Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 21, 1993 TAG: 9308210121
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Supervisor Larry "Jay" Williams said the county will have to choose a disposal plan of some kind within two weeks.
The county began negotiations with General Refuse Services of Mercer County, W.Va., more than two months ago, but the going has been slow because of objections from the five largest towns - Pearisburg, Pembroke, Narrows, Rich Creek and Glen Lyn.
Town officials said commercial rates in the General Refuse Services proposal could raise the cost for trash pickup for businesses by as much as 750 percent to 1,000 percent. The towns also objected to the loss of jobs for employees who currently collect town trash.
Rural residents complained too, about plans to do away with the green dumpster boxes throughout the county. General Refuse proposes countywide door-to-door trash pickup.
Now, Pearisburg, Narrows and Glen Lyn have endorsed an engineering consultant's report, which they paid for, that says it would be cheaper if the towns keep their disposal operations and the county keeps the green boxes. Also, the plan recommends building a transfer station in the county where all trash could be collected for disposal at a West Virginia landfill.
The General Refuse proposal rules out a transfer station as being unnecessary and costly.
Pearisburg town engineer Steve Stafford presented the report, prepared by Thompson & Litton Consultants of Blacksburg, during the supervisors' recess meeting on Thursday evening.
The report says the county's trash disposal could be done for $300,000 less than General Refuse's estimate of $1.6 million.
In response, the supervisors stressed their intentions to continue working with the towns.
Both Williams and supervisor George Hedrick, who have been most involved in the negotiations with General Refuse, said that while they respected the work that went into the towns' option, they also questioned some of the figures used in its preparation.
Although no one knows for sure, the supervisors have estimated that up to 20 percent of the county's problem may come from trash brought from outside the county and put in the green boxes.
Two supervisors, Williams and Bobby Compton, have conceded that the green boxes or some alternative will likely remain.
Williams also said General Refuse has agreed to hire the trash collectors who are working for the towns as a part of their deal.
He also suggested the town's estimates for commercial collection were too high. On average, he said, everyone's rates - business and residential - probably will double. There's no way around it, he said. Tighter state and federal restrictions have made it so.
Williams said he hoped the towns and county stick together. "No matter what we do from now on, it's going to cost us at least a million a year," he said. "That's the reality. There's nothing we can do about it."
by CNB