Settlement for Purchase of Landfill Possible in a Week or So

At the February 26^th Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority meeting, Chairman Dave Henderson and Member Jamie Walker talked about the landfill purchase. Henderson said that the final deed and accompanying side agreement have been basically approved by the seller, by the County Commission, and by the Solid Waste Authority, and Laura Kirchner, the County Prosecutor, is to get the paperwork from Attorney Josh Hardy so she can set up the settlement details.

The only question now is that the County Commission had passed a motion agreeing that the $9,000.00 lease payment that had been due to the seller, the Fertig Family Farm on January 1^st, but not yet been paid, will be added to the purchase price. That will bring the final price up from $148,297,50 to $157,297,50. The motion also said the Solid Waste Authority will pay the $9,000. The problem with that is that the Solid Waste Authority had already passed a motion to not pay that $9,000.00. Member Jamie Walker, who is also one of the three county commissioners, acknowledged that he had not thought about that when he made that motion at the commission meeting. Walker said he will revise his motion at the March 4^th meeting to just have the commission pay the full $157.297.50. He said if this passes, and he believes it will, the settlement could happen as soon as March 6^th or shortly afterwards, as soon as the settlement paperwork and details have been completed.

It was evident that the Solid Waste Authority members still harbor some fears that this deal, which has already dragged on for about 2 years, might still fall through, so they passed a motion which says if that were to happen, then the Solid Waste Authority will make the $9,000.00 lease payment, and just continue to lease the property.

Henderson also informed the other members that he and Mary Clendenin received a telephone call from the person who operates the Beverly, WV Transfer Station. They were told that if Pocahontas County does open a transfer station, the Beverly Transfer Station would like to help out by doing all our trash hauling, including spot placing the trailers, hauling the trailers, and all the trucking, using Beverly’s trucks and trailers. Henderson said this would mean that we would not have to buy any of that equipment. He said this conversation was very preliminary and the costs for them to do this has not yet been discussed, but it looks like a promising possibility.

During her financial report, Clendenin said everything looks as expected, except that the engineering costs will probably be higher then budgeted for because of extra engineering studies concerning the type of soil they are considering purchasing for the landfill.

Clendenin also delivered a Safety Committee report, saying they met quarterly last year, held the required safety training, site inspections, and checked all their drivers’ DMV records with no problems found.

The members also approved the fence specifications and for the advertising of the bids to build the fence along the access road to the landfill. The fence will be 47 inches high, plus be topped with a strand of barbed wire, and made of 12-gauge woven wire. The bidder will be responsible for removing the old fence, but will be allowed to dispose of it in the landfill free of charge. The bid will be published in the newspaper on March 6 and 13^th.

The Mayor of Durbin had been invited to the meeting to discuss that town’s garbage regulations and disposal; however, he was unable to make the meeting because of a work commitment, and will be invited to a future meeting.