Holly Landfill Issues Improving, Working with Tighter Budget

Holly Depot

Two years ago, the Holly landfill received a number of deficiency gigs regarding operations and record keeping. Matters are improving and this past Thursday, July 30, interim Town Administrator, Jerry L’Estrange, met with state and county representatives to review the current status of the landfill. L’Estrange noted that the town’s record keeping for the landfill still needs work and a surveyor has to be hired to finalize a closure program for a cell and work has to get underway to open a new one. Results on water quality for one of the newer test wells are still pending. One other area still needs development; accepting used tires will require the landfill to become a designated reception area. L’Estrange told the Trustees that they will need to find out where they can eventually be exported. “It was suggested that several area towns combine funds to purchase a grinder, but the costs are around a half a million dollars and our budget won’t allow that even at an eighth of the shared cost,” he explained.

On budgetary matters, the administrator said the town is taking a financial hit, of sorts, because of a substantial overpayment of sales tax receipts from the state last year. “We have to reimburse $43,000 so we will be without funding for July and a part of August,” he stated. L’Estrange stressed that the town is not out any money, but the reimbursement has altered the town’s cash flow which will result in some temporary belt-tightening. “We may need to draw down from some surpluses and conduct a budget amendment at the end of the year to get through some issues.   Staff will have to hold off on non-essential purchases for their departments for a while and this may impact overtime for public works areas,” he added.

The Trustees were asked for some input regarding street repair work at the Holly High School. A water service line began leaking under the street because of a galvanized plug which eventually eroded. The cement street was cut open to reach the leak and the school has asked that the hole be refilled with cement. The town would rather use asphalt. L’Estrange said they may need to dig again, whether in ten years or next month and it would be more cost effective and easier to just replace the hole using asphalt. He added the location is not in a heavily trafficked area, near the parking lot used for football and track. L’Estrange said he’d meet with school officials with some suggestions from the Trustees, keeping the costs of repairs as one of the town’s main priorities.

The Trustees are moving ahead with a flag pole light for the cemetery. L’Estrange met with Rella Ann Steele who had approached the Trustees with the idea several months ago. The town will help with the project by installing a transformer on a pole on the south side of the entrance road, along with the labor, wiring and installation. Using a LED light would keep the electric costs to about $8 a month for a yard light fee.

“I want to make sure every fire hydrant in the town is working and is checked periodically,” L’Estrange told the Trustees. He spoke recently with the fire chief as some are either broken or are hard to open.   One hydrant near several churches was recently pulled and repaired. Mayor Brad Simon said he believed a schedule for checking all the hydrants, dividing the town into four areas, had been developed several years ago. The agreement will have the fire department test the hydrants and the town will complete any needed repairs.

In other areas, the administrator said he’d like to see the town’s vehicles displaying a logo representing Holly. He suggested some type of logo based on the letterhead on current stationary or something representative of area agriculture. The town had used a logo incorporating a holly sprig or branch, but L’Estrange felt something new would be better. He said the mutual aid agreement with ARPA is still being discussed. “Our resources are limited to what we could offer, such as a truck or ground crew, but we don’t have the technical expertise to offer for some areas,” he stated. He explained that an agreement would help allay any future insurance problems when one community aided another and would be a safeguard to provide an outline of responsibilities if the need arose again. Mayor Simon added that there would be no changes to how the town did its work, but would just spell out the responsibilities in writing.

By Russ Baldwin