ROCHELLE — Rochelle City Council members unanimously spoke against reopening negotiations of a landfill agreement approved nearly eight years ago.

Waste Connections, Inc. officials sent city leaders a new proposal that does not include excavating and lining of Unit 1 based on their belief that testing shows it does not pose a threat to groundwater.
The proposal outlined a stark contrast to the prior agreement requiring the excavation of a portion of the landfill, Unit 1, and installation of a liner to prevent any future groundwater contamination. The proposal, in short, would involve capping the waste, leaving the unlined area undisturbed.
On Monday evening one by one council members gave their stance on the issue, beginning with Mayor Chet Olson, who reminded everyone in attendance that a commitment was made to the Creston community that Unit 1 would be dug up and properly lined with today’s technology.
Council member Kathy Hollonbeck, who was on the council during the hearings on the landfill expansion, recalled the extensive testimonies from experts, engineers and scientists, all claiming it “was really vital that the unlined unit be moved to a lined unit.”
Hollonbeck also spoke of an inconsistency with WCI’s claim the landfill is not leaking.
“We voted on this expansion with the express purpose of moving this waste. We certainly can’t decide unilaterally to change that,” Hollonbeck said. “They made a statement there’s been no leaks, well that’s not true. There is a well that’s being monitored on the side of the landfill that we’ve been monitoring for several years. I don’t think it’s fair to the public to gloss over things.”
The agreement approved by council in 2008 as part of the landfill expansion listed 37 special conditions including the exhumation and liner installation of Unit 1. Current solid waste regulations state all waste containment cells be lined, which was not in place in 1972 when the landfill first began operations.

Although made with a prior owner of the landfill, WCI is bound by the agreement, which calls for the exhumation and lining to be done within a 10-year period.

Explaining the current landfill conditions, WCI said the facility is comprised of two cells and an undeveloped third cell that “is underlain by an impermeable clay layer.” Further, WCI stated the permeability is on average “approximately 1.8 times less than the permeability standard for an engineered subtitle D soil liner.”

WCI states the benefits of excavating Unit 1 are outweighed by the potential environmental impacts and costs.
“…The facility has collected over 30 years of groundwater monitoring data that demonstrates that Unit 1 is not impacting the surrounding groundwater thereby demonstrating that the existing clay soils are an effective protective barrier,” the WCI proposal reads.
Some of the environmental risks and safety concerns of an exhumation, according to WCI, include odor and emissions, worker safety, and the possibility of additional leachate generated from rainfall during the excavation.

Opposition letter
During Monday evening’s meeting Rochelle City Manager David Plyman discussed a letter he, Olson and current council members received from members seated in 2008 who approved the landfill agreement.
The letter provided a timeline of events beginning in the early 2000s when then-owner William Charles expressed interest in expanding the landfill. After discussions in 2005 to 2006, formal hearings began in 2007 that lasted two weeks. Council agreed to the expansion but with 37 special conditions put in place. Following recommended minor changes from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, council approved the revised agreement on April 28, 2008.
The letter urged city officials to revisit the testimony given by experts and information shared by the landfill during the hearings. The authors also pinpointed “the majority” of the council members at the time would only approve the expansion if Cell 1 were to be exhumed.
Current City Council member Dave Eckhardt, also seated when the agreement was approved eight years ago, said he wanted to share what the decision making process was at the time amongst the council.
“We want to remind everybody, especially the current council what the decision-making process was,” Eckhardt said. “Our reason for the expansion was so that (Unit) 1, which is not lined, can be exhumed and relocated to one that is lined, then go and put (Unit) 1 liner in and be able to use it again. Right now it has nothing except a clay membrane in it.”
Former council member Ed Kissick, also on the council during the hearings, explained his opposition for the expansion at the time but said a top priority was to transfer the waste from Unit 1 to a lined cell. Kissick described the engineers’ urging and the necessity to install the liner.
“They had engineers with hundreds of papers saying you have to do it, it’s going to save Creston’s waters. That’s how the expansion went through,” Kissick said. “They also came to us and said how much it would cost to ship our garbage out and the number was unbelievable. That played a part into this.”
Kissick then implored city officials to continue with the original plan of the liner installation.
“If we don’t make them move unit 1 to unit 2 w are selling Creston out,” Kissick said. “We can’t sell out the city of Creston and all of us that were involved in this knew exactly what that meant when they got this expansion. The liner is the right way to go, don’t let anybody come in here and fast talk you out of it.”
Rochelle resident Roger Beardin expressed frustration having opposed the landfill since its inception.
“Our family has been fighting this landfill since day one, 40 years ago. At the time we were told 20 years and the landfill would be done and here we are today still fighting this,” Beardin said. “In 10 years it was supposed to be exhumed and done in the wintertime so we wouldn’t have to put up with the smell.”
Creston viewpoint

Creston Village President Tom Byro expressed his concerns at a recent village board meeting following conversations he and other trustees had with WCI. During that meeting, Byro reiterated the agreement made and said he still fields complaints from residents about the odors emanating from the landfill.
But it is the potential for groundwater contamination that has Byro concerned even more.
“It’s not just for me, it’s for everybody because once the groundwater is contaminated, that’s it, there’s no repairing it,” Byro said during the meeting. “If that stuff leaches down into the water table, it’s a bad deal.”
Mayor Olson said the next step is to discuss the matters with the city attorney as well as review the list of 37 items that were supposed to be done by 2018 as per the agreement.
“They have until this time to finish these items. We need an updated report to see where we stand and what the plans are with the new owners to complete these items,” Olson said.
Plyman said there will be inspections of the landfill operator’s progress regarding the 37 items, mentioning some of those have been completed already.
“The consensus of today’s meeting is Rochelle will not entertain any changes to the agreement at this point,” Plyman stated. “We expect that the terms of the agreement will be adhered to by the parties.”