City landfill approaches its capacity

The City of Newcastle has had to file for an extension to its Landfill No. 2 permit because the proposed Weston County Solid Waste District landfill did not open before the original Newcastle Landfill No. 2 closure date of February 2022, according to Greg Stumpff, the city’s public works supervisor. 
 
Stumpff told the News Letter Journal that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality requested that the city keep the landfill open in order to service the area until the new landfill can be opened. At this time officials from the county entity have not revealed when they will be ready to do so
 
“At the recommendation of the WYDEQ, we have decided to apply for a permit that will allow less than five percent total increase in capacity to ensure we will have enough permitted capacity until the WCSWD landfill opens,” Stumpff said in an email to the newspaper. “In our original landfill permit we were allowed to dispose of 840,000 cubic yards of waste in Landfill #2. As of the beginning of this fiscal year, we have disposed of 785,372 cubic yards of waste leaving 54,628 cubic yards of space allowed in our current permit.”
 
Stumpff noted that the city is working with Inberg Miller Engineers of Cheyenne to complete the necessary documents for the extension. This is the same company that helped complete the original landfill closure permit application. 
 
The News Letter Journal has made several requests for a possible opening date and other information related to the new county landfill, but officials with both Weston County and the county’s solid waste district did not provide any information prior to press time. 
 
Requests for information via email and telephone to Ed Wagoner — who is the chairman of both the Weston County Commission and the Weston County Solid Waste District — were not responded to at all. Solid Waste District Board member Bob Hartley did respond, but declined to comment because he said he is “disappointed in [News Letter Journal Publisher] Bob Bonnar” for an ongoing lawsuit that was filed last year by the newspaper and three county residents  against the Weston County commissioners. 
 
Wagoner is one of five commissioners named in the lawsuit filed by the News Letter Journal challenging the legality of a secret ballot vote they used to choose a replacement in the state legislature for former Rep. Hans Hunt in 2021.
 
A request to County Clerk Becky Hadlock for a list of current board members of the Weston County Solid Waste District was also not returned by press time, but board members listed on the district’s budget documents indicate the members are Wagoner, Hartley, George Bondura, Sam “Hapanstol” (Haptonstall) and Mike Mills. According to the budget documents, however, Bondura’s term was set to end on Dec. 30, 2022.
 
Although county officials did not provide any new information related to the delay in providing an operating landfill, the News Letter Journal reported in an April 2019 story “Title issues set landfill project back” that the landfill creation process was delayed after the land it was supposed to be built on along Wyoming Highway 450 — known as the Mush Creek Tract to the board — was determined to have title issues. 
 
In September 2020, the News Letter Journal reported in the story “Landfill district one step closer” that another piece of land for the landfill project was located via a geographic information systems, or GIS, survey conducted by Trihydro Corp. of Laramie. That land is located 3 miles south of Newcastle and reportedly fits all the prerequisites of the Wyoming DEQ, including the land’s proximity to houses, waterways and highways. 
 

 
Hartley was willing to provide information to the public at that time, and said Trihydro had predicted that the landfill could serve county residents for more than 200 years if it is limited to local waste collection only. He indicated, however, that the solid waste board would be willing to consider opening the landfill to outside use. 
 
Hartley also noted in 2020 that the landfill’s remote location off of U.S. Highway 85 would mean that the landfill would not be visible from the highway, with the possible exception of buildings. 
 
“It is out of view to the public with where it is located, and the soil and everything is ideal,” Hartley said at that time. “I think this is a landfill the public can be proud of and something that can benefit the entire county for years to come.”
 
While county officials were not forthcoming with information in response to the need to extend the city of Newcastle’s landfill permit, a bid notice advertised in the News Letter Journal’s legal section for two weeks does indicate that the project is ready to move forward. The notice published on page 12 of both the April 20 and 27 editions of the NLJ requested bids for phase 1 construction of the landfill. 
 
“The project consists of various earthwork tasks including gravel surfacing, culverts, structural fill, excavation, topsoil placement, seeding, subgrade preparation, sand layer installation, compacted soil liner, geosynthetics installation, fencing, electric and pump installation, and all other work necessary for the construction of a new 5-acre cell, access road, electrical infrastructure, and storage pad at the landfill site south of Newcastle, Wyoming,” according to the notice.
 
The notice did not provide a start or completion date for the project, or give an estimate of total cost. It did say that bids would be received until 1 p.m. on May 12, and that they would be publicly opened and read aloud, but no location was given for the bid opening. A mandatory pre-bid conference and site visit was held for interested contractors at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1.
 
According to a “Final Budget” document for 2022-23 that was found under the “Special Districts” tab on the Weston County website, the Weston County Solid Waste District approved a total budget of $8,233,410 for the 2022-23 fiscal year that ends June 30. Total revenue for the district is listed at $9,326,516, with $520,000 coming from the local tax levy and $8,004,800 from miscellaneous sources. 
 
Expenditures for fiscal 2022-23 include $8 million for capital outlay, $22,910 for administration, $200,000 for operations and $10,500 for indirect costs.
 
There are no meeting notices, minutes or agendas for the solid waste district posted on the county’s website, but the budget document indicates that their meetings are held at the Pinnacle Bank Meeting Room and that the most recent budget was approved there on July 20, 2022. 
 
The budget document also states that meeting notices for the district are posted at the Weston County Courthouse, and that the minutes of the district’s board meetings are available for review at the Weston County Clerk’s office.