Commissioner questions bid proce

Recently completed work to remediate the closed Poplar Springs Landfill came under scrutiny by Loudon County Commission at a Monday workshop.

Commissioners questioned how a contractor was hired to perform $30,000 in work at the landfill without going through the competitive bidding process mandated by state purchasing laws. No vote was taken to authorize the expenditure.

Commissioner Adam Waller said he had copies of two invoices paid to Bill Conner Excavating LLC of Knoxville, which included $6,750 for pipe and $23,250 for installation.

“How does $30,000 get spent without going through purchasing?” Waller said. “Shouldn’t everything go through purchasing?”

County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw said he signed off on the invoice. He said the project was managed by Kelly Littleton-Brewster, a county commissioner and chairwoman of the Loudon County Solid Waste Disposal Commission.

Bradshaw said expenditures on Poplar Springs have been managed by the SWDC. Payment for work is sourced from a sub-fund dedicated to the landfill.

Pat Hunter, a member of SWDC with responsibility for expenditures on the landfill, said no vote was taken to authorize the expenditures.

“I believe a vote should be taken on all expenditures,” Hunter said.

Bradshaw defended the expenditure, saying it had been required under the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation plan for fixing drainage problems at the site. He said TDEC is getting close to signing off on remediation at Poplar Springs.

“It was the first time in nine years TDEC said they were happy,” Bradshaw said.

Waller said a recent TDEC letter indicated the agency is still awaiting water samples and other information from the county. Waller said his research showed the contractor license for Bill Conner Excavating LLC had expired in 2016 and had not been renewed.

He said he still wanted to know why the contract did not have to be bid out and why there wasn’t a vote by either county commission or the SWDC.

“I’m going to go to the comptroller tomorrow,” Waller said.

TDEC confirmed in 2015 there was no toxic contamination of the ground at the Poplar Springs site but said the “cap” had come off the landfill due to erosion. A project to close the cap was completed in 2018 and is followed by a 10-year period in which the county has responsibility for maintaining the property.

During an inspection in November, Sarah Drummond, an environmental scientist with TDEC’s Division of Solid Waste Management, identified several problems that needed to be corrected on the 37-acre site closed in 1988.

In January, county commission and the SWDC discussed problems at the site. Littleton-Brewster told commissioners more work needed to be done at a low spot in the landfill since TDEC inspectors were concerned about standing water preventing grass from growing.

On an inspection tour June 16, Drummond found repairs appear to be effective to address the persistent leachate seeps previously observed.

Hunter said she has written a letter to SWDC Attorney Kevin Stevens requesting information about the process used to hire the contractor, including names of other contractors involved in the bid process and the date on which the SWDC voted on the expenditure.

She said she is also concerned the fund to pay for problems at the landfill is being depleted. Under the terms of an agreement with TDEC and the landowner, the county takes responsibility for maintaining the landfill for about five more years.

The Poplar Springs sub-fund, which only a decade ago stood at about $437,968, was down to about $57,645, according to a December 2021 county budget office report. The fund, which must be used to pay for any work on the landfill, is now down to about $20,000.

Bradshaw said he didn’t expect the landfill to need much more additional work.

“We’ll put some grass seed on it and we’ll be out of there in five years,” Bradshaw said.