Refuse burner talks stall

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Otter Tail County and the City of Perham are at odds over forming a joint governance board or revising the current refuse burner contract. The county prefers the formation of a joint powers panel while Perham wants to keep the current contract.

Any expansion of the refuse burner, however, will be on hold until the matter is resolved.

“We’re pretty much at a standstill right now,” said Mike Hanan, county solid waste director, when addressing the Otter Tail County Board of Commissioners Tuesday afternoon. “The question right now is, where do we go from here?”

County Attorney David Hauser suggested that county representatives take a close look at the refuse burner contract and establish areas where clarification is needed.

Perham Mayor Kevin Keil offers a different perspective.

“We have a joint decision-making board in place right now, with the city (Perham) and participating counties,” Keil said. “We feel that things are in working order, under the current contract, to allow for an expansion of the refuse burner without the creation of a joint powers board.”

Keil said that with additional equipment coming from the now defunct refuse burner at the former RTC site in Fergus Falls, and elsewhere, output at the refuse burner, owned by the City of Perham, could increase from 100 tons of refuse per day to about 157 tons.

“We need to see more refuse burned on a daily basis, and less garbage piled at landfills,” he said.

Hanan and board member Roger Froemming, along with representatives of Todd and Wadena counties, met with the Perham mayor and members of the Perham City Council Monday evening.

Otter Tail, Todd and Wadena counties are contractually obligated to the refuse burner through 2022. Perham currently receives $84,000 per year as an administrative fee for managing the facility. About 14 employees (part of Perham city government) work at the Resource Recovery Facility in Perham.

A fourth county, Stearns, has a contract that runs only through September 2009. At that time it’s likely they will begin disposing of refuse elsewhere. Becker County (Detroit Lakes area) and Cass County (Walker area) have expressed interest in hauling refuse to Perham.

Steam heat from the refuse burner in Perham is supplied to the Bongards cheese plant and to Tuffy’s, a pet food manufacturer. About 60 percent of the steam heat is derived from refuse burning and 40 percent comes from use of natural gas.

“Over the years Perham and each of the participating counties have worked out variances to the original contract,” Hanan said Tuesday, “and the city and counties have each made concessions.”

County board member Dennis Mosher was the first commissioner to emphasize that no expansion can take place until something is worked out — by either revising the original refuse burner contract or allowing for establishment of a new joint powers board. The other four commissioners agreed with Mosher.

The next refuse burner meeting for Hanan and Froemming will take place Wednesday, May 28.