Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
At its November 4 meeting, the Pocahontas County Commission discussed the future of solid waste collection in the county with Solid Waste Authority Chairman Dave Henderson who has been seeking financial support from the commission to build a transfer station at the county landfill.
Commission President John Rebinski mentioned that the deal for Jacob Meck’s Allegheny Disposal Company to build a transfer station at the landfill for the SWA to operate appears to have fallen through. He speculated, and Henderson agreed, that the $25,000 per month Meck wanted the SWA to pay to reimburse him for the cost of building the transfer station was the deal breaker. Henderson said the SWA now wants to build its own, less expensive transfer station using commission financial support and a 1% interest loan from the West Virginia Solid Waste Board. Henderson said he did not yet know what the monthly loan payment would be. Rebinski pointed out that under the Meck proposal, the $25,000 monthly fee would repay Meck the construction costs, and while it didn’t include the cost of transporting the trash to and from the transfer station, it was a 10-year “lease to buy” offer, so the county SWA would own the transfer station after making the monthly payments for 10 years.
When asked about the transportation costs of hauling the trash from the green boxes to the transfer station, and then to another county’s landfill, Henderson said they have decided that the SWA should not go into the trash hauling business. He said after reaching that conclusion, the SWA will be overturning the motion, passed at its last meeting, to purchase three walking floor trailers, each costing $109,383. The three walking trailers were included in Meck’s offer.
Rebinski said, and commissioner Jamie Walker agreed, that if Meck goes ahead with building his own transfer station for the exclusive use of Allegheny Disposal, the loss of that volume of trash from the SWA’s Transfer Station would present an impossible financial situation for the SWA’s facility.
Marlinton Mayor Sam Felton added in that the SWA should not automatically assume the Town of Marlinton will use the SWA’s transfer station, as they will have to evaluate if it would be cheaper for the town to haul its own trash to the Greenbrier County Landfill. Allegheny Disposal’s and Marlinton’s trash combined make up a huge proportion of the trash collected in the county.
Henderson argued that Marlinton cannot legally haul its trash out of the county since the town doesn’t have a Certificate of Need from the state, the only such certificate in the county is held by Allegheny Disposal. Felton said he does not believe a municipality needs one, but Henderson disagreed with that.
The discussion ended after Rebinski said he will set up a commission meeting with both Meck and the SWA to see if an agreement can still be worked out between them, as that would benefit both parties.
In other matters:
Ruthanna Beezley invited the commission and the public to the Pocahontas County Broadband’s celebration of the beginning of construction of the county ARC Broadband Project. The event will be held at Pocahontas County High School Auditorium at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, November 12.
Rebinski updated the commission on the Handley Campground Project, saying he checked with the West Virginia Secretary of State and the West Virginia Department of Labor and found that the business license submitted by Ethan Burgess is sufficient, as a contractor’s license would only have been needed if the project cost was more than $25,000.
The commission took the following actions:
• Authorized the EMS Director to hire Johnathan Thrn as a part-time paramedic for the County Ambulance Service at $18 per hour effective November 4.
• Authorized 911 Director Ben Brown to transfer Megan Crumm from a part-time to full-time position at the 911 Center, effective November 5th.
• Approved Resolution 12 of the PMH HVAC Project in the amount of $70,693.71 for plumbing and architect fees from the grant and approved a change order in the amount to $6,000 to move money around in the project to pay engineering fees etc. This project will be finished by the end of November.
• Opened and awarded the only bid to purchase a police pursuit vehicle. That bid was from Mid-State Chevrolet in Flatwoods for $56,470.76.
• Approved a contribution request from the Pocahontas County Humane Society in the amount of $2,500 to be used for their Spay and Neuter Voucher Program.
• Approved administratively closing overdue or non-responsive estates that have had no activity in three years, and never responded to letters.
• Approved the hiring of Gina Curry as a full-time Deputy Assessor, effective November 5.
• Approved the payment of Resolution #14 of the EPA Tannery Project in the amount of $3840.06 for revisions to the site assessment and for Department of Environmental Protection fees.
• Approved the payment of Draw Request #20 from the Broadband Grant for Frontier Make Ready fees.
• Agreed to purchase nine kennel panels and three door panels from Southern States to replace broken and/or rusty panels at Animal Control.
• Approved the delinquent real estate tax list from 2024.
The commission went into executive session to discuss Parks and Recreation’s expenditures, which involved personnel issues.
