HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.07.23 SWAC Minutes DRAFT
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC)
Meeting Minutes
Regular Meeting, Thursday, December 07, 2023, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Public Works Office, 623 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA
Hybrid Meeting
Audio and video recordings posted under Meeting Recordings on this website
https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/483/Solid-Waste -Advisory-Committee
Opening Business
Meeting agenda posted on website on November 29, 2023.
1. Call to Order and Roll Call – Tracy Grisman, Vice-Chair
Committee Members Present for Roll Call
Heidi Eisenhour, County Commissioner Tracy Grisman, Vice-Chair & District #1
Steve Chappuis, District #2 Joey Deese, Waste Connections
Bliss Morris, City of Port Townsend
Committee Members Absent
Tim Deverin, District #3 Alysa Thomas, Skookum
Glenn Gately, Conservation District
Staff Present
Al Cairns, Solid Waste Manager Chris Spall, Public Works Support Staff
Laura Tucker, Public Health - Solid Waste Educator
Guests/Visitors: Don Rhoden, citizen; Lisa Crosby, past Chair & District #1; and Bart Kale, past Citizen at
Large
There is a quorum.
2. Public Comment: None
3. Approval/ Correction of previous meeting minutes. No changes were requested to the June 8 or September
28 meeting minutes. Tracy called for motions to be made to approve the minutes. Steve Chappuis motioned to
approve the June 8, 2023 minutes, Joey seconded the motion, and the minutes were approved. Joey motioned
to approve the Sept. 28 meeting minutes, Bliss seconded the motion, and all in attendance voted to approve
the minutes.
4. Committee Reports (No sub-committees formed)
5. Staff Reports (Q&A on Staff Report) – There was discussion about these items on the report:
Transfer Station Improvement – New scale software working well. No one has used the low-income discount
yet. Advertising widely for it. Kudos to Justin Miskell for figuring out how to implement the low-income
discount in the new software. Nov. 2 had 380 transactions, a record for a November day, and the facility was
short staffed. Despite this everything went well and the tills balanced to the penny.
Staffing is still a major struggle. Al helping out at the Transfer Station due to this. Looking to higher two new
operators to alleviate the staffing shortage, but the new-hires will require 3-4 weeks of training, which will
impact operations in January. Borrowed from the City and the County Roads Division for help with this. Trying
to correlate labor hours with tonnages to estimate labor needs.
Solid Waste Education. Contamination Reduction and Program cost about $70,000 with no real discernible
yield. It’s frustrating with very limited resources to apply to our programs as a whole to focus so intensely on
recycling when it’s an internationally and globally broken system, and our Solid Waste Management Plan
(SWMP) says our focus should be on waste reduction.
Closed Landfill: What happens to property after monitoring is finished, can anything occur there? A
substantial investment would be needed to use that land for passive recreation after we get approval to
discontinue the monitoring. Data has flat lined. Hoping to negotiate an annual sample and raw data submitted
to the ECY. We spend $60k per year for the current monitoring, mostly on the report from a state licensed
geologist, that could be used elsewhere.
MRW Events: Getting positive feedback on the County-wide events to deliver this service.
6. Old Business (None)
7. New Business
a. Farewell to Lisa and Bart: Tracy is sorry to see them both go. Bart has been on the SWAC for eight
years. He’s looking forward to new adventures. Lisa has been involved in the SWAC for ten years.
b. Election of SWAC Chair and Vice-Chair: Tracy asked for nominations for the role of Chair. Heidi
nominated Tracy as Chair, Steve seconded the motion, and all voted in favor. Tracy said she is honored
to be the Chair. Tracy asked for nominations for Vice-Chair. Bliss nominated Joey for Vice-Chair,
Tracy seconded the motion, and all voted in favor of this.
c. 2024 SWAC meeting dates: Discussion about cancelling the January, March, and May 2024 SWAC
meeting dates so SWAC members can participate in the last three Facility Replacement Task Force
meetings instead.
8. Partner Updates
a. Skookum Contract Services (Alysa Thomas) – Alysa did not attend the meeting.
b. Waste Connections (Joey Deese) – No new updates. Everything going smoothly.
c. City of Port Townsend (Bliss Morris) – Nothing to report.
d. Artist in Residency Program (Tracy Grisman) – Learned a lot from the first semester, June –
August 2023. A call for artists will go out in January for the June – August 2024 semester and we
will be looking for a local artist, who lives within an hour driving time and who can work
autonomously to create the work.
e. Solid Waste Education (Laura Tucker) – A grant that funded compostable to-go containers was
hugely successful and businesses are asking where they can get more of the containers. From
this, relationships were developed with restaurants that will benefit the surplus food summits.
There are tax deductions for businesses that donate their excess food. The idea it to get edible
food into the mouths of those who need it. Will still be doing the composting classes. Updating
recycling flyer as needed but not really changing anything because it clearly says what we take.
Unfortunately, contamination is still a problem. What happens to the surplus food from grocery
stores? Laura will meet in person with all of the grocery stores about this. Laura will be starting a
green business program, “Sustainability Stars,” after the first of the year invite businesses that
reduce their plastic use by 30% one star, 60% 2 stars, and 100% 3 stars. Will advertise these
businesses in monthly articles and possibly in the Chamber newsletter.
9. Future Agenda Items
No items were suggested.
Meeting adjourned at 4:23 PM
Next Meeting Date: January 25, 2024.
2024 Regular Meetings
January 25
March 28
May 23
July 25
September 26
December 5