{"id":18231,"date":"2017-03-17T20:50:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T00:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=18231"},"modified":"2017-03-17T20:50:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-18T00:50:30","slug":"deep-south-solid-waste-management-authority-after-privatized-landfill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/deep-south-solid-waste-management-authority-after-privatized-landfill.html","title":{"rendered":"Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority after privatized landfill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nLocal counties and cities\r\nsold off one landfill in Lowndes County in the late 1990s,\r\nand a second one in 2005 through the Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority.\r\nYet in 2007 the\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nDeep South Municipal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (WMA),\r\nwith the same county and city member governments,\r\nwas still active, discussing a regional recycling station.\r\nAnd it is still active today, including some of the same board members\r\nthe entire time since 2005,\r\nsuch as\r\n\r\nValdosta City Manager Larry Hanson<\/a>.\r\nHanson was not present last week\r\n\r\nwhen Valdosta Mayor John Gayle said\r\nValdosta does not control the landfill<\/a>, or perhaps he would have\r\nmentioned that Valdosta through its longterm seat on the WMA board\r\ndoes have some degree of control over the landfill’s operations.\r\n

\r\nI notice quite a few of the Valdosta City Council’s own minutes\r\n\r\nrecord discussions and votes related to that WMA<\/a>\r\nincluding this item from\r\n\r\ntheir Regular meeting of 4 October 2014<\/a>, which was called to order by Mayor Gayle:\r\n

\r\n
    \r\n
  1. \r\n\r\nBoards, Commissions, Authorities, and Advisory Committees\r\n<\/strong>\r\n
      \r\n
    1. \r\nConsideration of an appointment to the Deep South Regional Municipal Solid Waste\r\nManagement Authority. — Appointed Richard Hardy, Public Works Director (7-0 Vote)<\/strong>.\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nThere must be some advantage to the City of Valdosta to have two members\r\n(Hanson and Hardy) on the WMA board.\r\nCertainly the average citizen or organization does not have that.\r\n

      \r\nBill Roberts, VDT, 5 December 2005,\r\n\r\nAuthority closes on landfill deal<\/a>,\r\n\r\n\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nVALDOSTA — After five years of negotiations and hurdles, the\r\nDeep South Solid Waste Management Authority finalized the sale of\r\nits Wetherington Road landfill and operating permit to Onyx\r\nEvergreen on Wednesday.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nThe 350-acre site, adjacent to Onyx’s existing landfill operation,\r\nfetched $2.7 million and included additional considerations in the\r\nform of reduced “tipping fees,” or the amount charged per ton for\r\nsolid waste disposal. Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson estimated\r\nthe deal would save the city $10 million in tipping charges over the\r\n50-year life of the agreement.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nThe Authority — comprised of the cities of Valdosta, Lakeland\r\nand Nashville as well as Lowndes, Lanier and Berrien counties\r\n— originally planned to operate the landfill itself, hoping to\r\nsolve waste management issues in the area, but Onyx offered a better\r\ntonnage rate than the group could achieve on its own.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nAccording to Authority members, the tipping rate alone made the deal\r\nworth the hassle. Onyx agreed to a 50-year contract at $21.95 per\r\nton of refuse. That rate can only be increased every fifth year,\r\nonly in an amount commensurate with inflation and only if the\r\nConsumer Price Index grows by more than 2 percent in the fifth year.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nThe contract also contains a “most-favored-nation” clause. Should\r\nOnyx offer another customer a better deal, Authority members are\r\nguaranteed a rate of a dollar per ton less.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nThere’s more in the story about how much each of the Authority members\r\n“contributed towards the project”.\r\nAnd this:\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nValdosta and Lowndes County bought 900 acres of land in 1997 for\r\n$1.9 million. The county later sold their interest in the 350-acre\r\ntract to the Authority with Valdosta financing the deal. The city\r\nand county still own 550 acres adjacent to the Onyx site, and\r\ndiscussions are under way to decide if the Authority should shop the\r\nproperty, essentially renewing the entire process.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nAfter the municipalities are reimbursed and all costs associated\r\nwith the deal are settled, the Authority will still have nearly\r\n$700,000. Hanson said that money would be used to promote\r\n“environmentally responsible” approaches to solid waste management\r\nin the area.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nKay Harris, VDT, 21 July 2007,\r\n\r\nValdosta’s a potential hub for region’s household waste<\/a>,\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nVALDOSTA — Valdosta\/Lowndes County may soon be the site of a\r\nregional recycling station for all of southern Georgia, and may also\r\none day house a regional transfer station, where household waste\r\nwould arrive by the truck or trainload from other areas before being\r\ntransferred to the local landfill.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nAt a meeting Wednesday of the Deep South Municipal Regional Solid\r\nWaste Management Authority, officials from participating regional\r\ngovernments discussed these and other future projects. The six\r\nmember governments include Valdosta, Lowndes County, Berrien County,\r\nNashville, Lanier County and Lakeland.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nA number of elected officials attended the meeting from the member\r\ngovernments, and as several officials were attending for the first\r\ntime, the vice-chairman of the Authority, Valdosta City Manager\r\nLarry Hanson, presented a brief overview and history of the\r\nauthority, which he stated began in the early 1990s as a collective\r\nfrom more than a dozen counties attempting to reduce waste and\r\nmanage the landfill.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nSo the authority on the Authority is Valdosta City Manager Larry Hanson.\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nIn the late 1990s, the Lowndes County landfill was sold to the\r\ncompany that is now Veolia, and a contiguous site was purchased for\r\na new regional landfill. Once the new site becomes fully operational\r\nthis year, the Authority will receive royalties of $1.25 per ton\r\nfrom Veolia. The tipping fees paid by the Authority members for each\r\ntruckload of garbage hauled to the landfill is $22.45 per ton,\r\ncompared to the statewide average of nearly $35 per ton.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nHanson said of the Authority’s six members, only Valdosta and\r\nLowndes County are bringing their garbage to the local landfill. The\r\nauthority chairman, Lowndes County Commissioner Richard Lee, said,\r\n“It’s in our best interests to bring our garbage to the\r\nfacility we have a financial interest in.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nThe Authority has a balance of more than $800,000, and Hanson stated\r\na portion of those monies would be made available to member\r\ngovernments in the form of grants for education and other purposes\r\nin their communities. However, it is limited to those who currently\r\nuse the landfill, making Valdosta and Lowndes the only member\r\ngovernments eligible to apply for one of the grants.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nHanson said the city of Valdosta has submitted a grant proposal for\r\n$40,000 to the Authority to support the city’s ongoing litter\r\ninitiatives.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nIn addition, Commissioner Lee and Kevin Beals, the development\r\nreviewer for Lowndes County, presented ideas for the Authority to\r\nconsider, including an upcoming application to the Georgia\r\nDepartment of Community Affairs to be the southern hub for a\r\nrecycling center for household waste.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nApparently that scheme didn’t happen.\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nThe authority’s purpose is to oversee a number of issues related to\r\ntrash collection and recycling, and also to maintain a relationship\r\nwith Veolia. At the previous meeting in April, the members discussed\r\nthe regional collection\/transfer station, but tabled the discussion\r\nin order to obtain more information. The regional collection and\r\ntransfer station would be a collection site for all household waste,\r\nwhich would arrive by truck or rail, and would then be transferred\r\nto the landfill. The discussion was tabled a second time.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nOther issues at the April meeting included the approval of a land\r\nswap that will move the existing landfill closer to the City of\r\nValdosta’s wastewater treatment facility and farther away from a\r\nresidential area.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

      \r\nThe Deep South Municipal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority\r\nmeets quarterly. For more information, contact Marty LeFiles at the\r\nSouth Georgia Regional Development Center.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nAll sorts of information here that Lowndes County would not divulge\r\nin response to open records requests: the local government members\r\nof the Authority, how often it meets, and tipping fees.\r\n

      \r\nMeanwhile, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA)\r\nlists:\r\n\r\n2013 Directory of Registered Local Government Authorities<\/a>,\r\n

      \r\n

      Deep South Regional Municipal Solid Waste Management Authority<\/h3>\r\n\t

      Return to Search Results<\/a>   |  \r\n\t\tAuthority Search Page<\/a>\r\n\t<\/p>
      \r\n\t\r\n\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t
      Creation Date: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\t9\/1\/1996<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      Method of Creation: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\tGeneral Statute\r\n\t\t\t<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      Official Citation: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\tO. C. G. A. 12-8-50\r\n\t\t\t<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      Dependency: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\tIndependent\r\n\t\t\t<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      Single or Multi Jurisdictional: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\tMulti-Jurisdictional\r\n\t\t\t<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      \r\n\t\t\t\tMembers: <\/th>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\tBerrien CountyLanier CountyLowndes CountyCity of NashvilleCity of LakelandCity of Valdosta\r\n\t\t <\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      \r\n\t\t\t\tContact: <\/th>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t\t
      Julia Shewchuk, Secretary
      \r\n\t\t\t327 West Savannah Ave327 West Savannah Ave
      \r\n\t\t\tValdosta, GA, Georgia   \r\n\t\t\t\t31601
      \r\n\t\t\t\t229-333-5277<\/td>\r\n\t\t<\/tr>\r\n\t<\/table>\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t
      \r\n\t\t\t\t\tBoard Members:<\/th>\r\n\t\t\t <\/tr>\r\n\t\t\t
      Albert Studstill, Jr, Steve Sumner, Larry Hanson, John Whitehead III, Bill Darsey, Billy Retterbush, Kevin Beals<\/td>\r\n\t\t\t <\/tr>\r\n\t\t\t<\/table> \r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nEverything was the same for\r\n2012<\/a>,\r\nfor 2011<\/a>,\r\nfor\r\n2010<\/a>,\r\nfor\r\n2009<\/a>.\r\nfor\r\n\r\n2008<\/a>,\r\nfor\r\n2007<\/a>,\r\nfor\r\n\r\n2006<\/a>,\r\nand\r\nfor\r\n2005<\/a>,\r\nwhich is the year the sold off the second landfill.\r\n

      \r\nA significant change occured for\r\n\r\n2014<\/a> with the addition of a local government member,\r\n“Echols County CG”,\r\nand a slightly different list of board members, with Travis Harper replacing Billy Retterbush:\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nAlbert Studstill, Jr, Steve Sumner, Larry Hanson, John Whitehead III, Bill Darsey, Travis Harper, Kevin Beals\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\n\r\nFor 2015<\/a> the board is again slightly different, with Alex Lee replacing Albert Stustill, Jr and Richard Hardy replacing John Whitehead III:\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nAlex Lee, Steve Sumner, Larry Hanson, Richard Hardy, Bill Darsey, Travis Harper, Kevin Beals\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nAnd again for 2016<\/a> it’s slightly different, with the addition of Larry Ellen:\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nAlex Lee, Steve Sumner, Larry Hanson, Richard Hardy, Bill Darsey, Travis Harper, Kevin Beals, Larry Ellen\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nFinally for 2017<\/a>\r\nit’s unchanged:\r\n

      \r\n

      \r\nAlex Lee, Steve Sumner, Larry Hanson, Richard Hardy, Bill Darsey, Travis Harper, Kevin Beals, Larry Ellen\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

      \r\nSo Steve Sumner (Berrien County Commissioner<\/a>),\r\nLarry Hanson (Valdosta City Manager<\/a>),\r\nBill Darsey (Lakeland Mayor<\/a>),\r\nand Kevin Beals (Lowndes County Human Resource Director<\/a>)\r\nhave been on there the entire time since 2005.\r\nPresumably they know what this WMA does.\r\n

      \r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>

      Investigative reporting costs money, for open records requests, copying, web hosting, gasoline, and cameras, and with sufficient funds we can pay students to do further research. You can donate to LAKE today<\/a>!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local counties and cities sold off one landfill in Lowndes County in the late 1990s, and a second one in 2005 through the Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority. Yet in 2007 the Deep South Municipal Regional Solid Waste Management Authority (WMA), with the same county and city member governments, was still active, discussing a […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7585,88,54],"tags":[9665,9666,549,9667,9668,9669,9670,1732,8701,259,9671,9672,8702,8858,154,1733,9673,345,12,7,8734,3276,9674,9675,9676,9677,6,8726,9678],"class_list":["post-18231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landfill-2","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-valdosta-city-council","tag-albert-studstill-jr","tag-alex-lee","tag-berrien-county","tag-bill-darsey","tag-billy-retterbush","tag-deep-south-municipal-regional-solid-waste-management-authority","tag-deep-south-solid-waste-management-authority","tag-echols-county","tag-georgia","tag-john-gayle","tag-john-whitehead-iii","tag-kevin-beals","tag-lake","tag-lakeland","tag-landfill","tag-lanier-county","tag-larry-ellen","tag-larry-hanson","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-nashville","tag-onyx-evergreen","tag-richard-hardy","tag-steve-sumner","tag-travis-harper","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-city-council","tag-valdosta-city-manager"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-4K3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18234,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18231\/revisions\/18234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}