2 weeks Ago By By Cameron Montemayor News-Press NOW
City councilmembers took aim at critical measures Monday evening to address a landfill capacity emergency amid mounting concerns of a potential shutdown. A key course of action saw council members approve an expedited $1.1 million contract with M-CON, LLC, to excavate landfill cell 8, one of the city’s top priorities to alleviate long-term capacity concerns and limit disruptions to the community.
City leaders are hopeful the new cell will be open and operational by October, a move that would potentially put to bed long-term concerns about the emergency. Officials are also laying the groundwork for development of cell 9 to ensure long-term stability and prevent another emergency. The city announced last week that it is now implementing a voluntary waste reduction plan to encourage haulers to reduce their monthly waste by 30%, with the goal of buying additional time and ensuring the landfill isn’t forced into a shutdown.
Further action could be taken if waste is not reduced or if the city’s request for additional temporary space with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is not approved. City officials have been ramping up coordination with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to find solutions and are expecting a decision by the end of the month on if additional space will be granted. “We’re using our engineers and we’ve got a lot of people with our eyes on it and making sure that we see all the scenarios that could happen.
but if those vertical expansions get approved, that’ll buy us a couple of months and then we’ll have the new cell open by then,” St. Joseph Public Works Director Abe Forney said. Another bill approved Monday, one that required a work session prior to Monday’s council meeting for further discussion, is designed to improve strained landfill operations dealing with a 50% increase in waste brought on by low dumping fees.
The ordinance will allocate $250,000 to expand professional engineering services and cover expenses to help meet growing workload demands and ensure regulatory compliance. Services will be critical for providing capacity evaluations of Cells 7 through 14 and plans for vertical expansion of waste capacity, another short-term measure for add The contracting firm is normally responsible for a set number of services, including quarterly drone and topographic surveys, weekly waste inspections and quarterly stormwater sampling for the Department of Natural Resources. Stay with us as we continue to update this story.
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