Special 109 Board meeting yields scant results By JOE REDMON Chairman Bim Wardrip called a one-agenda-item special meeting of the Meade County 109 Board into order Dec. 13 with fellow board members Shannon Loose, Heber Burchett, Bill Hoffman, Mark Hubbard and Jim Harris in attendance. Packy Vessels was unable to attend. The board was joined by Magistrate Herbie Chism and quickly discussed and approved bid packets assembled by Meade County Solid Waste & Recycle (MCSW&R) Coordinator Mark Gossett. Gossett explained the packets would now be sent to Fiscal Court for approval. The meeting then quickly adjourned. The board was questioned as to whether they viewed themselves as continuing to control solid waste management within the county and whether the timeline presented to Fiscal Court a week ago could be met if every decision had to be voted upon by Fiscal Court. When a $250,000 dollar loan from Fiscal Court was discussed a couple weeks ago, the 109 Board then assured the assembled magistrates this budget-cutting measure (privatizing collection) would be in place by April 1, 2007. However, with no more meetings of the current Fiscal Court scheduled this year, the bid packets probably won’t be approved for delivery to private carriers until sometime in mid-January. This delay could potentially prevent the winning bidder from being able to start business on April 1. There are legal concerns as well. The updating and amendment of applicable ordinances take time. The updating and re-writing of the county’s solid waste five-year plan and subsequent approval by the state government is another hurdle. To top off these obstacles, Gossett insists he has good information from other counties that the county’s franchise fee must be included in the bid from the private carrier. Therefore, the fee must be known and listed inside the bid packet prior to issuance. The franchise fee would be the fee assessed each user of the garbage service to cover the expense of operating the recycle center, coordinator, staff, and to pay off the outstanding debt of the MCSW&R. The 109 Board meets in its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Dec. 18.
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