Commissioners Asked to Provide $300,000 yearly by Solid Waste Authority

Several members of the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) appeared before the County Commission at their September 16^th meeting. SWA member David McLaughlin told the commissioners that since the county landfill is projected to be filled up and unusable by about this time next year, the SWA will need about $300,000 yearly from the commission in order to continue waste disposal in the county after that. He said the SWA will need to build and operate a transfer station on the landfill site.

SWA Office Administrator Mary Clendenen provided the commissioners with a computer presentation detailing the funding the SWA will need. It explained that the SWA only has three sources of income:

1. Green Box Fees (currently $135.00 per year per county household.)
2. Landfill Tipping Fees (currently $95.00 per ton.)
3. A WV Solid Waste Board Interim Fee and some very limited state grants through that board.]

Clendenon’s proposal was for the SWA to build its own 70’ by 65’ transfer station at the landfill site with a building cost of about $800,000, equip it with a road tractor and three walking floor trailers at a cost of about $525,150, paying for that by applying for a 1% loan from the WV Solid Waste Management Board and continue the Green box Program in their present 5 locations in the county. She said the SWA must also take steps to prevent unauthorized dumping at those locations, and the county needs to create a Litter Control Officer position to help do that as well as to prevent illegal dumping of trash throughout the county.

Clendenen’s presentation also said that the landfill closure cost the SWA will have to pay has skyrocketed from an estimated 1.15 million dollars in 2006 to a 2025 estimated cost of 3.2 million dollars. The SWA hopes to have about 2.4 million dollars in its closure account by the time the landfill closes. She said that if the state approves the use of closure turf instead of topsoil at the site, the closure cost might go down to the 2.4 million dollars. They are still waiting for that approval. She said that for up to 30 years after closure, the SWA will have to pay about $75,000 a year for mandatory maintenance and monitoring of the landfill.

She estimated that the annual operational cost would be $1,674,699 To cover that cost, the 4,300 households in the county would have their annual Green Box fees would have to be raised to $250 per year and tipping fees will also have to go up substantially. However, she said, both of those costs would go up not as much if the commission contributes $300,000 annually to the operational costs. If not, and the fees are raised too much, the SWA may lose customers and be forced to discontinue operations.

When it was suggested by one of the commissioners that since Allegheny Disposal’s offer to build and equip a transfer station at the landfill was rejected by the SWA, what would be the impact if Allegheny Disposal builds their own transfer station, as they are saying they will do, and removes their business from the SWA. Clendenon said she hopes that does not happen, but if it does, the SWA would need at least $600,000 annually from the commission to continue operations. We spoke to Jacob Meck, owner of Allegheny Disposal, after this meeting, and he said he is definitely planning to build his own Transfer Station for his own company’s exclusive use, but his rejected offer is still open for further negotiations with the SWA.

The commissioners took no action on this at this meeting, with Commission President Rebinski stating they already are loaded with other funding requests and commitments, such as being 1.5 million dollars short on their 911 building project, and 1.5 million dollars still needed to provide 24-7 ambulance service to the entire county.

Be sure to listen for part 2 of the September 16^th Pocahontas County Commission meeting where we will cover the other discussions and decisions made at this meeting.