Frey is the new Superintendent at the Solid Waste Disposal District

(LANDER) — The new superintendent of the Fremont County Solid Waste Disposal District said he likes a good challenge. Andrew Frey said he also enjoys the history and culture of the West, the wide-open spaces, riding horses, and all the wonderful people he’s met here. He also said there is better hunting in Wyoming than back in Southwest Minnesota where he grew up.  “That area was heavily agricultural, I find Fremont County refreshing because of all of the open and unfenced areas.”

The challenge, Frey said, comes from the great diversity of the District. “Not only does (the District) encompass a large area, but we also have a unique number of facilities here compared to most solid waste districts.”

Frey noted the District operates three Municipal Solid Waste and Construction and Demolition landfills (MSW/C&D), one C&D landfill, 12 transfer stations and two bale stations with a total staff of between 40 and 45 employees. “Another portion of our solid waste district that is unique within the state of Wyoming is our relationship with the Tribes of the Wind River Indian Reservation, as well as with Community Entry Services. Our facilities co-exist with them.,” he said. “We assist CES with product management and with capital.  We recently assisted them, along with the State Lands and Investment Board, with the funding of their new fabric hoop building in Riverton, which is now nearing completion,” he said.

He said he was very impressed with the District’s engineering support provided by the Trihydro and Lowham Walsh engineering firms, an active and interested solid waste board of directors, and the District’s staff.

The new superintendent started on the job November 1, 2011, and spent a portion of his first month here with his predecessor Don Connell on a fast track learning about the District, the personnel and the local issues.

“I have a varied background in solid waste management with both small and large landfills and facilities accepting between 50 to 750 tons per day of MSW,” Frey said. “I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved in solid waste projects throughout the United States.”

The key areas of Frey’s expertise include landfill design and expansion, leachate and landfill gas extraction and management, permitting, environmental oversight, and waste characterization.

Prior to accepting the local position, Frey worked as a Licensed Civil Engineer for SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications firm based in McLean, Virginia. The company has 46,000 worldwide employees.  Frey was based in southwest Minnesota and worked primarily with public municipalities in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Frey received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering fromSouth DakotaStateUniversityinBrookings,SDand his Associate of Applied Science in Civil Engineering Technology from Southeast Technical Institute of Sioux Falls, SD. He is a Licensed Civil Engineer in Minnesota and just received his certification here in Wyoming.

“While attending college I was involved in the construction oversight of the initial Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill’s leachate and landfill gas extraction project. After a few additional years of expanding the leachate and landfill gas extraction system, in 2009 the landfill installed a gas conditioning plant and a 12-mile pipeline that directed the landfill gas to a local ethanol plant where the gas is utilized in their boiler.” he said. “We handled the City’s solid waste engineering, so I was actively involved throughout the duration, ultimately leading to landfill gas sales and revenue for the landfill in the range of $200,000 per month.” At that time, Frey was working for R.W. Beck, Inc., a Seattle-based engineering firm. Frey continued to work out of a southwest Minnesota satellite office. Beck was bought out in 2009 by SAIC and Frey said his role within the firm changed greatly going from a firm of approximately 750 employees at R.W. Beck, Inc to a firm with approximately 46,000 employees at SAIC.

“While researching on the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) website for a project, I saw a posting for this position at Fremont County and I applied,” Frey said. “I heard back from the board in May that my application would be reviewed. I ended up running into Mike (McDonald) and Dale (Groutage) at a solid waste conference in Cheyenne and we discussed the position.  A few weeks later I was asked to travel to Fremont County to formally interview, which ultimately resulted in an offer for the position.”

Among Frey’s initial challenges was finding housing. “The cost of living is the biggest surprise to me so far,” he said. “It’s much more expensive here than in Minnesota, but I’m very happy to be here, this is a great area,” Frey said.