Fiscal Court conducts public hearing on solid waste disposal By JOE REDMON Meade County Judge Executive Harry Craycroft conducted his second special-called meeting Jan 3. The single-item agenda was to conduct a public hearing on the future of the 109 Board. Though several members of the 109 Board were present, none spoke publicly. Three members of the public expressed an opinion regarding the matter at hand. Former magistrate Don Callecod spoke first, making a case for the amendment of applicable ordinances in order to preserve a 109 Board as an advisory board to county government. He maintained Fiscal Court didn’t have the time to adequately address this mission. Callecod suggested his research had instructed him that Fiscal Court could make the 109 Board “as strong or weak as it wanted it to be.” He discussed the history of solid waste disposal by the county government, describing the business plan used to justify the purchase by the Meade County Solid Waste & Recycle (MCSW&R) of trucks to replace private sector contractors as “flawed.” But he conceded the effort was made “to attempt to save people money,” and though it had failed, it was time to move forward. Callecod went farther, making specific suggestions to the Court on the role and duties of the coordinator (currently Mark Gossett), updating the county’s 5-year Solid Waste Management Plan, suggesting the use of a credit card rather than a petty cash fund, as well as creating a line item in the county’s budget for MCSW&R. He ended his comments by stating that employees of the MCSW&R should be subject to the county’s administrative code. Other comments made concurring with Callecod’s basic assessment were made by this reporter and Anthony Crutcher of Ekron. Crutcher complained of his being sued for bills despite his being recently ill and not generating any trash for pickup. There was a further suggestion made that past legal issues and lawsuits between and among the county government and MCSW&R should cause the generation of a completely new ordinance by Fiscal Court in order to properly regulate the activities of a future 109 Board. Callecod insisted this wasn’t necessary, that an appropriately amended ordinance was the quickest way to accomplish the necessary tasks. Craycroft suggested the Court would take up this matter during the Court’s first regular business meeting Jan. 9 at 7 p.m.
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