MONROE - A private waste disposal transfer station inside the city limits may be a big challenge for the city.
With board consensus, Reid Stangel, president of the Board of Public Works, directed City Administrator Phil Rath on Monday, July 15, to meet with the management of Advanced Disposal to find a solution to complaints about the company's transfer station inside the city limits.
Stangel hopes to solve two problems simultaneously: reducing complaints from west-side residents about the stinky air and preserving the operation of the county transfer station.
He also hopes to find a solution without the city resorting to rezoning or threats.
The board has been dealing with complaints about foul odors coming from a waste disposal transfer station located on the west side of the city, along 7th Street between 1st and 3rd Avenue, for more than 18 months - "since I've been on the council," Stangel said. He said he received another complaint just before coming to the board meeting, where the issue was already on the agenda.
"We've let it sit too long," Stangel said.
"(Having) garbage sitting in the middle of town doesn't seem right," he added.
Advanced Disposal Services acquired ownership and the operations of Veolia Environmental Services' solid waste business, including the Monroe transfer station, in late November 2012. The company sorts, compacts and reloads solid waste and recyclables, before transporting them out of the city for disposal.
Rath noted the same people are still in the management positions of the new company.
According to Police Chief Fred Kelley, "many times" complaints about bad odors in the area are tracked to Alp and Dell Cheese store and Roth Kase Cheese factory, which sit along 2nd Street and 4th Avenue.
Between the transfer station and cheese factory are numerous residences, the Moose Lodge, Blackhawk Technical School, hotels and other businesses.
Charles Schuringa, a public works board member and alderman of Ward 9 where the two businesses are located, said, when he has responded to complaints, he's discovered the odor had dissipated quickly. He believes the cheese factory odors are detected only at certain times in the production process and then only when air pressure keeps them low to the ground, and that they are gone within a half hour.
Schuringa said complaints about odors started about two years ago.
That was about the time Veolia started using the location for its transfer station. Previous owners had used it only for sorting recycling.
The city has not had complaints this summer, the last being in late April or early May, according to Tom Boll, city street and sanitation supervisor.
Stangel said the heat, humidity and lack of breeze will probably be a catalyst for new complaints.
Even though odors may not be coming from Advanced Disposal, the perception of odor and health risks come from allowing garbage piles in the city limits, Stangel noted.
The next nearest transfer station is the county's transfer station west of Brodhead. Stangel said, if the city required garbage to be processed outside the city limits, the county transfer station may find it can remain open.
The county transfer station is looking at closing at the end of 2013, because of a loss of revenue since late 2011, when Veolia started using its city station as its own transfer station full time and transporting to its private landfill near Delavan.
A previous board meeting with Veolia management in early October 2012 about the company moving its station resulted in no further city action.
Veolia representatives were amenable to the idea but said they didn't need to move. The company would move at the city's request, but only if it were cost neutral, meaning the city would have to pick up the cost of a site and building, estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.
Veolia had also expressed interest in obtaining and processing the city's residential waste at a tipping fee of $40 per ton versus the $45 per ton the county transfer station was charging. The representatives noted their station could easily run three times the amount of garbage as it was doing, and that it could accommodate the city waste and more.
Members of the Board of Public Works took action Oct. 1, 2012, to determine the extent and validity of complaints about foul odors emanating from the transfer station and voted unanimously to bring in a representative from the Department of Natural Resources to investigate the complaints and test the water in Honey Creek that runs near the transfer station.
That action was never fulfilled; although on Monday Boll said the DNR may have performed a water test near the station in order to issue a permit to Advance Disposal to operate its transfer station.
With board consensus, Reid Stangel, president of the Board of Public Works, directed City Administrator Phil Rath on Monday, July 15, to meet with the management of Advanced Disposal to find a solution to complaints about the company's transfer station inside the city limits.
Stangel hopes to solve two problems simultaneously: reducing complaints from west-side residents about the stinky air and preserving the operation of the county transfer station.
He also hopes to find a solution without the city resorting to rezoning or threats.
The board has been dealing with complaints about foul odors coming from a waste disposal transfer station located on the west side of the city, along 7th Street between 1st and 3rd Avenue, for more than 18 months - "since I've been on the council," Stangel said. He said he received another complaint just before coming to the board meeting, where the issue was already on the agenda.
"We've let it sit too long," Stangel said.
"(Having) garbage sitting in the middle of town doesn't seem right," he added.
Advanced Disposal Services acquired ownership and the operations of Veolia Environmental Services' solid waste business, including the Monroe transfer station, in late November 2012. The company sorts, compacts and reloads solid waste and recyclables, before transporting them out of the city for disposal.
Rath noted the same people are still in the management positions of the new company.
According to Police Chief Fred Kelley, "many times" complaints about bad odors in the area are tracked to Alp and Dell Cheese store and Roth Kase Cheese factory, which sit along 2nd Street and 4th Avenue.
Between the transfer station and cheese factory are numerous residences, the Moose Lodge, Blackhawk Technical School, hotels and other businesses.
Charles Schuringa, a public works board member and alderman of Ward 9 where the two businesses are located, said, when he has responded to complaints, he's discovered the odor had dissipated quickly. He believes the cheese factory odors are detected only at certain times in the production process and then only when air pressure keeps them low to the ground, and that they are gone within a half hour.
Schuringa said complaints about odors started about two years ago.
That was about the time Veolia started using the location for its transfer station. Previous owners had used it only for sorting recycling.
The city has not had complaints this summer, the last being in late April or early May, according to Tom Boll, city street and sanitation supervisor.
Stangel said the heat, humidity and lack of breeze will probably be a catalyst for new complaints.
Even though odors may not be coming from Advanced Disposal, the perception of odor and health risks come from allowing garbage piles in the city limits, Stangel noted.
The next nearest transfer station is the county's transfer station west of Brodhead. Stangel said, if the city required garbage to be processed outside the city limits, the county transfer station may find it can remain open.
The county transfer station is looking at closing at the end of 2013, because of a loss of revenue since late 2011, when Veolia started using its city station as its own transfer station full time and transporting to its private landfill near Delavan.
A previous board meeting with Veolia management in early October 2012 about the company moving its station resulted in no further city action.
Veolia representatives were amenable to the idea but said they didn't need to move. The company would move at the city's request, but only if it were cost neutral, meaning the city would have to pick up the cost of a site and building, estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.
Veolia had also expressed interest in obtaining and processing the city's residential waste at a tipping fee of $40 per ton versus the $45 per ton the county transfer station was charging. The representatives noted their station could easily run three times the amount of garbage as it was doing, and that it could accommodate the city waste and more.
Members of the Board of Public Works took action Oct. 1, 2012, to determine the extent and validity of complaints about foul odors emanating from the transfer station and voted unanimously to bring in a representative from the Department of Natural Resources to investigate the complaints and test the water in Honey Creek that runs near the transfer station.
That action was never fulfilled; although on Monday Boll said the DNR may have performed a water test near the station in order to issue a permit to Advance Disposal to operate its transfer station.