County May Charge for Trash

The Gilmer County Commissioners held both a public hearing (5:30 p.m.) and a board meeting (6:00 p.m.) Thursday, February 10th. The pressing topics of the day: can the county legally charge for trash Resolution #11-009?

The Resolution was passed, allowing the county to charge for trash. It was still not determined how, or when the sites will be open.

Local citizen, Jim Brooks asked,

“Can you start charging without further public notice?”

Chairman Sanford assured him, as well as the rest of the audience, that there would be one more public hearing before any decisions would be made.

The commissioners explained to the audience that they had not yet received an actual proposal from any private companies for the handling of Gilmer County’s trash, because Resolution #11-009 needed to be discussed.

The resolution, which was passed unanimously during the board meeting, was to amend the stature to enable Gilmer County to add a charge for the disposal of trash. Although there were no formal proposals, the commissioners made it clear that $1 a 30- to 40- pound bag would be the highest price they would accept.

When asked for reasons that the county does not start its own recycling program, Commissioner Will Beattie answered,

“We don’t necessarily have the capital to invest in bailers or the right equipment.”

He reiterated that he was in search of a short term solution to fix the current problem that could turn into a long term solution; however, the short term was the most prudent.

Marcie Kreager, the Community Affairs Manager for Advanced Disposal, a company who had previously submitted a proposal to former County Chairman Mark Chastain, spoke of plans that would be in the Advanced Disposal proposal.

The plans included a “turn-key program,” which would encompass all sites being open but at different times and days. The sites with the highest volume would be open six days a week, while those with the lowest usage would be open as few as two days a week. All sites would open on Mondays and Saturdays. Advanced Disposal estimated that its plan would provide 260 hours of service. The County currently has the sites for approximately 180 hours.

The proposal would also cover a recycling education program to be started with the school system and/or the Chamber of Commerce. Cregor said that the school system would be the most important place for a recycling education program, because schools produce the most recyclable material.

The board meeting commenced with a call to order by Chairman J.C. Sanford. The board took action on both Resolution #11-009 and Resolution #11-010. They were passed unanimously.

RESOLUTION #11-009: Adopt 1st reader amendment to Chapter 46, “Solid Waste,” Article IV “Refuse Collection and Disposal” of the Code of Ordinances of Gilmer County, Georgia so as to change various provisions related to said Ordinance; to provide for an effective date: to repeal conflicting laws: and for other purposes.

RESOLUTION #11-010: Declaring the building known as the old Pro Shop located at the Whitepath Golf Course as surplus property and to determine the manner of disposal and to authorize the advertisement of the same.

In laymen’s terms, Gilmer County may charge for the collection of and disposal of trash outside of the property tax millage rate. The “old Pro Shop” is officially surplus, and will be advertised as so for the purpose of selling the material in order to save the county the cost of disposal.

Commissioner Beattie announced that the Harrison Foundation, in collaboration with ETC have agreed to donate enough money to repair the Community Pool with the provision that the County be able to cover the operational costs of running the pool. There was also a sense of urgency placed on the issue as the repairs needed are estimated to take 10 weeks. Chairman Sanford was adamant that repairs should be extensive enough to ensure a lack of future repairs.

The board then moved to place an advertisement for a bid on the fixing of the pool based on the amount of funds donated.