Poplar Springs work delayed again?

A few weeks after Loudon County Commission approved moving forward with Poplar Springs Landfill remediation, it appears the project could be on hold a few months for better weather.
 
Loudon County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw informed commissioners earlier this month that contractor JD Anderson had to take another project while waiting for the Poplar Springs job.
 
“He was ultimately ready in September,” Bradshaw said. “Of course, commission had some questions that they wanted answered first, so we chose to delay that a little bit and between that time he had to take work just to keep his business moving forward.”
 
The earliest work could begin would be November, but based on engineer John Gardner’s opinion it would be best to hold off on the project until the weather heats back up, Bradshaw said. The ideal time would be July or August.
 
“The major concern would be it’s a — wet season’s typically for us is November and December, so I’m waiting to hear back from Pat Flood from (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) to where we’ve got to go from there,” Bradshaw said. “... The weather’s a big concern. We want to do it right and make sure it’s successful long term is the ultimate goal.”
 
Commissioners during the Oct. 2 meeting voted 7-2 to continue the project. The decision was made in response to a letter from TDEC Commissioner Patrick Flood, who said the county did have a stake in the matter despite not owning the property. Failure to cooperate could have led to a $5,000 per day fine.
 
One of the two opposing votes was Commissioner Van Shaver. “All of this has been other people’s talking points,” Shaver said. “The Pat Flood letter that said everything was so terrible and the problem was so great that if we didn’t get her done straight away then we were going to be facing a $5,000 fine, and so ... Buddy said he’s going to talk to this one and that one and find out what the situation with TDEC will be. I’m not sure how two weeks earlier it was so devastating it had to be done this minute and now it’s, ‘Well, it’s not really that bad. We can wait until next July.’ There was never going to be a $5,000 a day fine anyhow.”
 
The project will be afforded through a matching state grant. Commission initially approved the grant in June 2016, but in August deadlocked after learning about the high amount of legal services charges spent on the project.
 
Commissioner Kelly Littleton-Brewster, at the Oct. 2 meeting, estimated the Poplar Springs Landfill fund had about $195,000. The fund had $437,968 four years ago.
 
Completion date for remediation is currently scheduled for April 18, but TDEC Deputy Communications Director Kim Schofinski said the date could be extended if conditions warrant.
 
“It’s absolutely absurd to say that you can’t do this kind of work this time of year,” Shaver said. “This is a very, very small, minor project, a tiny little project that was going to require a layer of red clay dirt to be spread over the area, top soil on that and then some grass seed on the top soil. So to say that that can’t be done now makes no sense, and it just fits the pattern of everything else about this Poplar Springs deal. It’s been some kind of fouled up something from the get-go.”
 
Schofinski said the state would not fine the county as long as it continued to move forward. TDEC’s Division of Solid Waste Management will continue monitoring remediation progress.
 
“The biggest concern TDEC had was just a lack of action as far as moving forward with the project,” Bradshaw said, noting he was confident the county will not be fined. “Since that time, we have signed a contract with JD Anderson’s company, as well as his vendors have agreed to hold the price to what they are. That was one of the bigger concerns too is if we delay it much things will go up, especially after two hurricanes have come through.”
 
Completion date for remediation is currently scheduled for April 18, but TDEC Deputy Communications Director Kim Schofinski said the date could be extended if conditions warrant.
 
“It’s absolutely absurd to say that you can’t do this kind of work this time of year,” Shaver said. “This is a very, very small, minor project, a tiny little project that was going to require a layer of red clay dirt to be spread over the area, top soil on that and then some grass seed on the top soil. So to say that that can’t be done now makes no sense, and it just fits the pattern of everything else about this Poplar Springs deal. It’s been some kind of fouled up something from the get-go.”
 
Schofinski said the state would not fine the county as long as it continued to move forward. TDEC’s Division of Solid Waste Management will continue monitoring remediation progress.
 
“The biggest concern TDEC had was just a lack of action as far as moving forward with the project,” Bradshaw said, noting he was confident the county will not be fined. “Since that time, we have signed a contract with JD Anderson’s company, as well as his vendors have agreed to hold the price to what they are. That was one of the bigger concerns too is if we delay it much things will go up, especially after two hurricanes have come through.”
 
Completion date for remediation is currently scheduled for April 18, but TDEC Deputy Communications Director Kim Schofinski said the date could be extended if conditions warrant.
 
“It’s absolutely absurd to say that you can’t do this kind of work this time of year,” Shaver said. “This is a very, very small, minor project, a tiny little project that was going to require a layer of red clay dirt to be spread over the area, top soil on that and then some grass seed on the top soil. So to say that that can’t be done now makes no sense, and it just fits the pattern of everything else about this Poplar Springs deal. It’s been some kind of fouled up something from the get-go.”
 
Schofinski said the state would not fine the county as long as it continued to move forward. TDEC’s Division of Solid Waste Management will continue monitoring remediation progress.
 
“The biggest concern TDEC had was just a lack of action as far as moving forward with the project,” Bradshaw said, noting he was confident the county will not be fined. “Since that time, we have signed a contract with JD Anderson’s company, as well as his vendors have agreed to hold the price to what they are. That was one of the bigger concerns too is if we delay it much things will go up, especially after two hurricanes have come through.”

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10/30/17