Waste district plan moves closer to approval
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR – Andrew Booker, environmental supervisor of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management, presented a working draft of the solid waste plan to the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District.
During a recent board meeting in the district office at Wilkshire Hills. Booker said the plan is nearly complete and OEPA is working on editing and some remaining minor issues. He said only some consistency, formatting and appearance changes need to be made.
Booker will present a complete draft plan at Friday’s Policy Committee meeting at 9:30 in the district office. A special board of directors meeting will be Dec. 21 at 3 to look at the completed plan.
Individual recycling and litter prevention programs will continue in each county. The district will fully fund each county office. The recycling offices will be guided by the solid waste management plan, and the group will meet monthly with the solid waste district officials.
The program’s employees will no longer be employees of the individual counties, but become district employees.
Included in the new plan is a provision that communities with curbside programs will earn a maximum of $45 per ton recycled and drop-off programs will earn a maximum of $40 a ton in 2007, while the district will retain the program for two plan cycles. Booker said in about three years the district will be able to begin writing its own plan.
“The more recycling a community does the more funds they will receive,” Booker said.
Also included in the plan is employing a full-time grant administrator/program auditor to oversee all grant programs and be located in the district’s central office at Bolivar.
Booker said the yard waste collection costs went from $339,141 in 2003 to $912,000 in 2006. A “Composting Makes $ense Program” will replace the existing yard waste program funding in 2007. Communities will earn a maximum of $25 per ton of yard waste diverted from disposal.
The Household Hazardous Waste collection program will remain unchanged except for latex paint, which will be collected differently, and the district will evaluate a permanent Household Hazardous Waste collection facility.
The disaster debris management is a new program that will be implemented after the approval of the new plan, meaning the district will work with local emergency management agencies to determine appropriate roles for the district in an emergency situation. The plan authorizes the district to spend up to $75,000 in any year or up to $750,000 if a state or federal disaster is declared; however, the plan does not require the district to spend money but will provide flexibility to determine what responsibilities the district will assume in an emergency situation.
Under the new plan the district will fund one deputy and a program administrator for the Tuscarawas County Sheriffs Department, a deputy and a roadside recycling crew for the Wayne County Sheriffs Department, and three full-time deputies for the Stark County Sheriffs Department, and the district can budget for the purchase of equipment as needed by each department.
Health Department funding will not change.
Newcomerstown Landfill is included in the plan, which allocates $3 million for the first three years of the planning period to close the landfill and cap it.
The new plan does not budget funds for the construction of an on-off ramp at Gracemont St. in Stark County. Ohio EPA will include the project as an allowable future expenditure in the plan the board of directors approves and money is available.
If approved, the plan would need to be signed by the OEPA director, chairman of the board of directors and the chairman of the policy committee.
A consent agreement would be signed by the OEPA director and the chairman of the board of directors. No formal comment period is required by law for any public input into the plan.
“The contents of the plan are good and include a great amount of improvement. We (OEPA) will be happy to assistance with programs; however, the district will be implementing the plan,” Booker said.
The board also presented a plaque to Stark County commissioner and chairman of the board Richard Regula for his past four years on the board.
Executive Director David Held said it is sad that Regula was defeated in the Nov. election because he is an excellent communicator, a pleasure to work with and always available.
Regula thanked the board for its support in the past year.
“I have so much respect for those advocates that work hard to protect us when dealing with the landfills in the district,” Regula said.
In other business, the board:
– APPROVED a request from the city of Louisville for the full $16,680 for composting for 2006.
– APPROVED a contract with Truex of Loudenville to print the district newsletter twice a year at a cost of $21,200 per printing. The cost for postage to send the newsletter is $35,000.
– SET the re-organizational and regular board of directors meeting for Jan. 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the district office at 9918 Wilkshire Blvd., Bolivar.
