County Attorney Stevens advised the Board they would need to approve the sale of Coble's Sandrock to Meridian Waste and then approve the franchise agreement.
Frank Longest, attorney for the Cobles, thanked County Attorney Stevens and County Manager York for putting together a good packet. He suggested considering Meridian's application for a new franchise. He said the Cobles had run a good business. Mr. Longest indicated that other businesses had approached the Cobles to purchase their business. Mr. Longest explained that Meridian could expand the current site, put money into the site for the expansion in the future, and offer the term natural life of landfill subject to the franchise with a host fee of $1 per ton. Mr. Longest understood that the traffic study said that in the projections for 2023-2026, there would be some increased traffic, but that increase would not cause a need for improvement on Foster Road.
Mary O'Brien, Chief Marketing Officer for Meridian Waste, asked the Board to consider the new franchise agreement. She said waste would only come from NC and would name 26 counties that would be allowed to bring debris to this county. She thought the new franchise agreement was more protective of the county. Ms. O'Brien mentioned that all Alamance County residents with "DIY" projects would receive a discount when they brought debris to the landfill. The county would receive a discount on storm-related debris. She explained some of the advantages for the county if they approved the new franchise agreement: guaranteed an increase on the insurance, would meet all state financial closures and post-closures, and guaranteed improvement of the road frontage. She emphasized this was a better business deal for the county to adopt the new franchise.
The Board heard from Sam Powell, a Burlington resident, Dave Mills, an engineer, and Michael Stubbs, an engineer.
Commissioner Turner asked about the traffic study done in March and if it was based on the daily amount of 750 tons. Mr. Mills responded it was based on that study.
Commissioner Turner asked County Attorney Stevens whether Mr. Coble could allow Meridian to run his facility under his current franchise. County Attorney Stevens responded that the existing Coble Franchise was silent on contracting the operations. He said it merely stated it would be owned by the Cobles and operated as Coble's Sandrock. He continued that it did not say who had to do the operations.
Chairman Paisley commented that the Cobles could go out of state for the 25 customers under the current contract, but the Meridian contract reduced that to a geographic area.
Commissioner Lashley discussed discrepancies that he saw in the report. He asked how much Meridian was going to charge. He voiced that he did not see how it was prudent to take other people's garbage from 20 miles away and put it in the county's landfill. Commissioner Lashley asked how much it costs to close a landfill. Mr. Stubbs responded that every site was different, but for a ballpark number, it would be $150,000 to 200,000 dollars per acre. Commissioner Lashley asked how many acres they were talking about. Mr. Stubbs responded maybe 100 acres.
County Attorney Stevens reiterated that two votes were needed.
1) The first vote was on the county agreement to allow the sale of the Coble's Landfill to Meridian Waste.
2) The second vote was on approving the franchise ordinance, which would be the first of two readings on the franchise ordinance.
Commissioner Turner commented he believed that the contract was more restrictive than what the Cobles and Meridian had the right to do currently; he would support it.
Commissioner Thompson commented she decided to go with the neighborhood and did not want those changes in traffic in that small community.