County receives recycling offer

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

The big question still being asked by Henry County residents is who will be picking up their garbage on Oct. 10.

Since receiving notice early last week that Whaley Waste Systems would be closing its Mt. Pleasant services effective Oct. 8, the Henry County Board of Supervisors has been looking into providing garbage service to the county residents, as the county is required to fund 100 percent of the rural garbage collection through the local option sales tax.

?Our motivation is that rural residents have wanted that service,? said Kent White, supervisor vice chairman. ?In the absence of Whaley Waste, when it closes down, we feel obligated to provide that service.?

The supervisors thought there might be some hope in the contract between the county and Whaley Waste Systems, as the contract required 60 days? notice by certified letter before closing operations; the company had not followed this requirement, which may have bought some more time.

However, County Auditor Shelly Barber informed the supervisors on Tuesday morning that Mark Bennett of Waste Systems called and informed her that his legal council said there was a clause in the contract saying they need to provide no other notice to the county, although Barber said that County Attorney Darin Stater said he saw no such clause in the contract.

So, the Oct. 8 deadline is still in place.

?You might have had 60 days, but you don?t have 60 days,? said Barber. ?You?re done as of Oct. 8.

One part of the issue may have been solved, as City Carton Recycling offered its services to board of supervisors at their Tuesday morning meeting.

?We want the recyclables, and we will pay for the recyclables,? said Tim Ockenfels, division manager for City Carton Recycling. Ockenfels noted that recyclables are currently bringing in a high price and September?s prices would be $50 per ton for newspaper, $75 per ton for cardboard and $70 per ton for plastic.

Ockenfels offered to lease the county recycling trailers to put out with the trash trucks. The trailers would then have to be dropped off at City Carton. He also offered roll-off containers like the ones currently at the City Carton Recycling facility in Mt. Pleasant. These containers will also need to be brought to City Carton when full.

However, this means that the county would still need to find a truck and a waste hauler to transport the containers.

?We?d have to get a hauler, so we?d have to talk to our county attorney,? said Marc Lindeen, supervisor chairman.

Because Oct. 8 is just over two weeks away, there is not enough time to go through the normal bid process to choose a new company to use. The supervisors need to find out from Stater if they are able to contract with another company right away because of the special situation.

City Carton accepts newspaper, magazines, office paper, plastics one through seven, tin, aluminum and any kind of cardboard, including pizza boxes. It does not take glass.

In other business, the supervisors met with Allan Barnes and Doug Ensminger of the Henry County Soil and Water Conservation and approved stream corridor plans for Heather Branch Creek, located on county land by north of the U.S.D.A.

?At this point we?re not asking for any money from the county. We?re just asking permission to kill the cool grass,? explained Ensminger.

The plan is to kill the cool season grasses and put in native grasses. This will help prevent erosion and provide better water control and increase the water quality of the watershed.

Ensminger said the area will also be a demonstration area.

?I see it as an advantage ? an educational tool and a conservation effort all in one,? said Lindeen.

The area will probably be sprayed twice to ensure the original cover is dead, and then the native grasses will be planted next spring. The seeds for the native grasses are being provided through a grant from Pheasants Forever.