News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
White County completed what it hopes to be its final engineering report for the county landfill before it takes its hands off for good.
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said the financial side of the contract with Waste Management is complete and he hopes to have the deal finalized in the next two to three weeks. He said when attorneys conclude negotiations of the contract’s linguistic details, it can be sent to the Solid Waste Committee and County Commission for approval. He said employees from both sides are on-site working through the transition.
“These are engineers, surveyors,” Robinson said. “They’re not doing anything with the day-to-day operations. Now, they are doing a little bit of, I guess you would say, consulting and advising on how to best operate the landfill, but the day-to-day operations are still being handled by the county.”
Robinson said the county is now deciding whether to begin its annual state report due in July or hold off and let Waste Management conduct the report once the sale is final. He said he expects the report to be simply because the Class One section of the landfill was closed for most of the year. He said he’ll need to decide in the next two weeks.
“It’s very exciting,” Robinson said. “I’ve been working on this portion of it for about two years, but working on trying to find out what the best option is for the citizens of White County to move forward in the world of solid waste, I’ve been working on that for about eight years. So, it is very exciting to see this finally come to fruition.”
He said after three months of negotiations, a finalized deal is close. He said in the past, White County has only accepted waste from county residents, and funding the landfill has become a bigger and bigger burden on the people. He said the county can no longer even keep up with the landfill’s expenses anymore.
“We’ve got a company that’s going to come in, going to hire employees, going to generate revenue for the county,” Robinson said. “This is just going to be a total 180-degree turnaround from the way that landfill’s been operated in the last 20-30 years.”
