Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) held a special meeting February 18 to consider approving one of the three proposals for trash collection for after the landfill closes in December. These proposals had been presented to them by Jacob Meck of the Allegheny Disposal Company at the February 4 special meeting.
SWA members seemed most interested in Meck’s option #1 which included Allegheny Disposal building a completely equipped transfer station at the county landfill, including a maintenance agreement on the structure and equipment, for a 15-year lease to buy. The monthly lease would be $15,952, increasing yearly by the Federal Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate (currently 2.7%) minus 2%. So, if the CPI remains the same the first year, the lease will only increase .7%. The buyout at the end of the of 15 years would be $960,000.
SWA members expressed concern with the CPI monthly rate increases because the CPI rate can fluctuate from month-to-month, and they felt they needed a predict-able monthly charge. Meck came prepared for this concern and presented option #4 which doesn’t involve using the CPI rate at all, instead using a fixed but a little higher monthly lease payment of $16,759 for the full 15 years, and a little higher buyout at the end of the 15 years of $1,103,495.24. While this seemed to satisfy SWA Chairman Dave Henderson, members Phillip Cobb and Ed Riley expressed additional concerns that if they went with this plan, they would have to raise the green box fee to $310 per year and also raise the tipping fee in order to pay their operating costs and the lease payments. Meck said they could hold off raising the green box fee to $310 immediately and instead do a partial raise this year and the full raise for the first full year after the transfer station is operating. Cobb made a motion to accept option #4, but when the vote occurred, he voted against his own motion. Ed Riley, who attended the meeting by phone, then abstained from the vote, while members David McLaughlin and Henderson both voted for it. It was announced that the fifth SWA member, Greg Hamons who had recently been appointed to the SWA, had resigned after only attending two meetings. There was a question about whether a vote of two for; one against; and one abstaining from the vote constituted a majority vote, so the SWA called the West Virginia Ethics Commission right then and there to get a determination. The Ethics Commission Chairman told them that an abstention from voting counted the same as a vote against, so the motion would have to be considered tied two to two.
During the debate over this, Cobb stated that he wanted the SWA to simply transport their trash to the Greenbrier County Landfill themselves to avoid having to raise the cost for the green boxes and the tipping fee. However, Landfill Manager Chris McComb emphatically made the point that buying, servicing and replacing trucks after four or five years, and insuring very expensive new trash trucks and hiring the drivers for them would be even more expensive then option #4, and would still raise the green box fee and tipping fees probably even higher. Henderson called for a revote on accepting option #4, but that vote produced the same results. With no other solutions on the table, Henderson, who appeared upset over the way the vote went, immediately adjourned the meeting.
After the meeting, Meck said that whether they realize it or not, the board just voted for a “Stop Gap” in trash collection service in the county that will have to occur when the landfill closes in December. He said that any other options – if there are any – will take time to be planned and developed, time for the permits to be obtained, and time to be implemented. Time that will definitely extend beyond the closure of the landfill.
He wanted the public to know that he had spent many weeks, days and hours planning these options, to ensure they were as affordable as he could possibly make them for the county and its citizens. Apparently, all to no avail.
