Hanna landfill closed

Back in the beginning of June, there was serious concern that the Hanna landfill, run by the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB), was in danger of not being ready for closure.

Trash piled high throughout the dump during that time and it did not look feasible that all the trash could be buried in time to meet the deadline for closing the dump in accordance to Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requirements. The closure had been in the works for over a decade.

It was difficult through the month of June but, HCJPB and the municipalities of Elk Mountain, Hanna and Medicine Bow pulled together and the landfill was able to close and get ready for DEQ’s reclamation of the land.

HCJPB met for their regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. on December 3 at the Hanna Town Hall to report success had been achieved in the reclamation of the Hanna landfill.

The agenda was approved and the next order of business was to acknowledge Lois Buchanan as a board member representing Hanna. With Buchanan joining, all three north county mayors are now on the board.

The agenda and minutes for the October 1 regularly scheduled meeting were approved. The November 5 regularly scheduled meeting did not have a quorum, so October’s meeting minutes could not be approved.

Marcia Beals, a Hanna representative told the board they still had no one to do the well testing.

Karen Heath, town clerk/treasurer for Medicine Bow, was in the audience and said she was a licensed water operator. Chairman Toby Smith said that was positive news, but any person in charge of testing the well had to be approved by DEQ.

Smith then gave some welcome news.

“The landfill is all done,” Smith said. “The wells are in for checking the methane. It is all done. There is still a little bit of cleaning up to do, but it is mostly all done.”

Sharon Biamon, Medicine Bow representative, asked what was left to do. Smith said there were some trucks still on the property, some piping and a little bit of trash that needs to be taken out by a dumpster.

The board then went over financials and approved them.

Ann Calvert, bookkeeper for the board, gave them Tri-Hyrdo’s bill to be paid in the amount of $234,946.86. Calvert said she was waiting for grant monies from State Lands Investment Board (SLIB). Calvert said SLIB did not have original documents and, because of the quarantine, workers were away from the office. She has copies of the grant documents and signatures indicating that SLIB received them. Calvert told the board she would be talking to SLIB in the week to come to straighten out the situation.

“They are way behind in their paperwork,” Calvert said. “They owe us $200,000 for the truck, another $14,000 for the $21,000 we paid, they us $36,000 for engineering and another $53,000 for engineering. I have done everything I can except cry or scream. I understand COVID has changed some things, but it is difficult.”

Morgan Irene, representative from Elk Mountain, said she had done all that she could.

Larry Korkow, director of Hanna public works, said the trash trucks and bulldozer were in need of serious repair. He pointed out the repair expenses were prohibitive on some vehicles, but that the loader might be worth $10,000.

Irene made the motion to table selling the equipment until the town of Hanna could discuss the purchase at their next town council coming up on December 8. Biamon gave the second and the motion was passed.

The trucks that are at the dump will be put up for bid.

The trailer will be moved closer to the gate and will be shared with the town of Hanna and HCJPB.

Calvert said she wanted to submit her resignation. Smith asked her to wait until the January meeting. She agreed to wait.

“Once the grants are closed, and I should have it done by January, you won’t need me,” Calvert said. “We are done.”

She said everyone had been paid except Tri-Hydro and that was waiting on grant money which said should be completed soon.

“Everyone else is paid and we are done,” Smith said. “Soon we will only be meeting every three months, just to make sure all the monitoring is going well.”

The next scheduled meeting is at 6 p.m. on Jan 7 at the Medicine Bow Community Center.