In theory, a Borough employed inspector could help, but that person would not be authorized to regulate or cite the landfill. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection needs to do its job, and do it in a way that the citizens its mandated to protect, have faith in. To date, as it relates to Keystone, DEP has not done so.
https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../dunmore-throop...
Dunmore, Throop officials weigh in on borough-employed landfill inspectors
BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 8, 2020
Rather than rely on state inspectors to monitor Keystone Sanitary Landfill, Dunmore and Throop could employ their own inspectors to address complaints, but neither town has done so in years.
Last month, residents reported a rotten egg smell that permeated the towns to the state Department of Environmental Protection, but delayed response times from state inspectors drew criticism from residents and officials.
The DEP offers grants for host municipalities that will pay for 50% of the salary and expenses for up to two certified inspectors. Both Taylor and Ransom Twp. employ their own inspectors, who monitor Alliance Landfill.
Previously, Joe Lorince, Dunmore’s zoning, code and health officer, served as Dunmore’s landfill inspector. He estimated that he hasn’t been the inspector in about seven years. He no longer holds the position because of concerns that serving as both the landfill inspector and zoning officer created a conflict, he said. He called the position having an extra pair of eyes in town. “When you have your own person there, you have somebody to respond to,” Lorince said.
Throop hasn’t had a landfill inspector in at least 12 years, Chief Clerk Robin Galli said. Throop officials haven’t talked about it at length, but they have had discussions about hiring landfill inspectors to respond to odors, said council President Rich Kucharski. The position isn’t in the budget, so “we would have to look at numbers,” he said.
“In light of the odor issues that have been occurring in the last couple months, it’s something that we’re probably going to take a serious look at,” Kucharski said.
Dunmore Councilman Vince Amico, who criticized the DEP’s odor reporting process in January, said he would like to see the borough employ its own landfill inspector if it’s feasible to do so. “It would be beneficial to the borough, that’s for sure,” he said.
Amico previously raised concerns over residents having to wait as long as two hours for an inspector to show up at their home to verify a smell. “You could call one of your neighbors to verify an odor when they’re in your community, as opposed to waiting a half hour, 45 minutes, whatever that may be,” he said. Amico intends to speak to his fellow council members about the position and learn more about the cost of and requirements for hiring an inspector. He also reached out to Taylor’s borough manager to learn about how the town uses its inspector.
Taylor’s inspector works about 20 hours a week, earning $17.60 an hour, Borough Manager Dan Zeleniak said. The inspector, Jim Schiavo, is on call, Zeleniak said. When the borough receives a complaint, it will send Schiavo, who lives in town, to check on the issue and create a report.
Schiavo will often tag along with DEP inspectors, he said.
“That’s the whole idea of it — to have more people on the ground,” Zeleniak said, calling the inspector an intermediary between the borough and landfill.
Ransom Twp.’s host landfill inspector, David Bird, works about 20 to 30 hours each month, earning $25 an hour, said JoAnn Pane, the township’s secretary and treasurer. Historically, the township had two inspectors, each working about 20 hours, she said.
Any municipality that hosts a landfill should be in favor of anything that leads to increased transparency and communications between the landfill and host community, said Pat Clark, a leader of anti-landfill expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna. He believes the problem goes beyond hiring an inspector, though.
“The larger issue here, and elsewhere, is the feckless nature in which the DEP handles policing of landfills in general, and especially, here at Keystone,” Clark said in an email, noting, however, any borough-employed inspector would not have as much power as someone employed by the DEP.
Although he didn’t explain the borough’s lack of an inspector, Dunmore Mayor Timothy Burke said he would rather have the state pay for an inspector from the Environmental Protection Agency. “The EPA would have somebody qualified — it’d be somebody nonpolitical in the job,” he said.