City council supports trash hauler’s position

WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg City Council opted last month to offend the Iowa County Landfill Commission rather than its trash hauler.

During a meeting of the Iowa County Landfill Commission, Iowa County Supervisor and Commission Board Member Alan Schumacher asked about a trash hauler who is taking Williamsburg trash to Johnson County rather than to the Iowa County landfill, Williamsburg City Councilman Tyler Marshall said during a council meeting last month.

The City of Williamsburg has a 28E agreement with Iowa County stating that the city will take its trash to the Iowa County Landfill, Marshall said.

Williamsburg City Council members were not sure what the 28E agreement required. Marshall said it governs how the landfill board works but also includes waste flow provisions and provides some guarantee of tonnage and funding.

Williamsburg City Attorney Eric Tindal said the issue is that the trash hauler is mixing solid waste from several communities.

ABC Disposal Systems takes 99% of the waste it collects in Williamsburg to the Iowa County landfill, ABC co-owner Chad Carter told the city council.

What doesn’t go to the Iowa County landfill goes to the transfer station and is taken to Illinois, said Carter. That amounts to about 20 tons a week.

Iowa County is losing out on about $40 a week, said Carter. “Put it on our bill.”

The City of Williamsburg could pay an additional $40 to cover that loss, said Williamsburg City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld, or it could back out of the 28E agreement.

“Given the difficulties with finding a waste hauler … we’re going to have to back out of the 28E,” said Tindal.

Carter said that the current trash route starts in Iowa City, moves through Williamsburg and heads back through Johnson County, so some Williamsburg waste goes back to Johnson County.

“Right now, this is the way the route flows,” said Carter. That could change in the future. The business is growing.

That practice is being put under scrutiny by the landfill commission, said Marshall.

Altering the route to take all of Williamsburg’s solid waste to the Iowa County landfill would increase the time it takes to run the route, and that would increase ABC’s cost, said Carter.

“We want to play with in the Iowa County sandbox,” said Williamsburg Mayor Adam Grier, but the city doesn’t want to rock the boat with its trash vendors.

“I would not be in favor of interfering with what ABC is doing,” said Grier.

“If I’ve got to get involved, let me know,” said Tindal. Otherwise, he’ll consider it a non-issue, he said.

The council decided to take no action. The landfill commission meets again in June.

Carter said that Schumacher is his competition and that Schumacher’s position on the landfill commission presents a conflict of interest.

Schumacher said last week that he works for a recycling company in Marion but has nothing to do with trash in Iowa County.

Schumacher said that he had been contacted by Larry Cox at Cox Sanitation about a hauler not taking Williamsburg waste material to the Iowa County landfill. That takes revenue from the county.

As a member of the Commission, Schumacher brought up the issue during a meeting.

“I’m just doing the job,” Schumaucher said.