Solid Waste Authority Members Re-Vote On the Transfer Station Decision

At their February 25^th regular meeting, the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) members re-voted on Option #4 presented to them and rejected by them at their February 18^th special meeting. At that time, two of the 4 current members (they are short one member who recently resigned from the normally 5-member Authority) refused to vote to accept Option 4. That option had been presented to the SWA by Jacob Meck of the Allegheny Disposal Company. It involves that company building a Transfer Station for the SWA to use so the SWA can continue operation after the landfill itself is closed in about a year.

Option 4 was the one which appealed most to the SWA members and it specifically involves Allegheny Disposal building a completely equipped transfer station at the county landfill, including a maintenance agreement on the structure and equipment. It obligates the SWA to pay a 15-year lease to buy, at a fixed monthly lease payment of $16,759 for the full 15 years. It includes a buyout at the end of the 15 years in the amount of $1,103,495.24, after which the SWA will own the structure. But, at that special meeting, despite efforts by the SWA chairman Dave Henderson and member David McLaughlin to convince members Phillip Cobb and Ed Riley to vote for it, Option #4 was rejected because Cobb voted very strongly against it and Riley abstained from voting either way.  When Henderson and McLaughlin asked for a re-vote at that special meeting, the result once again was rejection of the proposed option. At the time, Jacob Meck told this reporter that the SWA had just voted to not have any way to dispose of trash once the landfill closes, since there were no other economical options to be adopted.

It was obvious that both Henderson and McLaughlin were both upset by that vote.

However, at the February 25^th regular meeting of the SWA, Henderson proposed another vote on it. During the discussion before the vote, Henderson and McLaughlin emphasized to their fellow members the urgency involved in this vote. They said that there are no other options out there that would enable trash disposal to continue after the landfill closes in about a year since the construction, equipment purchases, and the lengthy permitting processes can not be completed by then. They emphasized the need to act right now and start all that by approving Option #4. Both Cobb and Riley expressed their concerns that this agreement would raise green box fees too high. Cobb also added that there would have been other options had the SWA made a decision about future operations a year ago.  Henderson said the green box fees would likely go even higher without this agreement. When the vote was called Henderson and McLaughlin voted to enter into the agreement then the whole room held their breath as Cobb paused before voting. The relief was obvious when Cobb slowly raised his hand to approve it, followed by Riley also voting to approve it. Thus, it resulted in a unanimous, even though reluctant, vote to approve entering into the Option 4 agreement with Allegheny disposal.

They next took up the question of signing the binding letter of intent with Allegheny Disposal. The SWA’s attorney, David Simms informed them that he has reviewed that letter and found a few concerns with it. His first concern was, he wanted to see a limit placed on the amount of money they would have to reimburse Allegheny Disposal for the money that company had spent for things like architect drawings and down payments on equipment purchases etc. if for some reason after the letter was signed and the deal fell through. Meck agreed to a $200,000 limit.

Simms was concerned about the buyout at the end of the 15-year lease. He felt there was a likelihood that the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) will require a monthly $4,500 or so deposit by the SWA into an escrow account to ensure the buyout money was in place in 15 years. There was no easy way around this issue, although Simms said he would try and persuade the PSC to not do that. It was also agreed that using money from their existing construction escrow to fund that escrow may be a possible option. Simms said despite his concerns, he still feels the agreement needs to be signed.

The members voted to sign and then did sign that letter of intent. This means the partnership between the county SWA and Allegheny Disposal to build a transfer station will hopefully enable trash disposal to continue in the county after the landfill closes.

One member of the public, Walter Klahold of Green Bank, asked the members to address the projected higher cost of the green box fees by either including them in taxes, or adding an income variance on the fees. It was explained to him by Henderson that WV law prohibits including them in taxes, and they have not considered an income variance. It should be noted that county Commission President has talked about a subsidy to low-income people to help them with this fee.