Solid Waste Committee · Meeting · Oct 5, 2026
Mon, Oct 5, 2026
Guides landfill operations, recycling, convenience centers, and collection policies for household and commercial waste across the county.
Listen
Play the meeting audio here. Use the speed controls if you want to move through it faster.
Speed
This outline was generated by an LLM from a transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. Prefer the original recording when available.
The committee reorganized its leadership, re-elected Dusty Jordan as chair and Shelley Farinato as vice-chair by acclamation, then spent most of the meeting on solid-waste finances, billing and collections, landfill capacity, recycling operations, and a proposed state recycling-grant application. Financially, the fund reported $352,705.11 in September revenue and a cash position of $885,991.64. Members discussed on-time payment performance at 76%, the late-fee structure under Resolution 1707, exemption processing for vacant and low-income properties, and the committee’s past willingness to waive fees in unusual circumstances. The committee also approved moving forward with a TDEC recycling grant application for equipment costing $111,500.40 with a 20% local match of $22,300.
Other notable threads included maintenance-heavy equipment costs, tonnage and recycling/diversion data, a possible future rebid or monitoring of disposal contracts after Perry County obtained a lower rate elsewhere, delinquent-account court judgments and possible next-step collections through wage garnishment or property seizure, the new commercial/industrial solid-waste fee created by Resolution 2619, and a long-running effort to acquire adjacent FAA land for future landfill expansion.
Elections, Appointments, and Confirmations
Election of chair
- Dusty Jordan was nominated for chair; nominations were closed and Jordan was elected by acclamation without opposition.
- Motion to close nominations and elect by acclamation was made and seconded; voice vote passed unanimously.
Election of vice-chair
- Shelley Farinato was nominated for vice-chair; nominations were closed and Farinato was elected by acclamation without opposition.
- Motion to close nominations and elect by acclamation was made and seconded; voice vote passed unanimously.
Approval of Agenda
- The agenda in the packet was approved on motion and second without noted opposition.
Public Comments
- No public comments were offered.
Approval of Minutes
- August minutes were approved on motion and second without substantive discussion.
Department / Official Reports
Trustee’s office revenue and cash position
- Reported September solid-waste revenue of $352,705.11.
- Reported year-to-date cash position / total balance of $885,991.64.
- On-time payment rate was 76% of billings, described as about normal compared with last year despite the higher fee; members noted prior concern that the fee increase might reduce compliance, but that had not yet appeared.
Billing, late fees, and exemptions
- Members asked when notices go out; the solid-waste billing cycle was said to start in the first week of July.
- A member questioned whether being even one day late triggers a $30 fee. The response was that the late-fee structure is set by Resolution 1707 and applies to everyone.
- The late-charge structure was described as $1 per day until the total bill reaches $180.
- Members discussed fairness concerns when bills are mailed to an old address after a person builds or moves into a new home; in such cases, the committee has previously considered waiving overage or late fees case by case.
- Committee members recalled that prior committees had waived late fees in some circumstances and once broadly waived all late fees if people would catch up, which reportedly prompted a number of delinquent payers to resolve their accounts.
- Members noted that, despite fee enforcement, the 76% on-time rate still means 24% did not pay on time, so the late-fee policy has not yet produced a clear increase in timely payment.
- The report distinguished two exemption categories:
- Vacant/unoccupied homes, which pay no solid-waste fee if the owner certifies no one will live there during that year.
- Low-income/fixed-income properties meeting trustee thresholds, which pay half the fee, stated as $55.01.
- The exemption form is printed on the bill; owners can fill it out, sign it, and mail it back.
- Members asked whether vacant-property claims are checked. The answer was generally no, though low-income exemptions are verified by the trustee.
- About 12.5% of invoiced accounts — described as roughly one-eighth, about 1,500 homes — are exempted through vacancy or low-income status.
- Members discussed problem properties that should perhaps be removed from billing altogether because homes are no longer habitable or have been torn down; examples were given of assessor intervention stopping recurring bills on such parcels.
- It was noted that, absent permanent property-status correction, a parcel could be exempt one year and later return to billing if rebuilt or reoccupied.
Finance office budget-versus-actual report
- The finance report was described as substantially similar to the trustee report but compared against budget, with the year about 25% complete.
- Most revenue lines were said to be on track.
- Commercial and industrial waste collection revenue was noted as not directly comparable yet because the budget included the planned commercial/industrial fee billing that will not go out until January.
- Tipping-fee revenue was slightly below the ideal pace, around 23.5% versus an expected 25%, attributed to a slight decline in traffic after rate increases.
- Waste-tire disposal revenue is tied to tire sales in the county at $1 per tire sold through the state; so far this year, 2,510 tires had been sold.
Expenditures, maintenance, and postage shortfall
- On the expenditures and encumbrances report, most lines were said to be on track.
- Line 336 (maintenance and repair) showed about 75% of the budget already spent; the explanation was that several large planned expenses hit early in the year:
- An undercarriage purchase for the track hoe.
- Restoration of three leaking dumpsters/compactors to stop leachate/trash-water problems and improve visible site condition.
- A major track hoe repair involving the radiator and turbocharger, costing about $13,000.
- Additional repairs in the roughly $1,000–$2,000 range included an idler repair on the landfill track loader and in-house loader engine work.
- The director said those major maintenance items were largely complete and the line should stabilize enough to avoid exceeding budget if the current pace holds.
- Members praised the restored compactors as visibly improved at the convenience centers.
- The director acknowledged a budgeting mistake on line 348 for postage:
- Postage is $0.71 per piece.
- About 11,000 bills are mailed.
- Only $5,700 had been budgeted.
- He said the line would need to be corrected before year-end and likely increased further to account for commercial bills and second notices.
Motion and vote on financial reports
- A motion to approve the financial reports was made and seconded.
- Because the matter involved money, the committee took a roll-call vote.
- Financial reports were approved unanimously, 8–0.
Tonnage, recycling, and diversion report
- Class 1 waste shipped out of county totaled 1,239 tons for September.
- Class 3/4 waste buried in Hickman County totaled 320 tons.
- Recycling / materials movements reported:
- 1.7 tons of aluminum cans sold.
- 77.94 tons of cardboard sold.
- 24.37 tons of glass sold.
- 1.8 tons of oil given to H&H Recycling.
- No separate plastic load in September, though members clarified 20 tons of plastic had gone out in August.
- The director explained a new mixed-recycling arrangement with Waste Management:
- Because the county lacks storage space for enough bales of each plastic type to make a full dedicated load, Waste Management will accept mixed loads containing a few bales of plastic bottles/jugs with cardboard filling the trailer.
- As a result, plastic may be recycled without appearing as a separate weighed load when no small scale is available to isolate its exact weight.
- In September, the county actually moved six bales of plastic on a mixed load even though plastic showed as zero on the standard line item.
- Mixed recycling was described as a pilot/logistics improvement that reduces the need for additional storage buildings and helps move rougher cardboard with more paper mixed in.
- Nonferrous metal recycling — batteries, brass, copper, circuit boards, televisions, and similar materials — was processed in small batches with inmate labor:
- September: 1.7 tons.
- August: 2.94 tons.
- The director said nonferrous revenue is nearly comparable to cardboard revenue despite much lower tonnage because of higher commodity value, but cardboard yields larger disposal-cost avoidance through diversion.
- Diversion was defined separately from recycling because the state counts Class 3/4 burial in Hickman County as diversion even though it is not recycling.
- Members noted Class 3/4 tonnage had dropped to 320 from 412 in the comparable prior period and suggested higher local rates may be pushing some larger commercial roll-off loads elsewhere.
- The director said the county is no longer the lowest-priced landfill in the region; the rate structure may merit future adjustment, possibly charging roll-off trucks differently from pickup trucks to avoid treating homeowners doing occasional remodels the same as larger commercial haulers.
- On convenience-center activity:
- The transfer station / main convenience center handled 995 tons, including city waste.
- East was described as by far the busiest remote site.
- Four Way, Pinewood, and Shady Grove typically remain below 35 tons per month.
Director’s report: holiday, meetings, landfill capacity, and equipment
- Columbus Day on Monday, October 12, was noted as a state holiday.
- The next committee meeting was set for Monday, November 2.
- On Class 3/4 landfill capacity:
- Remaining airspace this time last year: 76,858 cubic yards.
- Remaining airspace this year: 67,803 cubic yards.
- About 8,000 cubic yards of capacity had been consumed over the year.
- Current estimate is 5–6 years of remaining space, with some uncertainty because side-slope geometry can make portions of permitted space hard to use efficiently.
- The sheriff’s office had transferred a compactor to solid waste, and the director said it is already making a major difference in densifying waste compared with the track machine that tended to ride over material.
- The transferred compactor reportedly has about 1,500 hours, described as very low use.
- The committee discussed the need for a cab or dust-control solution because landfill operation is extremely dusty; the director said operator breathing conditions need improvement.
- Better compaction could potentially stretch the remaining life from 5–6 years closer to 10 years if operations become more efficient.
Disposal costs, engineer search, and contract monitoring
- The county currently pays $52.89 per ton to Waste Management for disposal, of which $1.25 goes to the state.
- The public rate to bring waste into the county’s Class 3/4 site was stated as $100 per ton, intentionally set high both to conserve space and to help balance the prior year budget.
- For future landfill expansion, the county needs engineering and permitting work to characterize soil and groundwater conditions before the state will permit a new disposal area.
- The prior engineer, Joe House, has retired; Barge Design Solutions had been recommended earlier and the county had progressed somewhat with that firm.
- Because the director’s wife works for Barge Design Solutions, he disclosed that relationship and said the new committee should see an alternative proposal as well.
- A second proposal was expected from Smith Gardner, described as landfill specialists, but had not yet arrived; the director expected to bring both options back at the next meeting for a decision.
- Perry County was reported to be leaving the county’s transfer-station arrangement after signing with Waste Solutions.
- Perry County’s new disposal contract was described as:
- 10-year term.
- $49.25 per ton.
- Members viewed that lower rate as significant because Hickman had considered its own disposal rate strong; the development may justify continued monitoring of the market or future rebidding when contract timing allows.
- The committee also stressed the value of “entitling” waste to the hauler — meaning once the waste leaves the county site, the hauler owns and is liable for it — and said any future bid specifications should preserve that protection.
- There was uncertainty in discussion whether Hickman’s current Waste Management arrangement was a 5-year or possibly 3-year extension; the director said he would verify and email members.
Perry County revenue and budget reallocation issue
- Because Perry County continued using the system during the first quarter before transitioning out, the solid-waste budget now shows $71,095.33 in unallocated revenue tied to that activity.
- The director suggested moving $56,441.57 of that amount to the disposal line to cover what Hickman paid to dispose of Perry County’s trash, with the remainder either left unallocated or assigned elsewhere later.
- Members did not take action at this meeting; they preferred to wait, verify Perry County is fully gone, and let finance review the timing and exact amounts before any budget amendment.
Grant request: TDEC recycling equipment
- The director requested authorization to apply for a TDEC recycling grant.
- Proposed purchase:
- Four 34-cubic-yard self-contained compactors.
- One stationary compactor receiver box.
- Intended location: East convenience center.
- Purpose: expand on-site capacity for plastic and cans, reduce hauling frequency, and improve logistics similarly to a prior successful cardboard-compactor investment.
- The director said the existing cardboard compactor at East had reduced trips from about 7–8 per week to about one every 1.5 weeks.
- Members asked whether the new system would take cans and plastics directly; the answer was yes, with attention to quality control for plastic bottles and jugs.
- The director credited knowledgeable trustee inmates with improving plastic sorting and contamination control and said he hopes to preserve that know-how through training.
- The grant terms discussed:
- Total equipment cost: $111,500.40.
- Local match: 20%.
- Local match amount: $22,300.
- Motion to authorize the grant application was made and seconded.
- The committee approved the grant application by voice vote without noted opposition.
Current-year billing status and delinquent collections
- For the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, 76% of bills were resolved on time; the comparable figure last year was 77%.
- Despite the slight decline in on-time resolution, revenue is up 22% because the fee itself increased.
- For fiscal year 2026 as a whole:
- 90.23% of household solid-waste invoices were ultimately resolved by year-end, meaning either paid or exempted.
- About one-eighth of the invoiced amount was exempted because the property was vacant, part-time rental, or income-qualified.
- The director reported that at the end of the last fiscal year, the county obtained judgments on approximately 30 delinquent accounts, each with about $2,000–$4,500 in unpaid solid-waste fees.
- He said the county had taken about 60–70 people to court total:
- Most accepted payment plans or voluntary judgments.
- Only one case was described as an involuntary judgment where the debtor challenged the fee basis itself.
- The judgments now give the county legal authority to garnish wages or seize property to satisfy unpaid fees.
- The director said the next step would involve attorney work and related costs; he plans to bring back a budget estimate from attorney Sarah Nash before asking the committee to proceed.
- Members noted a prior lesson from collections efforts: court and judge-related costs can exceed recoveries if the process is not targeted carefully.
- The discussion clarified that Sarah Nash had been assisting on this work, apparently through or associated with Keystar, because former county attorney Dan Mecklenborg was not as familiar with this specific collections process.
- A member asked whether the county has a new county attorney yet; no answer was resolved within this committee discussion.
Commercial and industrial fee under Resolution 2619
- The director reviewed the new commercial/industrial solid-waste fee created by Resolution 2619.
- The fee is $120 for each building or unit on commercially or industrially zoned property.
- Roughly 400 such properties/buildings were said to be affected.
- Tax-exempt properties would also be exempt from this fee.
- Members were given a district-by-district business list, though the director noted it mostly consisted of parcel-level information.
Unfinished Business
FAA land for future expansion
- Members revisited a long-running effort — said to be underway for about 12 years, and possibly longer — to acquire adjacent FAA land next to the landfill.
- The land was described as important potential future disposal capacity once the current 5–10 year horizon is exhausted.
- The obstacle is federal ownership; members said local and state work is largely prepared, but success depends on congressional intervention in Washington.
- Several past and prospective federal officeholders were referenced as having been approached over the years, with the committee expressing frustration at repeated resets when representation changes.
- No formal action was taken, but members emphasized that the county still needs a willing federal representative to move the request.
Adjournment
- The chair called for a motion to adjourn, and the meeting concluded.
Key figures and statistics
| Figure | Type | Context / topic |
|---|---|---|
| 7 present, 1 absent | Attendance | Roll call / quorum at start of meeting |
| $352,705.11 | Revenue | September solid-waste revenue reported by trustee |
| $885,991.64 | Cash balance | Solid-waste cash position / total balance |
| 76% | Percentage | Households that paid solid-waste bill on time this year / first-quarter current-year resolution |
| $30 | Fee | Standard late fee referenced under billing policy |
| $1 per day | Fee rate | Ongoing late-charge accrual |
| $180 | Cap / total bill threshold | Late-fee accumulation ceiling discussed |
| 24% | Percentage | Share not paid on time, based on the 76% on-time figure |
| $55.01 | Reduced fee | Low-income/fixed-income half-rate solid-waste charge |
| 12.5% | Percentage | Share of invoiced bills exempted |
| 1,500 | Properties | Approximate homes/accounts exempted through vacancy or low-income status |
| 25% | Budget progress marker | Portion of fiscal year elapsed for budget comparison |
| 23.5% | Percentage | Tipping-fee revenue pace versus budget expectation |
| $1 | Revenue rate | State waste-tire reimbursement per tire sold |
| 2,510 | Tires | Tires sold in county year to date for waste-tire revenue |
| 75% | Budget usage | Share of maintenance-and-repair line already spent |
| 3 | Equipment units | Number of leaking dumpsters/compactors restored |
| $13,000 | Repair cost | Track hoe radiator and turbocharger issue |
| $1,000–$2,000 | Repair range | Other notable maintenance repairs discussed |
| $0.71 | Postage rate | Stamp cost per mailed bill |
| 11,000 | Bills | Approximate number of mailed bills |
| $5,700 | Budget amount | Underbudgeted postage line |
| 8–0 | Vote tally | Approval of financial reports by roll call |
| 1,239 | Tons | September Class 1 waste shipped out of county |
| 320 | Tons | September Class 3/4 waste buried in county |
| 1.7 | Tons | Aluminum cans sold in September |
| 77.94 | Tons | Cardboard sold in September |
| 24.37 | Tons | Glass sold in September |
| 1.8 | Tons | Oil given away for recycling |
| 20 | Tons | Plastic recycled in August |
| 6 | Bales | Plastic bales moved on mixed load in September |
| 2.94 | Tons | Nonferrous metal recycled in August |
| 412 | Tons | Prior comparison figure for Class 3/4 tonnage mentioned by member |
| 995 | Tons | Transfer station / main convenience center tonnage |
| 35 | Tons per month | Typical ceiling for Four Way, Pinewood, and Shady Grove monthly tonnage |
| October 12 | Date | Columbus Day holiday |
| November 2 | Date | Next committee meeting |
| 76,858 | Cubic yards | Remaining landfill space this time last year |
| 67,803 | Cubic yards | Remaining landfill space this year |
| 8,000 | Cubic yards | Approximate annual capacity consumed |
| 5–6 years | Time span | Estimated remaining landfill life at current conditions |
| 1,500 | Hours | Approximate usage on transferred sheriff’s compactor |
| 10 years | Time span | Potential life extension with better compaction; also Perry County contract length |
| $52.89 | Disposal rate | Hickman County disposal cost per ton to Waste Management |
| $1.25 | State fee | Portion of disposal rate that goes to the state |
| $100 | Public rate | Charge per ton for public waste into the county’s Class 3/4 site |
| $49.25 | Disposal rate | Perry County’s reported new rate with Waste Solutions |
| $71,095.33 | Revenue | Unallocated revenue related to Perry County activity |
| $56,441.57 | Proposed budget transfer | Suggested move to disposal line to cover Perry County disposal cost |
| 4 | Equipment units | Self-contained compactors proposed in TDEC grant |
| 34 cubic yards | Capacity | Size of each proposed self-contained compactor |
| 1 | Equipment unit | Stationary compactor receiver box proposed in grant |
| 7–8 per week | Hauling frequency | Prior trip rate before East cardboard compactor improvement |
| 1 every 1.5 weeks | Hauling frequency | Reduced trip rate after compactor improvement |
| 20% | Match percentage | Local match required for TDEC grant |
| $111,500.40 | Project cost | Total proposed recycling equipment cost |
| $22,300 | Local match | County share for TDEC grant project |
| 77% | Percentage | Prior-year first-quarter bill resolution comparison |
| 22% | Percentage | Revenue increase year over year due to fee increase |
| 90.23% | Percentage | Household invoices resolved by end of FY 2026 |
| 30 | Accounts | Approximate delinquent accounts reduced to judgment |
| $2,000–$4,500 | Debt range | Unpaid fees per judgment account |
| 60–70 | Cases / people | Approximate number taken to court |
| 1 | Case count | Involuntary judgment cases mentioned |
| $120 | Fee | New commercial/industrial solid-waste fee per building or unit |
| 400 | Properties / units | Approximate number of commercial/industrial accounts affected |
| 12 years | Time span | Length of effort to obtain FAA land |
External vendors, brands, and software
| Name | Type | Context / topic |
|---|---|---|
| H&H Recycling | Company | Received 1.8 tons of oil from solid-waste operations |
| Waste Management | Company | Disposal contractor; mixed recycling loads; current $52.89 per ton disposal rate |
| Barge Design Solutions | Company | Prior/possible landfill engineering and permitting consultant |
| Smith Gardner | Company | Expected alternate engineering proposal; described as landfill specialists |
| Waste Solutions | Company | Perry County’s new disposal contractor at $49.25 per ton |
| TDEC | Company | State recycling grant source as referred to in discussion |
| FAA | Company | Federal landowner adjacent to landfill in long-running expansion effort |
| Sarah Nash | Individual | Attorney assisting with delinquent-account judgments and possible collections |
| Joe House | Individual | Retired engineer previously tied to landfill expansion work |
| Keystar | Company | Organization/name referenced in connection with Sarah Nash’s collections assistance |
Personnel changes
| Name | Role / office | Change | Context / topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dusty Jordan | Solid Waste Committee Chair / Commissioner | Elected | Re-elected chair by acclamation at committee reorganization |
| Shelley Farinato | Solid Waste Committee Vice-Chair / Commissioner | Elected | Elected vice-chair by acclamation at committee reorganization |
Laws and policies
| Citation / name | Level | Type | Context / topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution 1707 | County | Resolution | Sets the late-fee policy for delinquent solid-waste bills, including the $30 fee and daily accrual discussion |
| Resolution 2619 | County | Resolution | Created the new $120 commercial/industrial solid-waste fee per building or unit |
Chair, Commissioner Jordan requested that I call this meeting to order, call roll, and take nominations for chair. So I'm going to take roll. Commissioner Ferranado? Here. Nick Bentley? Here. Commissioner Essary? Here. Commissioner Giannakis? Here. Commissioner Jordan? Here. Commissioner Pickard? Here. Commissioner Anglin? Here. Alderman Bates? Here. Seven present, one absent. We have a quorum. First order of business is election of chairman. I'll open the floor for nominations. I'd like a nomination, Dusty Jordan. Second. Motion was made by Commissioner Giannakis, seconded by Commissioner Essary. I'll make a motion all nominations cease and we vote by acclamation. Commissioner Pickard makes a motion that nominations cease and Commissioner Jordan be elected by acclamation. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, Commissioner Jordan, you're elected chairman, as always. Next order of business is election of vice-chair. I'll open the floor for nominations for the vice-chairman. I'll make a nomination for Commissioner Ferranado. Second. Got a nomination, and you second? Mr. Anglin? Yes, Commissioner. Got a nomination, and you second for Mr. Ferranado for vice-chairman? Any other nominations? I'll make a motion all nominations cease and we vote by acclamation. Second. Motion's been made, all nominations cease, and Senator be elected by acclamation. All in favor say aye. Aye. He didn't vote for himself. I won't do that either. All right, we got the agenda in the packet. I'll take a second to look over it. Motion to approve the agenda. Motion to approve the agenda by Commissioner Giannopoli. Second. Second by Alderman Bates. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, now it's time for public comment session. We've got the usual characters in here. Unless you've got one coming in. Anybody wishing to address the college whiteboard? All right, we'll move on. Okay, the August minutes are in the packet. Very few of you were here to remember what happened. So, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. A motion to approve the minutes. Second. A motion and a second. Delegation? Yes. Did you get that, Jordan? Yes, sir. Okay. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. We'll move on to Jordan's portion of the reports. The first report is from the trustee's office. And it shows our, their report, which essentially reports our revenue, which was $352,705.11 in September. The page stapled to that one shows our net position for the year so far. And it shows that our cash position is $885,991.64. So, that is our total balance right now. What's the, get it on here. How many, how many have we gotten paid? What percent? 76% of people. Did you say that already? No. 76% paid their solid waste bill on time this year. Okay. Well, that's good. That's up. That's good compared to. It's about, yeah, it's about normal compared to last year. But, oh, the concern was that it would drop with the fee going up. And so, we're right there where we were. So, that's good news. When do you all know about those notices? The week, the first week of July. Are you talking about the solid waste bill? Yes. Yeah. Has commercial gone out? No. Yeah. I don't have a question on that. What'd you say? I got a question on the bills when they go out. If they're one day late, is it a standard policy of a $30 fee? It's a policy set by Resolution 1707. Okay. For everyone? Everyone. Okay. And it's $1 a day until the total bill reaches $180, which we get more complaints about that $30 fee than anything we do. Well, it's true across the board. I mean, that's what we got to do. Yeah. I will say that they can't come here like we've had situations where people's moved or built. Like the last lady, she had lived in Chattanooga, and she built a house here. And I'm on Frank's right. Yeah. And she moved into her house. Well, she didn't get the bill out of her house. It went to her address there and it was past the 40. So, you know. So you set aside that overage on that. Yeah, exactly. To pay right? Yeah. Yeah, it's not fair. I mean, she didn't realize it until she gets the notice that she's late, and then it's, you know, one of those situations. I understand. I wasn't there, but the committee before waived off late fees. Right. According to the manager. Yes. But that's a situation where we would, you know, if they come here and talk to us, depending on this committee can kind of decide that. Yeah, one of the factors I think y'all consider a lot is whether or not they've been late in the past. So if they have, then it's true. It's a common claim instead of it's just a one-time. Yeah. And in the last four years, one thing else we did was we actually had one year where we waived all fees, like all late fees if they would just catch up. And we got quite a few that caught up. So the 76% you said a while ago, so that still tells me you only got that amount of people paying regardless. 24%. It's not paid, right? Right. It was paid on time. We hadn't gained anything by getting those folks not to come on in and pay. Yeah. We haven't created an incentive for people to pay on time. That has taken, that has had a noticeable effect yet. Yeah. One of the things we did that to try to get people to resolve their exempt properties on time was to make them subject to a $30 late fee. And so if you have a home that you don't, and this is all stuff I'm going to talk about in the later report, but you have a home that is unoccupied, you're exempt from the solid waste fee. You don't pay anything. But a lot of people wait until the bill is late and then claim the exemption. And so last year we put together a resolution. I can't remember the resolution number, but the effect of the resolution was applying a penalty even to exempt properties if you don't resolve them on time. Because it just looks like an unpaid fee. Correct. Hit that one. What's the process of claiming an exemption on that? It's on the bill. You fill out some paperwork. You sign a, essentially swear that no one's going to live in the home for the year. That year. Yeah. And then there's another exemption, which is a low income exemption, which is if you're on fixed income and you meet certain thresholds with the trustee, you can pay half, so $55.01. So it's not an overbearing process that they would, it's just fill out paperwork and you're done. Correct. Yeah. It's on the bill. Actually, a lot of those are going to just flip the bill over, fill it out and mail it back. And if it's, you know, vacant, we don't pay. Have we got somebody checking them sometimes? No, we don't. For the most part. And it's about one eighth of our, this is 12.5%, which comes out to an eighth of the, of the invoice bills are exempted through that. One of those processes, either it's vacant or it's a low income, low income is verified by the, but you know, vacant an eighth of the invoices we send out is like about 1500 homes, which, and then, you know, that's, that's a lot of work. So, I mean, we can, we can, we can be interested in. Yeah. I had some time to do it. Yeah. I mean, like somebody working with the, so it's a tax assessor. Great. I've had, so we got some land and people used to live in this house and, you know, every year my wife would have to tell them I wanted assessor's office. I said, Hey, you know, what can we do? Cause nobody's going to ever live in this house, you know, unless I rebuild it and I'm not planning to do that. And they came down and looked at it and then they completely stopped that bill. You know, but every year we go in and nobody lives there, you know, and they, that sort of thing, but they can do something where it completely stops. You know, if it's still alive at that sort of time, house and stuff. I had a similar situation about the property next to me and actually tore the house down and kept getting solid waste with it and kept coming in and finally assessor's office took care of it. No way, solid waste wasn't getting to send out. I like yours, but he is Mr. Do not just go back and rebuild his and be already back in the play again before he got called. Right. Good. Yeah. Yeah, that could happen. I mean, absolutely. Yeah. But I mean, at some point in time, the assessor's going to see it. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was right on. People love my driveway a couple times. I thought, get out of my, get off my property. Okay. Perfect. You don't know. No, there's no questions for Jordan on this report. Which a lot of financial first is from the finance office, the last board from the trustee is from the finance service. It's essentially the same report. It just compares it to what we budgeted. And so right now we're about 25% through the year. You can see most of these budget lines are on track. You know, the commercial and industrial waste collection. That's what people pay went across the scales. But it also was the budget also included the commercial industrial fee that we're intending to send out in January. So that budget lines are on track yet. Another tipping fees includes tipping fees is pretty much on track. We intended we raise the rates. And so we have like a slight decrease in traffic. So, you know, I'd like to see that 25, but it's at 23 and a half. And then waste tire disposal. This revenue is tied to how many tires are sold in the county. So we get a dollar for every tire sold in the county. From the state. And so that's we've had so far this year, So far this year, 2,510 tires have been sold. Anyway, any questions on the revenue? Next one is a statement of expenditures and encumbrances. And an expenditure is something we've written a check for. An encumbrance is something we've done a PO for, but not paid yet. So it's like an open PO. Most of these line items are pretty much on track. Getting down to one that appears not to be on track is 336, which is our maintenance and repair line. And you see that we've spent 75% of this budget. I just wanted to come for you guys and let you know that there was several planned big expenses that we did that we planned in last year's budget that are the reason that's so hot. So we bought an undercarriage for our track hoe, and then we restored three of our dumpsters that were leaking trash water all over the place. And so those are two big expenses. And then we had one issue with our track hoe that was another big expense. So those are the three big projects that we've finished out. But we're still, if we keep our current pace, we're on track to not exceed our budget necessarily. And I've got our statement or account analysis for line 336 behind this one so you can see all the purchases we've made out of that. Out of that budget line. So you can see we have our track hoe that sends all the trash out of the county. But we had an issue with our radiator and turbocharger. And that was, you know, about $13,000. And then these compactor repairs that are like a highly visible thing to the public. So when they go to the convenience center, they're seeing like what looks like a brand new compactor that's not leaking. And so they can kind of, the intent of that was to, one, solve some of our compliance issues, but also to have something that's like highly visible on the site. So that's been, that's a result of the increase. I've seen them too, they look good. I mean, you've had somebody used apparently, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's a guy that lives in Cobble and he just loves restoring trash compactors. I think you know him a little bit. And then the other thing we had, we had some other bigger repairs there, you know, in the $1,000 to $2,000 ranges. Like we had to repair an idler on our track loader for the landfill. And some other issues with our loader engine that we did in-house. Anyway, I think that we're going to settle down on, yeah, services. We'll just get back to services. And then I made a mistake on one of your budget on line 348. Stamps cost 71 cents a piece, and we send out 11,000 bills. And I only budgeted $5,700 on that line, so that was a mistake on my part. So that'll be something to ask to get resolved before the end of the year. And probably have a little bit more than that for the commercial, too. Yes, and second notices. So, yeah. So any questions about the statement of expenses? All right. We've got two reports that report our tonnage. One for September, and then one right behind it for— We need a vote on that. Oh, yeah, sorry. A motion to approve the financial reports. A motion to approve. Commissioner Ginocchio's in second by Commissioner History. Any more questions before we vote? Just have a roll call vote since it's money. Shelley Ferenato. Yes. Nick Bentley. Tony Esri. Yes. Steve Ginocchio. Yes. Dusty Jordan. Yes. Devin Pickard. Yes. Steve Anglin. Yes. Becky Bates. Yes. All right. So, next one is our tonnage report. Class 1 waste is the material that we load into trailers at Skyview and ship to a landfill in another county. We had 1,239 tons of that. Class 3-4 waste is waste that—it's like old buildings and furniture that we bury in Hickman County. We received 320 tons of that. We recycled 1.7 tons of aluminum cans. We—well, we sold 1.7 tons of aluminum cans. We sold 77.94 tons of cardboard. We sold 24.37 tons of glass. Gave away 1.8 tons of oil to H&H Recycling. Didn't recycle any plastic this month. 18. Got it in August. We got 20 tons in August. 20 tons in August. You were caught up. Okay. Yeah, 20 tons in August. So, our recycling program is complete. One thing that is new for the commissioners that were on here last time is mixed recycling. And so, what this is, is we get a truck from waste management. And so, we bale stuff throughout the month. And there's some stuff that's really—like we have small volumes of that we don't have room to store. So, we don't have room to store 50 bales of plastic bottles and jugs together. And so, what we do is waste management has been willing to accept a load that includes like four or five bales of plastic bottles and jugs baled together and then fill the rest up with cardboard. And so, when I say we didn't recycle any plastic in September, we actually recycled six bales of plastic, but it was just on a mixed load. And we don't have a small scale to like weigh that separately. So, anyway, that's what that is.
This is so it's convenient. It helps us with like, you know, not having to have a big storage, not having to build additional storage. And get rid of some of the rougher cardboard, like I had a lot of paper mixed in with it. They're willing to take that too. So that's something new we kind of are starting out as a pilot program. And then the next one is nonferrous, which is all metals that don't stick to a magnet. So it's like batteries and brass and copper. And we do these in small batches, try to take one or two out a month, all that work, like parting everything up is done by inmates. They even do like televisions and circuit boards and stuff. And so in September, we did, you know, 1.7 tons. And then in August, we had 2.94 tons. But the revenue from that little program is, you know, almost equal to like cardboard, you know, even though we do 77 tons of cardboard, the brass and copper have so much such higher value that we're getting the revenue. But the trade off is we don't get the like, every ton of car that 77 tons of cardboard made, you know, you know, $7,700 roundabout way a little bit more than that, but also reduced our disposal costs by, you know, $3,500, where we don't get, we may have made $7,700 on the nonferrous, but we didn't get the diverse, you got one ton of diversion. So it has a less impact per ton on the budget in terms of diversion, because we just don't do as much of it. And diversion is sending stuff away from the class one landfill. So where, where it goes to class one landfill, we have to pay by the time to waste management. If we divert it, we don't pay waste management. And a lot of times we get paid for the material. So and I define that separately from recycling. Because the state counts everything we bury in Hickman County as diversion, even though it's not being recycled. So that's why we have one for diversion that includes our class three, four landfill, and we have a separate one for recycling that includes everything else that was repurposed, instead of disposed of. Probably clear as mud. Yeah, that's what's going on there. That class three, you think it's decreasing? I mean, it's 320 versus 412 last year. Yes. People are finding another hole by put some of that stuff in Well, I think that people are not, we're no longer the lowest price landfill in the region. Yeah. So before we were the cheapest option. Like Williamson County, Murray County, Dixon, we're the cheapest. That's not no longer true. And what we're seeing less of is not. We're seeing the same amount of small trucks and stuff but we're seeing less of these big roll off. Because those businesses, you know, they just run the numbers like anybody else. And they're like, you know, we got the sign up there that says we can't take out county waste. But like, just the way to do that is to raise the price. And I think that you're down the line, we might look in, if y'all be open to it is something along where we have, you know, if it's on a roll off truck, it's a certain rate. And if you're in a pickup truck, it's a lower rate to kind of, you know, help with what you were talking about. Yeah, help with individuals that are remodeling and having to pay the same price versus somebody that's got to be Yeah. Yeah. But not really not a whole lot of complaints about it. Because, you know, it's going from like, you know, like 20 bucks to $35. And people do it so infrequently, like the people that are cleaning up, they're doing a remodel, they don't do a remodel every year. Yeah. So anyway, then down here, this is a breakdown of our convenience centers, we could call the transfer station, the convenience center, that has the most waste, that's where a lot of that includes like the city's waste that 995 times. Then our remote sites like East four way Pinewood and shady Grove. East is the busiest by far. Four ways, you know, four way Pinewood and shady Grove real kind of usually stay below 35 tons a month. Any thoughts on the All right, the next one is my director's report. We have Columbus day coming up, which is Monday, October 12. To the state holiday. And then the next meeting will be November 2, Monday, November 2. I'm to you on the report is about our class one landfill, which is where where we bury furniture and houses. I've got two surveys behind here. It's kind of hard to read. This time last year, we had 76,858 cubic yards of space remaining in our landfill. And this year we have 67,803 so we've consumed 8000 cubic yards of waste of space and have 67 remaining. So that comes out to about five to six years of space. There's a little bit of a fudge factor on that because some of these like bills on the side are like six inches, but it'll be like an acre and that's kind of impossible to, you know, smash a treadmill up enough to like, too much space on the side of slopes. Five to six years is what we're looking at. We just got a compactor from the sheriff's office, which is going to be wonderful. We've been using that like crazy. You don't difference. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it smashes it up. So before with the track machine, you kind of just float over top of the waste of that compactor, it's built to shred the waste and, and pulverize it into small pieces. It doesn't have a cab. So we're looking at ways to use obviously really dusty in the landfill when you drive through all this stuff. So looking at ways to put a cab on it to kind of improve operator condition breathing. Yes. So right now I'm the one that I'm mostly in the one that operates it somewhere a scarf and goggles and I still get covered and look like a crazy person and get covered. Yeah, one of those. What's that? Do we have one of those or two of those? Yeah, I think there's two. Yeah, sure. Got to we only have one at the site though. Yeah, and they're real low hour machines to like, like the one we have is like 1500 hours. So, you know, it'd be like a car with it's like 7,000 miles on it. Like that's kind of how that works out. That's one able to put more didn't make it more dense was what you were saying, right? Like, yeah, so we can get more per what's left. Yeah. Yeah. So if we don't do, you know, we've got five to six years left. But if we were really good about compaction, get everything dialed in, you know, you could expand that to, you know, possibly 10 years. You know, we're getting charged a ton to get rid of it. Get rid of the waste at our landfill. What are we charged by waste management? Yes. $52 89 cents in $1.25 of that goes to the state. We've got a five year contract with waste management. We're charging how much time to bring in the public to our site $100 a time. Yeah, which is definitely about high, but we're trying to conserve the intent of that was to conserve space in our class one landfill, and also balance our budget last year. We need to get an engineer for to get a permit. So we need to wait landfill works is the state permits us an area to landfill. And the process to get the permit, you have to characterize the soul and depth of water. It's like a big ordeal. Like how deep is water? What's the soil like between the water and the surface? And will like this area that you're proposing to landfill pollute. And so previously, at the recommendation of our prior engineer, Joe house, who is retired now, he said it was barge design. So I got a proposal from him. And we got pretty far along with him. And I'm still open to using using them. But we never saw the alternate option. And my wife works at bars design solutions. So I thought, you know, the new committee, it's only fair that y'all know that, and that we have a second alternate. And so they're supposed to have a Smith gardener, Smith gardener, who's like, a very good engineer, and they're specialists in landfills. And so they're sending us an proposal is supposed to be today. It's not coming. So often, when they're supposed to be here today. So I think even on this agenda here. Now, if you have to, so they've not completed the proposal, we should get it in two weeks. So at the next meeting, I'd like to go make that decision. So anyway, we're working on that. Perry County is transitioning out of our transfer station. They signed a contract with waste they signed a contract with waste solutions. And it's a 10 year contract where they're paying 4925 per time to dispose of their waste. So they've got a better disposal rate than we do now, which is big news, because we had a pretty good disposal rate. And so that's kind of getting everybody all the directors kind of looking at Perry County being like, what are they doing? You know, how's that? What's waste solutions doing for them? So in the way solutions guy came and talked to me after we had, you know, kind of gone through our last before when Jim base was still mayor. And after we had signed a contract with waste management. And so it's something to keep an eye on, like right now our waste is entitled to waste management, which means that we if they park it in a parking lot, it is, it's no longer are, you know, if they don't do what they're supposed to do, they're liable for it. They take it. Yes, they own it after they leave our site. So that's that's something if we ever do get into bidding out our disposal contract, which is maybe not a horrible idea that we be sure to include in the specs is like entitling our trash to the waste hauler. I think it's five years. How long was that? Five years, but it's a contract extension. So five year contract. I may, let me check on that and send y'all an email. It may be three years. But that's the single most that's the largest bill I believe the county single bill, you know, we have health insurance is obviously a bigger cost, but I think the invoice to waste management every month is one of our biggest bills. And yeah, we're right there, we pay less than Williamson County and, and Murray County. But yeah, we that is one contract that we need to pay attention to. So Perry County transitioned out, we anticipated when we did our budget last year, they brought in their waste this first quarter. And so we have $71,095.33 of unallocated revenue in that budget line. And my suggestion would be to move $56,000 to the waste My suggestion would be to move $56,441.57 to the disposal line to cover their disposal, which cover their what we paid to dispose of their trash, and then their remaining this can be assigned to another line or remain unallocated. Did we not have the money in there to pay for that disposal? When the budget was said we didn't budge for it. Yeah, we budget just for our trash. Yeah, we know to continue but we didn't know when it was going to end. So yeah. We knew it'd be covered by by their by their invoices. And so we knew we'd have unallocated revenue we could put back on our disposal line. I'm just giving you guys a heads up. I think I'm with I don't have a budget. Take that to Crystal. Y'all heads up. Y'all might see it at the budget meeting. It's really nice. But it's not something we got to make a move on anyway to close. We don't have to make a move on it to closer towards the end of the year to see how much money we got in that line. It's gonna be make sure they're good. They're well gone before you I think that's smart. Just sit there in Atlanta still likes to do things really be on top of it and not forget and make sure like everything lines up. You know, she's very, very detailed like that. All right, and this is one I might need to get money to vote on. So PDEC recycling grant, we intend to buy for 234 cubic yard self contained compactors and stationary compactor receiver box for the East convenience center. The purpose of the intent of this request to the state is to increase capacity for plastic and cans on site. So kind of increasing storage on site to reduce trucking. So yeah, it's like a, you know, it's a logistical improvement that you know, we can't really justify with our own capital, but the state can help us out on that get trucking down by a factor of six or eight. We did this for cardboard at East and it was like, very successful. So we went from making like seven or eight trips a week to, you know, one about every one and a half weeks we make a trip out there. So you need something I'll write you to go ahead and apply for that grant. Yes. Yes, the most much allowed to apply for the grant. So I got a motion by Mr. Esri and a second by Commissioner Jim not just any discussion. So you got to take cans. I mean, you're gonna have people don't can right in there and you're gonna just just like you do the cardboard and trash right now. Yeah, I like it. And the plastic to you. So yeah, plastic to Bob, all plastic or plastic bottles and jugs. Like, we have a couple of inmates right now that are exceptional at cleaning up cardboard, or cleaning up plastic. And so they've got experience from another county. And they're doing wonderful cleaning up the training. So we're hoping to kind of keep that knowledge. It's a little difficult because they're trustees, but keep that knowledge in house, you know, have one train the next one on how to do it, but they've got system down. And so we're poor, we are real particular about, you know, having big coats and stuff in there. That's not a bigger problem now that we've got some trustees that know what they're doing. Yeah, I was just curious. That's great. I like it. There's a lot of cans that going up there. I can tell. Yeah, I dropped mine off. It's a bunch. The cans are one pound per pound are one of the best things to recycle in terms of budget impact. Any other discussion or questions? All in favor for a to allow Jordan to go in and apply for the grant. 20% match total $111,500.40. Total equipment cost with our match would be $22,300. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Go ahead, Jordan. The current year's building status. So we've ended the first quarter of fiscal year 27. And that means that it's always bills or if you haven't paid it, it's not delinquent. So 76% of bills were resolved on time. Last year, 77% are resolved in time. And revenue, because the fee is higher than it was last year, revenue is up 22%. And then fiscal year 26, which is, you know, ended in at the end of June, 90.23% of household solid waste invoices were resolved at the end of the fiscal year. And when I say resolved, I mean, either the exemption was claimed, or it was paid. And then an eighth of the amount of the invoiced amount was exempted because it was vacant for as part time rental or an income, like an income based exemption. And then item seven is at the end of last fiscal year, we obtained judgments on approximately 30 delinquent accounts that all had $2,000 to $4,500 known paid solid waste fees. And the we took them to court, we either entered into a payment plan with them, and if they were unwilling to do that.
We did, we said well if you can't do the payment plan then we're gonna pursue a judgment against you and they said that's okay. The judge calls that a voluntary judgment and so as opposed to an involuntary judgment where we have one of, it's like I think this is unjustified, the whole basis of the fee is unjustified, I'm not agreeing to anything, that would be involuntary judgment and there's only one of the 60 or 70 people we took to court, that was an involuntary judgment. The point I'm trying to make is that these judgments provide the county authority to garnish wages or seize property to, as restitution for those unpaid fees. So the process of doing this will involve the lawyer and fees associated with that, so if it's intended as committee then I will get quotes or get a kind of an estimated budget from Sarah Nash who has helped us out on this to start doing that, but let me bring y'all a kind of a budget for that. You talking about for collection of the delinquent? For collection of the judgments. So we've taken the delinquents to court and received judgments and so what's left is garnishing wages or seizing property. You can go after him. So I'll bring y'all a budget for that next hearing. What we had to run into was the judge was costing us more than what we were getting, so we weren't really gaining anything when we first started doing that. So I'm going to bring us a budget and see what it looks like for Sarah to continue this. That's what we're doing right now. We're not doing a whole bunch at one time like we did. But it also sends a message that you're not just going to be out here not doing anything. So it's kind of a lesson. They didn't do anything to mine. Who's serving them? Sarah Nash, she's an attorney. She's came and spoke to us a couple of times. We're new, we don't know all these things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was actually Key Star, that's who Sarah is. So Dan Mecklenburg, the former county attorney, didn't really know much about this kind of process. And so he brought on Sarah to help out. And she's committed to staying on if we need her to pursue these judgments. So have we got a new county attorney yet? That's a question for the mayor. So this might be another time. Well, I think she was just wanting to help solve ways. But I know I talked to the mayor about it. I think he's got some options potentially. Number eight is a new commercial industrial solid waste fee. That's ordered by Resolution 2619. It applies a $120 solid waste fee for each building or unit on a commercial or industrial zone property. So there's about 400 of them somewhere in there. And obviously we're going to, if they're exempt from taxes, they're going to be exempt from this. And I've got a big list of the businesses put up by districts. So you have like an idea. I don't have much information. It's just like a parcel. All right. I'm done. All right. Anybody got anything? One thing about, just for the guys that are new, there's a spot out there by the solid wastes. Do you want to talk to them about that? We have been trying for about 12 years to get the FAA land beside the landfill. We had it once when Marshall Blackman was our house member. And then that kind of went squarely. And then we were working on it with Mark Green. And he went squarely. And then we got... We had Matt. We had met with him. And he was on board with it in every district. And now we have... It was going to be either Ogles or Hatcher. Hatcher won the primary. Ogles had been in to talk to us about it. Made all kinds of promises. I don't know how much paperwork they got done. But now Charlie Hatcher, if he wins in November, and I've already talked with Charlie about it, to help us with the federal government to get our two senators on board. Whoever they may be. I don't want to be haggardy, but whoever Marshall Blackman appoints, if she's elected governor, it will be her if she's not elected governor. Did everybody understand that? Or is it just me babbling? Is that going to be additional property that we will be able to bury after we get through this five to ten year period? Like I said, we've been working on it for about 12 years now. Hopefully we'll be able to get something done. But it takes our representative in Washington to start pushing the buttons up there. And it's a federal issue, since it's federal land. So hopefully we'll get it done this time, because I'm about ready to retire from that. It's been going on longer than 12 years, too. Yeah, it has. It's going to be hard to get those FAA. But it's not any use to them, apparently. And Jordan's done a lot of work on it. I think we've got all the information we need. We just need to get somebody in place that will help us. And Charlie Asher is committed to do that if he's elected. And in this district, of course, we're a district, so you don't know what's going to happen. Anybody got anything else? I'll take a motion to adjourn, then.