The South St. Paul City Council postponed approval of a new contract with an odor consulting service at its Jan. 16 meeting, opting to wait for odor data to arrive in February.
Foul smells are nothing new to South St. Paul, the former home of several large stockyards. Related industries remain, including a compost site, meat processors and leather makers.
The city had a contract with Short, Elliot and Hendrickson to monitor the city's scent through the end of 2017. The contract renewal, for $28,450, appeared on the council's consent agenda before Council Member Todd Podgorski had it be removed for discussion.
Podgorski questioned a provision of the contract that allowed for investigation of up to 40 odor complaints a year. He said that number allowed for fewer than one a week. He also wanted to focus on monitoring the two or three businesses that have historically smelled the worst, rather than the five businesses specified in the contract.
The city has committed to addressing odor problems that continue to prompt complaints, Podgorski said.
"We say something's important, I want to have this document be improved to show that we are taking odor more seriously," he said.
The council voted to withhold contract approval until results from last year's odor complaints come in, which are expected in February.
One goal of hiring the consulting firm is to provide an "unbiased third party monitoring service" if the city is challenged in court, said Council Member Tom Seaberg. In 2017, the city was sued by Sanimax, a company that collects animal hides, skins, meat by-products and discarded oils and grease for various processes. Sanimax argued that the odor ordinance was too vague and that the Nasal Ranger device, which the city uses to measure odor, couldn't determine the origin of the odor. Sanimax dropped the suit after the city withdrew its designation of the company as a Significant Odor Generator, thereby eliminating any penalties.
