{"id":131,"date":"2013-02-10T21:53:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T02:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/ways-to-fix-the-trash-problem.html"},"modified":"2013-02-10T21:53:35","modified_gmt":"2013-02-11T02:53:35","slug":"ways-to-fix-the-trash-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/ways-to-fix-the-trash-problem.html","title":{"rendered":"Ways to fix the trash problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nI commend Commissioner John Page for\nhis op-ed in the VDT today,\n\n<\/a>\nattempting to do what no other Commissioner has tried:\nto explain the trash issue.\nIndeed, like him, most of the people I talked\nto while campaigning for Gretchen were for keeping\nthe waste collection centers open, and of those\nthe vast majority were willing to pay more,\nwhich is the main reason the previous Commission\nmade a big mistake in closing those centers.\nUnfortunately his letter seems to indicate nothing can be done.\nWell, here are some things that can be done.\n<\/p>\n

\nLet the contract lapse.\n<\/h3>\nCommissioner Joyce Evans insisted on the contract\nwith the sole provider being only for one year.\nLet it lapse after that year!\n

\nPublish the contract.\n<\/h3>\nWhat’s in the contract?\nHow do we even know it’s for only one year?\nThe new Commission already had to\n\ndo over a decision of the previous Commission\n(remove license fee from Sunday alcohol sales)<\/a>\nbecause the ordinance written up afterwards wasn’t what\nthey thought they passed.\nPublish the contract and let everyone see!\n

\nPublish an accounting for the waste collection sites.\n<\/h3>\nCommissioner Page wrote:\n
\nThe county was losing hundreds of thousands\nof dollars each year because the fees for the permits\nwere not bringing in enough money to fully fund\nthe sites.\n<\/blockquote>\nHow do we know that?\n\n\n\n<\/a>\nAccording to the only figures actually made public\nby the county,\n\nthat deficit was rapidly decreasing.<\/a>\nThe only further detail we got was\n\nthis handwaving by County Manager Joe Pritchard:<\/a>\n
\nUnfortunately operating costs run annually slightly over $400,000. The\nrevenue projections are a little bit complicated.\n<\/blockquote>\nWell, let’s see what’s so complicated.\nPublish an accounting!\n

\nGet legal insurance if the county doesn’t have it.\n<\/h3>\nCommissioner Page ended his op-ed with this:\n
\nHowever, the County cannot legally breach its contract\nwithout the threat of being sued by the company\ninto which it has entered the contract.\n<\/blockquote>\nHow does Commissioner\nPage know that the contractee would have a leg\nto stand on if they tried to sue?\nPublish the contract so we can see!\n

\nBesides, on the front page of the same issue of the VDT\nwas this story:\n\nSuit against sheriff settled<\/a>,\n<\/p>\n

\nA $590,000 settlement has been reached between Sheriff Chris Prine and\nthree of his former employees from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office,\nresolving a four-year dispute that centered on allegations of wrongful\ntermination and work place discrimination.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nDoes anyone think the sheriff is going to pay that settlement personally?\nThat’s why the county has insurance!\n<\/p>\n

\nIf the argument is the taxpayers would end up paying for higher\n\n<\/a>\ninsurance premiums, that could easily happen if the Commission\ndoes not<\/em> fix this problem, if someone sues them for\nbeing derelict in\n\ntheir legal responsibility<\/a>\nto\n\nprotect<\/a>\nthe\n\nthe public health, safety, and environment.<\/a>\nThat lawsuit against the sheriff was by terminated employees.\nThe county just\n\nlaid off a bunch of employees.<\/a>\nWho knows what could happen?\n<\/p>\n

\nReopen the dump sites with higher fees for the cards.\n<\/h3>\nSee above about how do we even know the contract says the county\ncan’t do that?\n

\nOr set up an enterprise fund or special tax district to fund the sites.\n<\/h3>\nThis was an option never even discussed by the Commission,\neven though they authorize special tax lighting districts all the time.\n

\nTake the red pill.\n<\/h3>\n\n<\/a>\nWhen new Commissioners take that training in December in Atlanta,\nare they forced to take the blue pill?\nThey always come back afraid somebody might sue.\nChoose the red pill!\nStop making decisions against the public good without\neven holding public hearings.\nAnd if a previous Commission has done that, fix it!\n

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