HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Selectmen Minutes January 13, 2009_2014020616121454301
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Minutes of the Meeting of 13 January 2009. The meeting took place in the Conference Room,
Town and County Building, 16 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554. Members of the Board present
were Rick Atherton, Allen Reinhard, and Patricia Roggeveen. Chairman Michael Kopko and Brian
Chadwick were absent. Vice-chairman Roggeveen called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM.
Town Manager C. Elizabeth Gibson reviewed a letter to the Federal Minerals Management Service
that had been sent to the Board last week by the Save Our Sound (SOS) group regarding the
circulation of the final environmental impact statement for Cape Wind’s Nantucket Sound wind farm
project. SOS has contacted Ms. Gibson requesting that the Board’s letter be executed and sent
today as the Report was due to be released tomorrow. Mr. Reinhard moved to sign and send the
letter to the Minerals Management Service; Mr. Atherton seconded. All in favor, so voted.
Vice-chairman Roggeveen said she met last Friday with the Town’s solid waste consultant George
Aronson and Whitney Hall from Waste Options Nantucket (WON) at the WON office in Easton, MA.
She said that the WON discussions need to start becoming public and at the Board’s 14 January
meeting she will give a brief update on where they are with WON and associated landfill issues.
Mr. Aronson reviewed a rough, conceptual diagram of the landfill and summarized mandated
landfill closure issues. He said the immediate requirement, per the Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP), is the closure of an area titled “1-C” which has to be closed by 1 June 2009 in
accordance with an administrative consent order with DEP. Mr. Aronson discussed contractual
issues relating to the landfill closure, including cost responsibilities. Some discussed also followed
regarding the outcome of arbitration between the Town and WON in 2007 as related to landfill
closure issues. Mr. Aronson reviewed the types of residuals that can and cannot be disposed of in
the landfill. Mr. Aronson said each type of residuals have different regulatory requirements. He said
it is important that the Board know what kind of residuals are being talked about as the process
goes forward. Mr. Willett said as a point of reference that cell 2A had an estimated lifetime of 5-7
years, but when construction on the island increased, space in the constructed cell was filled within
only two and a half years. Mr. Aronson reviewed the different cells, scenarios, and life spans for the
base case as well as a proposed plan for accelerated landfill mining. Vice-chairman Roggeveen
said there are two policy objectives: 1) the reclamation of the cells for land use and 2) the single-
source aquifer and the fact that there are two cells that are unlined and uncapped and said she
advocates for getting the environmental piece cleaned up. Mr. Aronson said the concept is to mine
now, create new space, and defer mandated closure. Mr. Leon said mining is a voluntary Town
decision to essentially avoid the cost of closure by creating new lined landfill cells in lieu of a
traditional closure. He said the Town has two long term options: 1) close the unlined landfill and
end up with “dead space”, or 2) create new lined space. Some discussion occurred regarding the
need for contractual revisions with WON in order to proceed with the accelerated mining proposal.
Mr. Willett noted that there is real value – “gold” – in the soil that could be mined from the landfill
and used to construct new lined cells, over time. Mr. Aronson said he would like to get a
conceptual plan for an extended reclamation schedule to the DEP by the end of January in order to
push back the June closure date. Vice-chairman Roggeveen said the Board needs to get the
message out there that protecting the aquifer is a public benefit to the cost of mining. Some
discussed followed as to the solid waste enterprise fund budget, potential accelerated mining costs
and potential revenue sources. Discussion then ensued about whether or not to license
commercial haulers and how to go about doing so. Pay-as-you-throw and landfill vehicle stickers
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were also discussed. Mr. Rice said it is important for the public to understand that if people vote for
an override vs. a sticker fee, an override will be needed again and again as the structural problem
is not being addressed.
The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 12:29 PM.
Approved the 22nd day of April, 2009.