The discussion of Nelsonville City Council’s first meeting in the new year quickly turned trashy. The majority of the meeting was spent reviewing the local plan for trash removal for 2012, which was first read at council last night.
In recent years, the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District saw losses of more than $100,000 and an inadequate capacity for processing recyclables, according to the district’s report.
According the Ohio Revised Code, all solid-waste districts in the state must update their waste-management plans every five years. The Nelsonville Policy Committee began working on their revisal in 2010 and made the official proposal Nov. 9.
According to the updated plan, the building and equipment used by the district to collect and process recyclables have seen little to no updates during the past five years and are costing the district money and labor.
To comply with standards set by the state, which require districts to maintain specific levels of recycling, the facilities need to see improvement.
The changes, including an in-county recycling processing center, will increase residents’ waste-removal rates by $12 per year.
One resident concerned with the proposed recycling methods asked why the district could not use outsider recycling pickup, such as Rumpke Recycling in Columbus.
Councilman Bill Thiesen said district pickup and removal is more efficient because it is overseen locally rather than outside district limits.
The second reading of the update and the vote will happen at council’s next meeting Jan. 23.
Todd Shelton, director of the Athens County Economic Development Council gave the 2011 annual update of the programs and projects completed in 2011 and in the works for 2012.
Council ended the session by discussing the move of Pelatonia, the annual bike-race fundraiser, away from Nelsonville to northeast Ohio; the expansion of Stuart’s Opera House; and the possibility of a roundabout on Route 33 coming from Logan.
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