Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority held its April 29 meeting in the Circuit Courtroom because of the large number of community members in attendance. From the very beginning the meeting took unexpected turns. The agenda had included:
• Amending the Solid Waste Disposal regulations;
• Setting the Green Box fee for the upcoming fiscal year;
• Approving the upcoming budget;
• Holding an executive session with their attorney, David Sims to discuss pending litigation;
• And applying to the Public Service Commission for a Certificate of Need.
However, all of those agenda items were tabled to a future meeting. Attorney Sims stood up and announced that the transfer station project itself was also being tabled and the SWA board was going to start over, and would be welcoming suggestions from the public.
“Please know we are going back to the drawing board,” Sims said. “We are going to start over.”
From Sims’ comment, it appears that the transfer station project in its present form may not happen. The crowd in the room broke into cheers after hearing the announcement.
Despite that, during the public input session, there were still many speakers who expressed anger at the board members over the transfer station proposal.
Norman Alderman also directed a very angry personal attack against Jacob Meck, who was in the room, accusing him of trying to use his transfer station proposal to seize county land. He attempted to goad Meck into responding to his accusations but Meck refused to cooperate. There were also personal attacks made against the SWA members, accusing them of using the proposed project to make money for themselves, which caused SWA Chairman Dave Henderson to become very angry and respond that the SWA members are unpaid volunteers and there is no money in this for them personally. Because of these personal attacks, Henderson ordered one person, Frank Harris, to be ejected from the meeting, and Harris left without incident.
Sims went on to explain that he had recently attended a meeting the group opposing the transfer station project had held. He said he listened to their proposals, but none of those were financially workable. Sim said one proposal was to build a new landfill in the county which they claimed would cost $5 million, but he said that cost is way off, as $5 million would only build one landfill cell and four or five cells would be needed to have a landfill that would last as long as the current one has. Sims also said that he heard people say that if the transfer station proposal is approved but later financially collapses, the county taxpayers will be saddled with the costs. He said this cannot be more untrue, since only parties to a contract can be held financially accountable, and neither the county commission nor county taxpayers are parties to the contract.
Sims also addressed his previous suggestion, which the SWA rejected, that every parcel of land in the county be assessed a green box fee. He said some people still believe that will happen, but they are wrong. It won’t happen, because the SWA rejected it, but also because legally only the state or the county commission could impose that expanded fee.
He also said only a trucking company which holds a PSC Certificate of Needs can lawfully transfer trash, and there are only a couple of those in the county, with Allegheny Disposal holding one of those and the SWA another one.
At the meeting, the SWA members:
• welcomed new SWA member Darrell Roach to the Solid Waste Authority Board. Roach was recently appointed by the county commission.
• appointed Ashley Moore as the new, temporary SWA Secretary/Treasurer.
• passed a resolution to authorize Moore’s signature on SWA bank accounts.
• changed Mary Clendenen’s status from full-time employee to a part-time hourly employee.
It was announced that there will be a special SWA meeting on Monday June 8.
