Commissioners hear about MPCA’s required 10-year plan

The Clearwater County Board of Commissioners met on  July 11, 2017, hearing about the required county Solid Waste Management Plan for MPCA, new hires, fuel costs and more easements being sought by U.S Fish & Wildlife.

Environmental Services Director, Dan Hecht brought the Commissioners up to date about the Solid Waste Management Plan, since Clearwater County's 10-year plan is due to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in April of 2018. 

The Solid Waste Management Plans describe existing solid waste management systems and present policies and strategies to guide the County's programs and planning over the next ten years. A first-draft of the plan is due to MPCA on Oct. 1 this year, then public notice of the plan is scheduled to begin in January of 2018. The final plan will be presented to the County Board for approval in March of 2018. 

In this plan, MPCA will want the County to show how we will achieve a higher recycling rate, which is at about 20% right now.  

“A 35% recycle rate is expected by 2030 by state statute, but I don't know how we're going to do that,” Director Hecht said. “There are things that can be identified in the plan conceptually, but implementing those things is costly.” 

The Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Fosston is a very important part of our recycling program but people may have become too dependent on it, he said. Education aimed at getting people to do more recycling at home is important, along with focusing on the schools and large employers where people spend time every day. Organics (food waste), metals, and paper are all large parts of the waste stream that could be used to improve the recycling rate.  

This planning process is often completed for counties by consultants, but doing it in-house will save an estimated $10,000 to $12,000 and give the County a better understanding of its own issues.  Notifying the County Board of the process is just one of the required steps toward final approval of the plan. 

Director of Nursing Marissa Hetlund received authorization to rehire Terri Nelson for a part time Registered Nurse position at a salary of $31.41. She will work more than 1040 hours per year. 

MIS Director Stuart Lien was given approval for the appointment of Matthew J. Davey to the position of Information Technology Specialist, effective Aug. 11. Starting salary is $21.57 per hour.

County Engineer, Dan Sauvé was given authorization to set Ethan Dunker's salary to $20.17 per hour as an Engineering Technician I. The motion to do so was approved, but one vote against it was received by Commissioner Dean Newland who opposed the salary. 

In other Highway Department business, Engineer Sauvé was given Board approval to  award the bid for fuel for county vehicles to Bagley Co-Op Association of Bagley, per their proposal. Theirs was the only bid received. The mark-up over their cost is 6.9 cents per gallon for ethanol, and diesel fuel, for an estimated total of over $105,000. 

With Board approval, he is awarding the quote of providing and installing a whole Facility Generator to Clearbrook Electric in the amount of $44,490. The generator will be able to operate the large overhead doors in case of a power outage.

The Board approved the payment of Highway Department bills as presented in the amount of $55,650.

U. S. Fish & Wildlife personnel, Lynn Sebek and Neil Powers, brought two wetland and one habitat easements to present to the Clearwater County Board of Commissioners. Wetland easements are located in Popple Township, with 12.9 acres, and Eddy Township, with 6.4 acres. The habitat easement, located in Nora Township, contains 40 acres. Owners will continue to pay property taxes. 

Engineer Sauvé raised concerns about the elevation of the outlet dam regarding the second wetland, and stated there may be a problem with water backing up into the roadways. 

 “Dan (Stenseng) has share some of the history with Fish and Wildlife regarding the area,” Mr. Powers said. “We will be more than happy to work around the problem and will look into the elevations.”

Attorney David Hanson came to the meeting for a closed session regarding MCIT to discuss it with the Commissioners.  

County Auditor Allen Paulson reported that budget requests are now out to the departments. 

He was authorized to pay the submitted invoices of $139,423 for the County Revenue Fund, and $15,266 for the Nursing Service Fund. 

Commissioners present at the meeting were Daniel Stenseng, Dean Newland, John Nelson, Neal Illies and Arlen Syverson.