Published: September 27, 2008 01:00 am         

Meager turnout at landfill county contract meeting

CUMBERLAND — Only three Allegany County residents wanted to speak garbage Thursday as the commissioners conducted their weekly meeting in the evening to allow people the opportunity to speak on the Mountainview Landfill contract proposal.

Steve Young, county public works director, gave a brief recap of two earlier presentations and highlighted important points of the proposed 20-year contract with Waste Management Inc., which operates the landfill.

Young gave a similar, but much more thorough, presentation at a public work session in July and earlier this month during a morning public meeting with the commissioners. No one spoke against the contract proposal at those two meetings.

Area resident Ron Arnold asked whether Mountainview Landfill would need to expand in the future to another site. Young said only 40 acres of the 800-acre property is currently permitted to accept waste.

The company also has expressed interest in permitting, constructing and operating a single-stream recycling operation at the facility and a compost site. That would allow recyclable materials to be gathered — and not separated by type — at a single location and hauled to another Waste Management facility for separation.

On Thursday, Kens Lane resident Lynn Keiter said his relatives have lived on the family’s Second Chance Farm for more than 50 years. Keiter said it’s a difficult position to be against apple pie or recycling.

“Who could be against recycling?” Keiter said with an apparent hint of sarcasm.

Sheri Sensabaugh, representing The Greater Cumberland Committee, read a letter written by Colleen Peterson, executive director, about the regional organization’s meeting with Waste Management officials last year and “as a result of that meeting, an ongoing dialogue has been developed and a pilot recycling program has been initiated with several of our member businesses.”

While that will have a “positive impact,” Sensabaugh said, “we are interested in a long-term and more expansive approach to recycling” and the single-stream recycling operation fits that pursuit well.

Keiter also said the $1-per-ton collection fee for out-of-county waste — which is expected to generate more than $1.8 million over the life of the new contract — “sounds like really a sweetheart deal for (Waste Management).”

Young said, currently, the county collects nothing on the 50,000 tons of out-of-county waste the facility manages, and “$1 is better than nothing.”

Even before July, Waste Management officials asked about permitting for a land-clearing disposal site. The site would operate as a for-profit venture for the company.

But Braddock Construction of Frostburg has requested rezoning of agricultural property about a mile away. Along with a rubble landfill and a hot-mix asphalt plant, owners Kristin and Dave Weimer have indicated they’d like to operate a land-clearing disposal site.

Right now there’s not a single one in the county, Young said, and either project is a long way from obtaining the necessary permits. However, “I don’t think there’s a need for two. Maybe it’s whoever does it first.”

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.