By: Jennifer Britt
The Parsons Advocate
For the month of June, the Tucker County Solid Waste Authority reported collecting 6,259.75 of solid waste tonnage. This brings the total for the fiscal year from July 2021 to June 2022 to 61,260.74. This is 4059.64 less than previous fiscal year. There was a monthly average of 5,673.33 tons.
Leachate ended the fiscal year with 68,079.99 gallons with the month of June having 6,482.39 gallons. There were 122 loads of leachate hauled in the month of June with one going to Moorefield, with 6,129 gallons and costing $153.23 to treat; 110 loads were taken to Westernport, Md. for a total of 687,550 gallons and a treatment cost of $17,188.75; and 11 loads were taken to the City of Thomas water treatment plant with a total of 106,169 gallons and a treatment cost of $4,777.61. There was a one percent increase in the fiscal years ending in 2022 verses 2021.
Mark Joseph, accountant for the authority was on hand to provide a financial update. Joseph said, “We have everything in pretty good shape. Carol worked on this so we can have this ready. So, if the auditors come in at anytime our books are in good order for that review.”
During the director’s report, Chairman Mark Holstine said, “We do not have the ability to go into any long-term major debt at the moment nor do we necessarily need to either. We are that end that with the purchase of the compactor we have pretty much upgrade the fleet to where it needs to be to operate in somewhat of an efficient manner. However, with the fuel increase and the cost of other supplies but mainly because of the fuel you see us at a cash strapped situation.
Some of us were in a meeting to discuss the potential for a rate increase. What that may have to look like, which I do not want to state publicly yet. It is not an enormous amount, but in order for us to defray from continuing down this slippery slope of being cash poor, once again, we have to do something.
That something needs to come from either internally, once again, or we need more money at the gate per ton. Those are the considerations being made. A good point made during the meeting was that it was better to do little numbers at a time than big numbers spread further apart.”
Holstine finished his report by saying, “Fred (Davis) I am just going to relate this to you since you are the county commissioner on the board. I am considered as the Chairman of the Tucker County Solid Waste Authority that we only have one bus (ambulance) running through the county. On the way up here today on the other side of Kerens basically there goes a bus (ambulance). There is no ambulance in Tucker County right now.
We are running a very dangerous operation on this hill. Since we have been here, we have had to call the ambulance three times. It is not careless or anyone’s fault, things happen. The wind blows and blows the doors out of some one’s hands in one of these trailers and smashes a guy’s hand.
I encourage the county commission to get behind the EMS levy and support it publicly and convince people that is what they need. This is a very dangerous operation, and I am just looking at from right here and I do not like not having an ambulance unavailable if we need it.
Like these guys (employees) we should support them as a board and their safety should be on everyone’s plate. We do all we can to train them, to help them and give them the equipment that they need but still stuff happens, and you cannot control what comes into your facility. I cannot control everybody else’s drivers. I can not control the public and what they are going to do.
All of that is exposure and I would love to have the back up of the county commission with the levy. I do not know if I have read it in the paper or wherever but there just seems to be too much conflict between EMS and the county. When you come from a county like where I come from those two are seamless. If you pick up the phone and call 911 for an ambulance that bad boy is going to be sitting there in about five minutes and that is nice to have.
I am encouraging you to put more buses (ambulances) on the road because that is what we need.”
The next Tucker County Solid Waste Authority meeting will be held on September 20, 2022, at 3 p.m. and will be located at 284 Landfill Road, Davis.