Gilmer County commissioners held a workshop Thursday, February 3 at 9 a.m. to discuss household trash disposal following a town hall meeting on the same topic last week.

Questions regarding how citizens will pay (decal, or per bag, raising taxes), how the county will address the shortage in the budget, and when all convenience centers will be opened have yet to be decided. Protocol does not allow issues to be finalized at town hall or workshop meetings but authorities appear anxious to put this to bed.

“We have hashed this over and over. It’s time to make a decision,” Commissioner Beattie said.
Chairman Commissioner JC Sanford’s theme to the meeting seemed to be, “the county needs cash flow, cash flow now.” All commissioners stressed urgency to do this ASAP.

Post 1 commissioner Will Beattie confirmed that some of the property tax millage rate is for household trash disposal and that the county only needs to look at the short fall at around $150,000. Chairman Commissioner Sanford replied that the county needed to make up the full cost of the solid waste bill, which is $709,000.

“This is a tax increase,” said Post commissioner 2 Danny R. Hall.

The first issue at hand: how do we re-open all trash convenience centers as soon as possible? Without operating funds, Commissioners Beattie and Hall seemed to favor decals to recoup costs, while Chairman Commissioner Sanford wants a per bag charge. Commissioner Beattie stressed a safety concern for the people working the convenience centers and handling cash. Commissioner Hall seconded that and also stressed there should be no cash at the convenience centers.

Commissioner Hall also said the majority of the citizens contacting him want a decal instead of per bag fee. He added that if we charged $1 per bag at the estimated bags thrown out a year, that would bring in $1,000,000. Commissioner Beattie commented that household trash should not be a profit to the county, and that the fee should only cover the service.

Advanced Disposal Community Affairs Manager Marcie J. Kreager was present at the meeting. Chairman Sanford encouraged her to join the conversation to tell the board how Advanced Disposal handles Fannin County solid waste. Fannin County and Union County have a contract with Advanced Disposal that completely privatizes solid waste processes. Advanced Disposal manages the convenience centers and processing of monies; the counties do nothing. The counties do receive a ‘host fee,’ according to Kreager.

Commissioner Beattie said he was in favor of privatizing the solid waste and Commissioner Hall was in agreement.

Advanced Disposal had submitted in the past a privatized solid waste proposal to former Gilmer County Chairman Mark Chastain. The commissioners asked Advanced Disposal to submit a new proposal to privatize solid waste. The county attorney, David Clark, reminded commissioners they would have to put it out for public bid. He also requested a copy of the contract Advanced Disposal has with Fannin and Union. Clark made reference to an exclusive county contract for solid waste ending up in court in Gwinnett County.

All commissioners agree a strong look will be taken to privatize solid waste with Chairman Sanford who was still reluctant to go this direction.

Paul Peters from Pickens County addressed workshop attendees and asked why the county wasn’t working with experts in solid waste and recycling. Peters stated he had more than 10 years experience in solid waste and recycling.

The board of commissioners did not address expert consulting reports on this matter; the only experts in the room were from Advanced Disposal, the company the citizens of Gilmer County are paying.

Recycling
The issue of recycling was addressed several times at the workshop. Commissioner Danny Hall said someone contacted him and said they would handle all the county’s recycling at no cost to the county. If the county privatized solid waste, that would include a recycling program. All commissioners agreed there needs to be a recycling program ASAP, but the county can not afford the equipment necessary to implement a program fast enough to benefit the county to offset solid waste cost to the citizens. Chairman Sanford wants to keep all recycling and solid waste in house and have the county handle it.

Fetchyournews.com asked if we institute a fee (raise taxes) to the citizens for household trash, what account will the money go in? Will it end up in a general fund? Would it be used for anything else other then to pay out the contract to dispose our trash? Chairman Sanford stated that the money would not go into a general fund to be used in other areas of the county. The money would go to trash only.
Commissioners propose to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance (below) at 5:30 p.m. on February 10, 2011 at the Gilmer County Courthouse – Jury Assembly Room and to vote on the proposed ordinance at the regular meeting of the Commissioners to be held at 6 p.m. on February 10, 2011 in the Jury Assembly Room of the Gilmer County Courthouse and to final adopt the amended ordinance at the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners to be held at 6:00 p.m. on February 24, 2011 in the Jury Assembly Room of the Gilmer County Courthouse.
A copy of the proposed amended ordinance is available for examination and inspection by the public at the office of the Board of Commissioners, 1 Broad Street, Ellijay, Georgia, and at the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court, located in the Gilmer County Courthouse, 1 Broad Street, Ellijay, Georgia.
Ordinance
Pursuant to the Georgia Constitution Article IX, Section II, Paragraph 1, et seq., the
Gilmer County Board of Commissioners propose to amend 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.