted anything more than a one-year contract would include a three percent cost of living increase. Commissioners indicated they would sign a contract at their next meeting.
In other matters:
— Commissioners approved a listing of county property as written.
— Approved a $100 expenditure for the county to join the Marion County Lake Association.
— Commissioners heard from Bill Bolin with South Central Kansas Economic Development (SCKEDD) and Marion County representative to the board Susan Cooper about a proposal to reduce the number of board members from 83 to 30.
Currently, Bolin said, the full board meets one time per year during its annual meeting. The rest of the time, the executive committee does most of the work.
Cooper noted most people who wanted to get involved were interested in attending more than one meeting and it was difficult to keep the slots filled. Under a new proposal, each county would have one vote. Additional votes are based on population. Marion would have one vote which would entail 3.33 percent of the total voting units. Other counties in SCKEDD include Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, McPherson, Reno, Rice, Sedgwick, and Sumner.
Bolin noted that since county commissioners created the board, county commissioners would have to approve changes to the board composition. Based on Cooper's recommendation, the commission approved the change.
— Commissioners heard a report from Noreen Weems, director for the Marion County Department for Elderly. Weems reported David Brazil, transfer station director, had attended a board meeting and explained the solid waste assessment fee. Weems said many seniors thought it was a tax, rather than an assessment.
— Commissioners met in a five-minute executive session to discuss real estate. No action was taken after the return to regular session.
