03/16/2009: "Public Works Has Some Problems -And More To Come"

Ask and you shall receive. Requests from Public Works (PW) for inspections of the Sutton road transfer station have resulted in continuing new problems for the County, and now their lack of implementing proper stormwater controls at the Sutton Road Transfer Station has Department of Ecology (DOE) issuing another round of compliance reports.

But in a SJC press release on the latest requests for inspections, it was revealed PW has also called for inspections this week by the State Department of Labor and Industries. That department will look at worker and customer safety and accident prevention issues.

The press release does not state if Public Works Director Jon Shannon is calling for these inspections on his own, or if they have been approved by SJC Administrator Pete Rose, and to what extent -if at all- the County Council is in the loop, is also not stated.

Jon Shannon has made repeated calls in the past to local and state agencies to come and inspect the Sutton Road facility for compliance issues, and it was his first request to the Town of Friday Harbor Building Department that resulted in PW deciding to remove the roof over the tipping floor -as opposed to making repairs- that caused the facility to be found non-compliant by the state. (Original story)

Last month PW again called for inspections, and this time DOE was asked to inspect for compliance issues; conditions that PW is responsible to insure are in compliance. DOE came out and found a number of items that PW had not addressed.

Since then a third call to DOE resulted in the new stormwater inspections; and again it is PW that has the county expertise in stormwater regulations, and at one time it was PW that issued stormwater permits. This is not the first time that there have been questions raised on how PW projects deals with their and stormwater.

The call for compliance inspections is going on even though the SJC Health Department submitted a request Thursday of last week for a 60-day extension of the existing DOE variance that allows the operation of the transfer station.

The extensions are granted by DOE to allow the County to complete studies for the on-going selection process necessary to make a decision to improve the existing transfer station, or to build a new one.

According to the county press release, Public Works Solid Waste Manager Steve Alexander, acknowledges that “We would have to resurface the tipping floor, put a roof over the appliance recycling area and the (roadside) area where filled trailers are stored, build berms and drainage systems to capture liquid running off from the trailer pads and transport it for treatment. That would be expensive and could not be completed in a matter of a few weeks.”

Alexander and Shannon are responsible for the solid waste program in San Juan County, so it is assumed they were aware of what compliance issues existed prior to calling DOE. Before coming to San Juan County, Alexander worked in the solid waste division of DOE, with oversight of several counties; so it is not clear why DOE had to be consulted to find out want compliance issues needed to be addressed.