Landfill road repairs in limbo
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR - Don’t expect to see smoother roads around Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility any time soon.
After a lengthy discussion with Stark County Engineer Mike Rehfus about repairing the haul roads around the landfill in Pike Township of Stark County, Rehfus was left in limbo by the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District at Friday’s meeting.
Twice the board’s vote ended 4-4, with the tie denying the granting of the funds. The first vote was for $119,394 to repair the roads immediately. The second was for $147,756, which included $30,000 spent by Stark County earlier in the year.
Because of the resignation of Stark County Commissioner Gayle Jackson, who is leaving to become the regional director of the Ohio Lottery Commission, there was no one to break the tie. The Stark County Democratic party has 30 days to select her replacement. The board of directors consists of the three commissioners from each of the three counties.
Stark County Commissioners Jane Vignos and Todd Bosley and Wayne County Commissioners Scott Wiggam and Ann Obrecht voted yes on both motions. Tuscarawas County commissioners Kerry Metzger, Jim Seldenright and Chris Abbuhl and Wayne County Commissioner Cheryl Noah voted no.
“There is no allowance in the new plan to use funds from the tipping fees to repair roads, but interest money can be used,” District Executive Director David Held said.
Board Chairman Metzger suggested the landfill committee develop a road repair plan before awarding any funding for repairs.
Metzger said after the meeting the reason the vote ended in a tie was because several of the commissioners were not in favor of spending interest money to repair roads when tipping fees can be used.
“I am not opposed to the roads being repaired,” Metzger said. “In the new solid waste plan, written by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the plan doesn’t include the use of tipping fees for road repairs.
“Hopefully, we can take the road repair plan back to the OEPA and get this changed. Using tipping fees to repair roads is a viable expense. We just don’t want to use interest money that is needed for other things.”
At the May board meeting, Rehfus asked the board to pay for $147,756 in road repairs around the landfill. The roads the trash haulers use are Fohl Rd., Gracemont St., Sherman Church Rd. and Dueber Ave. Rehfus said Dueber needs the most repairs.
On Friday, Rehfus presented information about the history of the agreement between the board and Stark County for road repairs. He said the district has spent $3 million over the years.
“The top layer of asphalt is peeling off where the trash trucks turn, and it is causing distress to the pavement,” he said. “It needs ground down. Also, it doesn’t look like the ramp project is going to be moving forward.”
Rehfus was referring to a proposed on-off ramp at Gracemont St. at I-77.
“My concerns are we are spending money for landfills and problems created by landfills when we should be saving landfill space for the three counties,” Noah said. “I would like a comparison on what the district has spent to repair roads and what the landfills have spent to repair the roads.”
Abbuhl asked whether Countywide would be willing to help pay for the road repairs.
Tim Vandersall, general manager of Countywide, said the landfill gives the district $2 million a year in tipping fees, but he would take the request back to his board.
“I voted ‘no’ because I feel Countywide needs to help pay for repairs. Those tipping fees are required by law that you pay that to the district and is not designated by us,” Noah responded to Vandersall.
Bosley said this is a dire road situation.
“It is not a tremendous amount of money to make the repairs,” he said. “These are roads being worn out by trash trucks.”
Seldenright said he is in favor of the repairs but some of them are in Pike Township, which receives funding from Countywide. Several roads are also in Bethlehem Township.
“I just would like to see the funds come from tipping fees and not from interest money,” Seldenright said.
Obrecht said she spoke with Andrew Booker of the OEPA , who helped write the plan, and he said that if the plan is reopened to make changes, he is afraid that practice will continue. Booker added that the provision to use tipping fee funds to repair roads should have been included in the plan by the district prior to its approval.
Rehfus told the board there are no weight restrictions on the haul roads. He said Dueber was paved five years ago, and it is in bad condition.
“There are hundreds of trucks on those roads every day. We have extended the concrete in some areas. I can write a five-year plan for road repairs around the landfill,” he said.
Wiggam asked whether the plan could include weight limit reduction and some standards designed for protection of the roads that also would reduce the costs of constant repairs.
In another matter, Vandersall said the landfill is safe and sound and the liner is performing its functions as intended, as are the other environmental protection systems at the site.
“Recently, a team of experts who have many years of experience in the area of landfill construction and management, evaluated the facility and concluded that there is no evidence of compromise to the composite liner or leachate collection systems. Keep in mind Countywide is the only 100 percent lined landfill in this district,” Vandersall said. “Countrywide’s liner is a multilayered liner system.
“The bottom line is that I believe that the site is the safest in the district. Not only because of what we built into the system, but also because of volunteer programs that we have such as radiation detectors that we use at our landfill,” he said.
He said the odors around the facility have decreased, there has been a reduction in complaints, and the number of documented high readings has declined to that of a normal landfill. He said there are about 60 full-time employees working daily on the issue, and they are getting the job done.
