It was a whole pile of nope, and the Benton County Planning Commission made it all formal and official earlier this week. We’re talking, of course, about the application to expand the Coffin Butte Landfill. On Tuesday, the Commission issued their facts and findings and stopped just short of calling the proposal a dumpster fire.
But fire was an issue. They found, for instance, that most probably the small but mighty Adair Village fire department just may not be mighty enough to snuff a methane fueled landfill fire. Also, there’s forests in that-thar part of the county, and apparently embers waft.
Also, odors. Odors waft, and farms adjacent to the dump have workers quitting, saying they just can’t deal with the stench day-in and day-out anymore. And it’s not just farms; there’s also adjacent houses too. And, in fact, the folks in neighboring Adair Village are seeking to add housing in the foreseeable future. The commissioners believe we need the housing.
Soo, fire risks and resources, and stink made the commissioner’s hell-dang no list.
They also cited groundwater contamination and forever chemicals that can really do a number on humans, livestock and even growing produce.
And then, with their noses already crinkled from the stench, they also cited noise impacts.
Imagine your baby catching a nap after keeping you up night, and KABLAM, the neighboring dump is blasting again because exploding things is how you add capacity at a dump. Oh, yeah, and remember there’s livestock in that area, and apparently, KABLAM startles them too.
Anyhoo, the commissioners went on to cite the the prospects for health and safety and environmental impacts – and the County’s lack of expertise and dollars to adequately monitor the landfill’s operations.
Hilariously, and sort of ham-fistedly, Republic Services, the owner of the landfill, said at the last minute that they would pay $80,000 yearly toward monitoring. The commissioners were like… yeah-no, that’s not gonna cover it. Okay, they used official language. Forgive our license there.
So for those at home counting, this is the second time Republic has sought to expand the dump and been told no. This time around, one could smell the nope from more than a year away, which is about when the company hauled out this latest application.
The commissioners, in response, have heard more than twenty hours of presentations and verbal testimony by Benton County Planning Division staff, consultants, the applicant and community members in a series of in-person meetings that began on April 29. The July 22 meeting lasted nearly four hours. We remind; the commissioners are community volunteers. They aren’t paid. Which, continuing the metaphor, stinks.
The Planning Commission also received and reviewed thousands of pages of application materials, reports, exhibits and written public testimony and evidence. It’s been like a McDonald-Dunn forest worth of paper, which maybe explains all the clearcutting over there.
Republic has until August 12 to appeal. If they choose to recycle this toxic stew, we’ll let you know. If you want to read the Commission’s Decision, click here.
City Attorney Expenses Rise, Services Decline
In a memo to the City Council, City Manager Mark Shepard reports our fair burgh is spending about twenty percent more on legal services than it used to, an increase of a little over $80,000 yearly.
The increase came over fiscal year 2024-2025, and it results from a changeover in attorney firms. The City doesn’t really have a City Attorney on staff; they contract that work out.
Anyhow, here’s the reason for the increase, according to Shepard: Back in 2023, Jim Brewer, of Brewer & Colombe PC, informed the City he would be retiring, and that they would need to find a new firm. He was on a set retainer and was paid $400,522.99 in fiscal year 2022-2023.
There are now two firms representing the City: Beery, Elsner, & Hammond, LLC for City Attorney services and Delapoer Kidd, PC for City Prosecutor services. They billed $420,626.69 and $60,807.50 respectively over the last fiscal year. A total of $481,434.19.
Note, those numbers are only for City Attorney and Prosecutor Services. The Ellis matter was a whole other expense and another firm.
Shepard says the reason for the cost increase is because the old firm was paid with a flat retainer, and the new firm bills hourly.
He also said the City had originally anticipated the change in billing methods would mean a doubling of fees, But the fees haven’t doubled, he says, because the City Council and staff is now more restrictive about obtaining legal consultations.
Between the lines: One of those new restrictions requires City Councilors to get Council approval before seeking legal reviews for things like draft ordinances they would like to propose. This is a new requirement. Also, city retained attorneys are no longer at Council meetings, their presence must be requested ahead of time.
Of the total spent last fiscal year, $66,176.57 was charged to Council, according to Shepard.
Longtime readers may know where we’re headed with this. In our analysis, the new requirements have sometimes stifled constructive exchanges and forward movement among City officials, and most notably among the Councilors. We think duly elected folks should have more autonomy than this. Watching Councilors having to seek approval from other Councilors this last year has been, in a word, weird.
The new process has a “mother may I” aspect to it, and at times, it has seemed downright infantilizing. We’ve also seen these approvals used as a cudgel on a few occasions.
Even putting that aside, the present situation practically invites unintentional error, and liability. We think it would be best to have an attorney at council meetings, or at least have on-call access.
We also wonder if the City would be better served with a hybrid model of some type. For instance, a staff attorney for day-to-day matters, and contracted firms for specialized matters. We do think the City should have an individual that can be seen as directly accountable to the Council and the public.
By Mike Suarez, Hallie Greenberg and Steven J. Schultz
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