Tri-county waste plan finally gets OK
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR – After 14 years of delays, the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District has a new solid waste plan.
At a special board of directors meeting Thursday afternoon in the district office, the plan was approved.
Because the board could not agree, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials stepped in and wrote the plan for the district. The district also wrote a plan and submitted it to the OEPA. Many ideas from the district plan were used in the new plan.
The district has been operating under a plan adopted in 1993.
District Executive Director David Held said there are no surprises in the plan, and the district will receive more money than first anticipated.
“The district will be charged $62,000 for the OEPA writing the plan. The funds have been placed in the budget for 2007,” Held said.
The board passed two resolutions to give Chairman and Stark County Commissioner Richard Regula the authority to sign the Ohio EPA plan and to sign the consent order implementing the plan.
The board was satisfied with the plan and lauded Andrew Booker, environmental supervisor of the OEPA Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management, for working with district representatives and listening to their ideas.
“I must give credit to the Ohio EPA for listening to us and our concerns,” Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger said. “In three years we can write an amended plan and submit it to OEPA. This board has made remarkable changes. We were put in a position with issues that happened with past boards.
“This issue should have been put behind us a long time ago. I am so proud this board has come together. Let’s deal with approving the plan and move on.”
The policy committee of the district will be able to begin writing an amended plan in about 18 months.
In another matter, Held said the odor problem near Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility, which is in Pike Township in Stark County, persists.
In September, OEPA Director Joseph Koncelik declared the landfill a public nuisance and set a Dec. 15 deadline for the landfill to clean up the problems.
Held said he expects Koncelik to give a recommendation to the Stark County Health Department and the city of Canton Health Department on the matter.
The health departments could deny Countywide’s 2007 license to operate if the odor continues.
A new OEPA director is expected to be named by Gov.-elect Ted Strickland.
