{"id":4388,"date":"2013-06-28T08:53:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T12:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=4388"},"modified":"2013-06-28T08:58:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T12:58:23","slug":"tipping-fees-vs-host-fees-from-veolia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/tipping-fees-vs-host-fees-from-veolia.html","title":{"rendered":"Tipping fees vs. host fees from Veolia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nWhat is this contract involving tipping fees that\r\n\r\nLowndes County declined to produce a copy of<\/a>?\r\nHow can it be “adequately maintained in the future”, as former Commissioner Lee\r\nput it, if the county doesn’t know what it is?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe\r\n\r\nminutes for the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session 11 October 2010<\/a>\r\nsay:\r\n

\r\n\r\nResolution-Proposed Amendment-March 2007 Greater Lowndes Solid Waste\r\nManagement Plan,\r\n<\/strong>\r\nCounty Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the resolution, adding that\r\nthe amendment was drafted due to a proposed expansion and reconfiguration\r\nof the Evergreen landfill. Mr. Davenport added that the amendment had\r\nbeen reviewed by staff, the Regional Commission and the Deep South Solid\r\nWaste Authority. Mr. Davenport further stated that Mr. A.J. Rodgers, of\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nVeolia Environmental Services, was present to answer any questions the\r\nCommission might have regarding the project. Commissioner Lee stated\r\nthat he was concerned that the contractual relationship that has been\r\nin place for quite some time be accurately reflected and adequately\r\nmaintained in the future. Commissioner Lee then asked Mr. Rodgers if a\r\nnew cell had been created yet. Mr. Rodgers answered that construction\r\nhad begun in a cell that had already been approved.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nVeolia spelled his name\r\n\r\n[Andrew] AJ Rogers<\/a> and identified him as\r\n“area manager for Veolia ES Solid Waste Southeast, Inc.”\r\n\r\nin a 22 March 2011 press release<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

But what is this “contractual relationship”?\r\nAccording to\r\na letter from Walter G. Elliott, Lowndes County Attorney, to Julia Shewchuck,\r\nAICP\/Planning Director, South Georgia Regional Commission, 19 October 2010,\r\n\r\nRe: Lowndes County Solid waste Plan amendment<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThere currently exists between the Deep South Solid Waste Management\r\nAuthority and Veolia a Disposal Fee Agreement,\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nproviding for waste\r\ndisposal at favorable waste disposal fees to Authority members. The Deep\r\nSouth Solid Waste Management Authority also receives certain payments from\r\nVeolia from operation of the Pecan Row Landfill and the Veolia Evergreen\r\nLandfill, and those funds are utilized for solid waste management needs\r\nin the region and participating local governments. Lowndes County as the\r\nhost local government also receives certain “host” fees from operation of\r\nthe Pecan Row Landfill and the Veolia Evergreen Landdfill as required by\r\nGeorgia law. It is anticipated the environmental and financial benefits\r\nto the existing solid waste management system within the planning area\r\nfrom the operation of the Pecan Row Landfill and the Veolia Evergreen\r\nLandfill will be extended for a longer period of time if the proposed\r\nreconfiguration\/expansion of the Veolia Evergreen Landfill is approved\r\nand permitted by state environmental agencies.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nWhat are these “certain payments from Veolia”?\r\nAccording to Johnna Pinholster in the Valdosta Daily Times 10 February 2010,\r\n\r\nOut of the landfill business?\r\nCity discusses transferring ownership of former landfill to Veolia<\/a>\r\n

\r\nThe Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority will also begin receiving\r\na $1.25 per ton royalty fee that will in turn be distributed to the\r\nmembers of the authority, which includes the City of Valdosta.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSo that $1.25 per ton would appear to be what is commonly known as\r\nthe tipping fees.\r\nHow are those tipping fees distributed to the various members?\r\nWho are the members, for that matter?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAnd what about those “host” fees to Lowndes County that the letter\r\nfrom the County Attorney carefully distinguishes from the Veolia payments\r\nto the Deep South Solid Waste Management Authority?\r\nDoes Lowndes County really not have a copy of a contract with Veolia\r\nthat specifies what host fees the county will receive?\r\nI suppose the former\r\n\r\nopen records request<\/a>\r\nasked for tipping fees, not host fees.\r\nYet the answer from the county referred to host fees and didn’t say what the county received from the tipping fees.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nPS: Thanks to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for putting the attorney’s letter online.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What is this contract involving tipping fees that Lowndes County declined to produce a copy of? How can it be “adequately maintained in the future”, as former Commissioner Lee put it, if the county doesn’t know what it is? The minutes for the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners Work Session 11 October 2010 say: Resolution-Proposed […]","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[70,20,88,553,478,3,479],"tags":[6520,1189,6521,2993,6515,8728,8701,6522,8702,8710,12,7,8734,656,683,8778,8772,6516,8700,8773,6,618,624],"class_list":["post-4388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-sgrc","category-solid-waste","category-transparency","category-trash","tag-a-j-rodgers","tag-advanced-disposal-services","tag-aj-rogers","tag-contract","tag-deep-south-solid-waste-authority","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-julia-shewchuck","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-paige-dukes","tag-richard-lee","tag-sgrc","tag-solid-waste","tag-swa","tag-transparency","tag-trash","tag-valdosta","tag-veolia","tag-walter-elliott"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-18M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388","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=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4393,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions\/4393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}