***Monday, June 17, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., Commissioners met in regular session with Chairman Tim Bertling, Commissioner Wally Cossairt, Commissioner Ben Robertson, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.

Commissioners said the Pledge of Allegiance.

9:30 a.m., County Civil Attorney Bill Wilson joined the meeting.

Clerk Poston and Commissioners discussed a tax cancellation associated with Avista going back to 2020.

Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve a tax cancellation for Avista for the following amounts and years: $11,626.07 for year 2020, $11,542.84 for year 2021 and $13,842.29 for year 2022. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

Attorney Wilson said he will review the National Opioid Settlement document prior to Commissioners signing it. Attorney Wilson updated Commissioners on issues with the Riverside Road Improvement project involving landowners. Commissioners approved Attorney Wilson reaching out to a consultant to discuss this matter.

Attorney Wilson said when the State of Idaho takes over public defender services, there will be a change in the funding mechanism for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Commissioners and Attorney Wilson discussed the possibility putting an opinion poll on a ballot in order to get the public’s opinion as to what the public would want for Planning and Zoning enforcement. Commissioners could also call for a survey, according to Attorney Wilson. Commissioners and Attorney Wilson briefly discussed private property rights.

The meeting with Attorney Wilson ended at 10:25 a.m.

10:25 a.m., Commissioner Cossairt moved to recess as Boundary County Board of Commissioners and convene as the Boundary County Ambulance Service District Governing Board. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve the minutes for the Boundary County Ambulance Service District Governing Board for May 20, 2024. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

10:27 a.m., Commissioner Cossairt moved to adjourn as the Boundary County Ambulance Service District Governing Board and reconvene as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the deeds for properties sold at the county’s tax deeded property auction. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

10:30 a.m., Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative (KVRI) Facilitator Theresa Wheat joined the meeting to update Commissioners on KVRI business. Ms. Wheat reviewed topics to be discussed at this evening’s KVRI meeting.

The meeting with Ms. Wheat ended at 10:42 a.m.
Commissioner Robertson moved to sign the Surface and Overhead Avigation Easement Purchase Agreement and associated documents for Boundary County Airport. Commissioner Cossairt second. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Robertson moved to sign the Commercial Hangar-Ground Lease Agreement for Hangar E2. Commissioner Cossairt second. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Cossairt moved to approve Commissioners’ meeting minutes of June 10 & 11, 2024. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioners rescheduled their conference call with Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Environmental Program Manager Karen Schumacher to next Monday, June 24th.

11:00 a.m., Solid Waste Department Superintendent Richard Jenkins stopped by Commissioners’ Office. Commissioners informed Mr. Jenkins that they had to reschedule their conference call with Ms. Schumacher. Commissioners asked Mr. Jenkins about the ability to place a bear proof dumpster at Deep Creek boat launch.

Mr. Jenkins left the meeting at 11:15 a.m.

Commissioners recessed for lunch.

1:30 p.m., Commissioners reconvened for the afternoon session with Chairman Tim Bertling, Commissioner Wally Cossairt, Commissioner Ben Robertson, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.

1:30 p.m., Road and Bridge Department Superintendent Brad Barton and Assistant Adam Ryals joined the meeting to give the department report. Mr. Ryals presented a written report and those present reviewed the work being done as listed in the report.

Mr. Ryals commented on the Naples Bridge getting hit again. Commissioners asked about having before and after pictures of the bridge. Mr. Barton said that Collins Engineering was just up to do a bridge inspection, so they have pictures from before the damage. Mr. Barton said he should have both before and after pictures soon. Mr. Ryals discussed needing a report for this damage, because it creates a record showing the history of this being a hazard, which can help with grant funding to improve the bridge.

Mr. Ryals discussed matters pertaining to the Riverside Road Improvement Project and he said he will have documents that need to be signed next week. Those present discussed the crusher and how much rock and chips can be produced.

1:57 p.m., Property owner John Martling joined the meeting.

Mr. Ryals and Mr. Barton updated Commissioners on a claim as a result of one of the Road and Bridge’s trucks allegedly backing into a vehicle.

The meeting with Mr. Barton and Mr. Ryals ended at 2:05 p.m.

Mr. Martling informed Commissioners he is going to apply for a rezone. Mr. Martling added that when he received a letter two years ago informing him that he would be denied a permit, the he was told that he would be allowed a refund for the initial applications, but now he’s being told that he’s not entitled to a refund and he would need to have that request approved by Commissioners. Chairman Bertling said he has no problem with issuing Mr. Martling a refund. Mr. Martling mentioned the application fee for a conditional use permit is now $500 and the cost for two residential placement permits is $400.00. The old permits were $100.00 and the prior fee for a conditional use permit was $250.00. Mr. Martling said the amount of the refund he would be due is $350.00, until Planning and Zoning changed their mind. Commissioner Robertson also agreed to the $350.00 refund. Chairman Bertling said he would let Planning and Zoning know to issue the refund.

Mr. Martling left the meeting at 2:11 p.m.

Commissioner Robertson moved to approve the three-year agreement with Amazon Web Services. Commissioner Cossairt second. Motion passed unanimously.

There being no further business, the meeting recessed until tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

***Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., Commissioners met in regular session at the County Annex with Chairman Tim Bertling, Commissioner Wally Cossairt, Commissioner Ben Robertson, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser.

Commissioners held an elected officials/department heads meeting. Present were: Chairman Tim Bertling, Commissioner Wally Cossairt, Commissioner Ben Robertson, Clerk Glenda Poston, Deputy Clerk Michelle Rohrwasser, Planning and Zoning Administrator Ben Jones, Veterans Service Officer Ron Self, Assessor Olivia Drake, University of Idaho Extension Educator Amy Robertson, Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid, Personnel Director Pam Barton, Noxious Weeds Department Superintendent Dave Wenk, Solid Waste Department Superintendent Richard Jenkins, Emergency Manager Andrew O’Neel, Road and Bridge Department Superintendent Brad Barton, and Road and Bridge Assistant Adam Ryals.

Commissioners went around the room for department updates.

Mr. Barton informed everyone that TC Energy has their gas pipeline project and they’re going to put in a detour just north of French Point Road on the 24th of June through the 27th.

The elected officials/department heads meeting ended at 9:20 a.m.

Commissioner Cossairt moved to sign the replat for Don Bartling and Steve Mahany. Commissioner Robertson second. Motion passed unanimously.

9:30 a.m., Solid Waste Department Superintendent Richard Jenkins and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Solid Waste Program Manager Matt Beeter and Analyst Dean Kinney joined the meeting to discuss task orders and the Compliance Agreement Schedule.

Mr. Beeter explained the reason for the meeting being that he wanted to be available to answer Commissioners’ questions and discuss options for the landfill. Mr. Beeter explained that the state is telling the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that they need to have ARPA funds allocated by this fall and if they’re not, the funds will be taken back and split up. Mr. Beeter said ARPA funds designated for solid waste totals $7,000,000.00, so he wants to keep as much of that as possible. These funds don’t have to be spent, but they do have to be allocated. A DEQ Task Order will be drafted, then another Task Order will be done after that and it will list the actual construction costs for ground water monitoring wells and other items, such as an alternative analysis. For the first Task Order it may take three months to get the information needed. Mr. Beeter said if there is any opportunity to maximize the amount of funding for Boundary County, he wants to do that.

Chairman Bertling said Commissioners have talked about the wood pile and the ability to put it into the pit, and he questioned why the county couldn’t grind the wood, mix it and use it for cover? Mr. Beeter said there is probably a way to do that, but it has to meet a number of purposes. You wouldn’t want just wood itself, so it would need to be mixed. DEQ can take this proposal and do an analysis. A similar example was given about tires and needing to have a 50/50 mix. Mr. Beeter said it is something that would probably work. Mr. Beeter said DEQ is actually trying to save the county money instead of the county going through the trouble of shredding and having cost the of a shredder and manpower. The county could instead try to figure a way to start planning and saving long term for what needs done in the future. It was asked how much of the wood pile can be safely thrown into the landfill at one time under the Task Order? It was said to give staff specific instructions as to how much wood can be put into the landfill and then it doesn’t take the manpower and shredding and it will leave the 20 tons per day. Mr. Beeter suggested forgetting about the Compliance Agreement Schedule and in exchange, there will be time to see what develops in the area. The original draft of the Compliance Agreement Schedule shows not doing an analysis until five to seven years from now. DEQ is trying to guarantee the county’s use of the existing landfill for a pretty significant period of time in exchange for heading off difficulty down the road when it is clear that it is time to move on from the landfill. DEQ wanted to really focus on the ground water project and not turn the county off by the bigger, difficult problem to solve. Commissioner Robertson said if we’re talking about wood chips, even for the next 10 years, we will still need chips for the daily cover. The sand and dirt will be difficult to come by and if we’re not going to utilize it, we will be in a difficult situation either way.

Mr. Beeter said there is a basic formulation for commercial and demolition and DEQ could probably work with those and get those improved. Mr. Jenkins said if we have a 50/50 mix, the county has probably approximately 46,000 cubic yards of material. With that, since the pile is dirty, is that still acceptable to chip and grind to use or does it have to be green? Mr. Beeter said no, if the county can use material as a component of daily cover, it doesn’t need to be green since it’s going into the landfill. Chairman Bertling said there is a local person who could do the chipping and grinding and he added that he’s looking at having this person take the pile down enough and stockpile chips. Mr. Kinney said if there is 50% soil mixed with wood waste, what is the time frame to use wood as daily cover? Mr. Jenkins said probably a few months. In the past, it’s taken one-quarter and one-third up to one month to grind that size of pile. The county is looking at grinding a section of the wood pile, so the air burner would have a spot to sit. The amount of cover needed depends on the amount of garbage the landfill receives. Mr. Jenkins said it would possibly be approximately 80 yards, but it depends on the thickness of garbage and how much has been compacted.

Chairman Bertling asked about differences between another landfill where they don’t use a daily cover. This other landfill crushes the garbage to a certain height and once it’s full, they will cover it. Mr. Beeter said that is a landfill that operates 24/7. Chairman Bertling asked if there are any available funds for grinding wood as opposed to water monitoring. Mr. Beeter said ARPA funds are limited to groundwater protection. There is a connection, though, but it’s just whether that is tight enough for DEQ to be comfortable with. Mr. Beeter said he doesn’t know, but he thinks it’s there, as all activities at a landfill are connected to ground water quality, but he would have to sell that. Air quality may be receiving funds associated with greenhouse gases, so composting could potentially qualify. If that money becomes available, DEQ will reach out and let facilities know. Chairman Bertling asked if the air burner making biochar counts? Mr. Beeter said he doesn’t know and he added for certain projects, DEQ will need to have precalculated numbers for composting.

Chairman Bertling said for the wood pile, if a you grind enough wood to make space for the air curtain, why couldn’t a person go through the pile using a mini-excavator to pick out clean wood and throw the dirty wood off to the side? Mr. Beeter said he thinks they can, but how much money and personnel will it take? The county can still go through the wood pile and sort it, but when DEQ looks at the pile and sees the effort, it’s a big project. It will be a time-consuming project. Commissioner Robertson said grinding as much wood as possible to use as a top cover gives the ability to work into the air curtain. Just filling the hole doesn’t make sense. Mr. Beeter questioned how quickly can the county deal with the issues, since the wood pile and having a fill plan/stormwater management plan are the two big issues. Mr. Beeter said to put the waste down in a way that will shed as much storm water as possible to reduce the risk to groundwater. If you look, the way it is now, there is no distinction between stormwater and leachate. The filling of the landfill is not being done in such a way that the water is stormwater and the other water falling somewhere else is leachate. With an unlined landfill, you want to keep that open area as small as possible. It’s a challenge. Mr. Jenkins is doing a good job at learning the knowledge necessary to put that together, but the landfill usually relies on professionals and just implements the plan. It’s important for unlined landfills. Mr. Jenkins said that is where an engineered fill plan is crucial. In the draft Compliance Agreement Schedule, DEQ will pay for that and there will be a certain time frame. There are three or four things in the draft Task Order that the fill plan will entail. It will list a time frame and address getting to a certain height. Slopes are needed and that will be calculated and a final foot print will be determined for height and slopes. Chairman Bertling said with a 10-year time frame, the concern is getting enough funding to do what is needed to be done in 10 years. If the county has to go to a transfer station, that is a concern. Mr. Beeter said he totally understands. A Compliance Agreement Schedule is a framework. Mr. Beeter said he can’t imagine there being a situation where after five or six years DEQ will sue the county as a result of this agreement. If the agreement is not being fulfilled, DEQ could address whatever underlined violations are a concern. It was said the thought was that annual meetings were required for the purpose of seeing how the county is doing. Mr. Beeter said if we got to year eight and there were no good opportunities, we will have to figure out some way to find a solution. Chairman Bertling said the information does state, “should” have annual meetings, but not being required to.

Mr. Beeter said if we enter into a Task Order, DEQ will be in communication and we need to be on the same page. If we go forward with both the groundwater work and the Compliance Agreement Schedule, DEQ will be in pretty constant contact. Mr. Beeter said if DEQ took the Compliance Agreement Schedule off the table and proceeded with the Task Order for groundwater work, but then had a series of compliance issues to deal with, DEQ and the county could have an informal agreement at first to see if the county could deal with the wood pile in eight months and provide DEQ with a plan and schedule of some sort. If that couldn’t be fulfilled, DEQ would probably go to a Consent Order, which is similar to a Compliance Agreement Schedule. The Consent Order will stipulate the penalties. Mr. Beeter said DEQ would probably not charge a penalty, but they probably would provide the county with another opportunity. The whole purpose is to try to keep the landfill being run tightly. Mr. Beeter said ultimately, it’s the County that pays the price. DEQ takes a relatively soft approach and they do apply pressure, but it is up to the County. It would take a really long time before any kind of really hard enforcement would take place on something like this. Commissioner Robertson said he likes the alternative and he likes the Task Order with groundwater monitoring. It’s a no brainer and Commissioners need to know what is occurring. The Task Order and Compliance Agreement Schedule are separate issues. Commissioner Robertson said he would like to look at alternatives for the wood waste pile for the next month or two and find a grinding solution. Mr. Beeter said to get the groundwater testing started, DEQ will still get to where the final dollars are on the Task Order when it is needed. If something else resolves itself in the meantime, we can still add to the Task Order. Chairman Bertling said Ben Jarvis with DEQ can always go back and work on the Compliance Agreement Schedule. The urgency is the wells. Mr. Beeter said the hope is that everything is fine. Commissioner Robertson said he agreed with a Task Order and to move ahead. The Compliance Agreement Schedule can be worked out. Chairman Bertling said once the County gets the air curtain, Commissioners will know more, but we need to make room for it and get it working correctly to see how much of the wood pile can be used. Mr. Beeter asked about there being more thorough sorting and a way the County can avoid diverting the wood twice, but Chairman Bertling said the landfill doesn’t have enough room. Mr. Beeter asked if there is another County location in which to divert people to place the clean wood waste. Chairman Bertling said that would still be diverting twice. Chairman Bertling said the issue with grinding the wood beforehand is trucking it to St. Maries. In this case, it would be having a grinder come to the landfill. Mr. Beeter said we just need a plan for the chips and keeping piles in a certain size, which is probably listed in the fire code. Mr. Beeter said he will focus on getting the Task Order in place and if they can figure something out in the interim before last Task Order sometime in October, they can list a fill plan and list a section about the operating plan being updated in order to list the fill plan in the operating plan. Mr. Jenkins said with taking out the two items, then would it or would it not be a part of any type of state funding? Mr. Beeter said tasks 3 and 4 would be pulled out, but those compliance issues will still be outstanding, so that will need to be figured out. DEQ can work between now and October to roll those two tasks into that last Task Order. Commissioner Robertson said the compliance issues are wood waste and runoff. Mr. Beeter said the wood pile and fill plan/stormwater are the two to make the most potential.

Commissioner Robertson said the elephant in the room is the 20-ton per day limit. If the county is four tons over the limit, it cannot divert the four-ton overage, or can we? Mr. Beeter said it’s just giving evidence that there are alternatives available. It’s an indication. The thing that would undermine the County’s ability to use the landfill long term would be putting over the 20-ton limit per day into the landfill. DEQ doesn’t really know the amount going into the hole and it relies on reports, but due to the county’s population, DEQ has concerns. One might require a waste audit in which a third party shows where all of the waste for the County is going. That is the most straight forward way to saying that the exemption no longer applies and the county and DEQ would have to come to an agreement on a time frame for going in a different direction.

Commissioner Robertson commented on the term practicable. There is a significant difference in diverting four tons versus 24 tons and he referenced the ability to divert to Bonner County. Mr. Beeter said that is one way to bridge to an alternative. Mr. Beeter added that if the County had good numbers and a plan that this is what Commissioners were going to do, such as divert up to seven tons per day on an annual average to Bonner County for the next four years while Boundary County resolves this situation and plans for the future, that is a fantastic idea. That is the County recognizing the small community exemption is on its last legs. Commissioner Robertson said his thought was to extend the landfill beyond that 10 years, for its longevity. Mr. Beeter said there is a formula there that would be acceptable to everyone, but once the County is diverting significant amounts and starting to spend a lot of money on things other than the landfill, at some point the County will be saying, what are we doing spending this money? Bonner County will be changing over the 10 next years, so that is something to look into. It takes two counties to create a regional landfill, according to Mr. Beeter.
Commissioner Robertson said that he has reviewed 30 years’ worth of meeting minutes between DEQ and Commissioners about this same issue. At some point it was stated that the city’s garbage is not considered the County’s as it relates to diverting garbage. Mr. Beeter said the County would need to talk to its Prosecutor, because it’s a state law as to what services counties have to provide, but he isn’t sure. Under state laws, counties are responsible for providing solid waste services. Mr. Beeter said he has been privy to conversations about not being responsible for commercial waste and the obligation only applies to municipal household waste, but he doesn’t know if that will hold water either. Mr. Beeter commented that the definitions can start getting murky. The term municipal is juxtaposed against hazardous. Mr. Beeter said that is beyond what DEQ really looks at.

Chairman Bertling said with DEQ, there might be something for composting with the Kootenai Tribe, but it looks like Commissioners have so much on our plate now with the landfill. Mr. Beeter said DEQ will know if they’re going to receive funding related to air quality in October, but it will be another year before funds become available. There will be $6,200,000.00 for the entire state. DEQ envisions doing quite a few local projects and this year is getting the equipment and the site set. Mr. Beeter said not to discount the cost in resources and getting all of those activities and compliance put together. DEQ usually wants those put together by a solid waste engineer since an engineer would be a lot more efficient and it takes time to put together those plans and get approval.

Chairman Bertling explained that the county is looking at collaborating by collecting grass clippings, etc., and Mr. Beeter asked if the Tribe is going to put out ongoing operational funds. Commissioners said no. Mr. Beeter said it will only be sustainable if it comes from the electorate, so if they’re not demanding it, he doesn’t know. Commissioner Cossairt said it’s similar to recycling and Frederickson’s Bonners Ferry Garbage has said that only half of the residents recycle. People don’t make an effort or the recyclables are dirty, according to Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins said as long as he’s been at the landfill, he’s not received a contamination fee and he mentioned he’s waiting for Waste Management to get that information to him. Chairman Bertling said education is a part of it, but the other part of it is that people just don’t want to recycle. Mr. Beeter said there is information that it’s worthless right now and it’s a very inefficient system. Chairman Bertling said if recycled glass could be used for road base, that would be one thing and we could get it out of the waste stream. Mr. Beeter spoke of looking into beneficial use determinations and if there are easy to use markets, that should help. Chairman Bertling also spoke of tires that get chopped up for road base. Mr. Beeter commented on tire shredders and he said DEQ will approve the piece of equipment and there is a certification process to achieve the chip size that is required. Chairman Bertling asked about using chipped tires for drain fields and Mr. Beeter said that is one of those use determinations. Mr. Beeter added that the statute says you can’t put tires in water, since materials would leach out of the tires. DEQ would need to do a beneficial use determination for that as well. Mr. Beeter mentioned that he has learned that the materials that are put into tires to protect against the sun have harmful effects on Coho Salmon, etc., so Washington State is pulling tires out of the reefs.

Mr. Beeter said closing a landfill is what can passively be done when there is contaminated groundwater and those present discussed landfill facilities in other states.

Mr. Beeter said will DEQ table the Compliance Agreement Schedule for now and he will send a copy of the Task Order with the two parts removed. He will also send a letter that is separate from the agreement, that has an acknowledgement explaining what the ARPA funds are to be spent on, such as the first year of monitoring. Mr. Beeter suggested the County get a company to do this work. Mr. Kinney said the County is probably looking at three or four wells, so it’s approximately $5,000.00 or $6,000.00 per quarter.

Mr. Beeter said one thing included in this is the creation of a ground watering plan. A consultant should be hired to draft the plan, so when Commissioners hire someone, it will be set out what needs done. Quarterly monitoring will be done for the first year or two and if there is no contamination, the County can petition to reduce monitoring to twice per year instead of quarterly. Mr. Kinney said if the County doesn’t have to produce a quarterly report and can just provide data, it’s a lot cheaper. It will be up to DEQ to determine the frequency of quarterly monitoring versus two times per year. Mr. Beeter said if we get this started, there will be time to do all four quarters of sampling. We don’t want the cost to be too high, but if DEQ has extra funding and it’s still within the time frame, the cost of another quarter or two could be covered.

Commissioners said Shawn Sweetapple is probably the person with DEQ who deals with air curtains. Mr. Beeter said the air curtain will need to be added to the Operating Plan before it is put into use. Mr. Jenkins asked if the regional analysis could be put into the Task Order and Mr. Beeter replied that if an analysis is done now and the county is not ready to go, it would have to be redone, so it would be a waste of money.

The meeting with Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Beeter and Mr. Kinney ended at 10:55 a.m.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

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TIM BERTLING, Chairman

ATTEST:

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GLENDA POSTON, Clerk
By: Michelle Rohrwasser, Deputy Clerk