Governance change plan sent to waste district board
By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR - A proposal to form a regional solid waste management authority will go the Board of Directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Districts after the district’s policy committee passed a resolution at Friday’s meeting asking the board to take the proposal under advisement.
The measure passed by a 9-4 vote, with one abstention. Tuscarawas County Commissioner Jim Seldenright, Warwick Township trustee Belle Everett, Mike Chek of the Tuscarawas County Health Department and Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht voted against the resolution. David Elwell, representative of the public from Wayne County, abstained. Twenty one people serve on the policy committee, but 15 attended Friday. William Franks, Stark County’s health commissioner and the chairman of the policy committee, is not required to vote unless there is a tie.
If a regional solid waste management authority were formed, decision-making power would move from the board of directors – made up of the commissioners from the three counties – to a board of trustees with at least 21 members consisting of city, county, township and health department representatives along with citizens and representatives of waste generators in the area.
Stroh said he proposed the idea after looking at Hamilton County, which has a solid waste management authority in place.
Obrecht suggested policy committee members attend a board of directors meeting to find out how the board handles money and other issues pertaining to the district.
“The buck would stop with the authority and it would do everything the board of directors now do. It would also take a lot of politics out of the plan and take the pressure off the nine county commissioners,” Stroh said.
Seldenright said the commissioners need to be involved.
“Hamilton County is a single waste district, and the authority works well for them,” Seldenright said. We are a three county solid waste district, and the Tuscarawas County commissioners represents all of Tuscarawas County.”
Stark County commissioner Gayle Jackson embraced the idea.
“It takes the politics out of it and, after being a member of the policy committee for so many years, (it) has erased the boundaries of politics,” she said.
Everett raised concerns a 21 member board of trustees would indeed bring politics into the discussion and would discourage new members from serving on a regional solid waste management authority. She suggested building a great team rather than making any drastic changes.
Obrecht also questioned the idea.
“I have great concerns about 21 members on a board. A large board is cumbersome, and the commissioners are sometimes cumbersome with only nine. When I come to a board meeting I put on the hat of the district. I also have problems with a board that is not elected in charge of public money – that is just my feeling. We have a lot more to improve, and I am looking forward to writing a new solid waste plan,” Obrecht said.
The district can begin to write a new solid waste plan in June 2008. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency wrote the plan for the district after several failed attempts to get a plan approved by the board of directors. Until the new plan was approved in December 2006, the district had operated under a plan approved in 1993.
If the district’s board of directors approved a resolution to form a waste management authority, a copy would go to each legislative authority in the district. As with the process for passing a solid waste plan, 60 percent from each county would have to approve it, including the councils of each county’s largest city. A resolution may be adopted for the formation of a regional solid waste management authority, for the purpose of executing all duties and responsibilities imposed on or granted to the board under this chapter. If the resolution is adopted the board shall send a copy to the legislative authority of each municipal; corporation and township located within the district and request the legislative authority to vote on the formation of such a regional of authority.
The process would follow the same procedures as when the solid waste plan needs approved by the three largest cities in the district and other entities.
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR - A proposal to form a regional solid waste management authority will go the Board of Directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Districts after the district’s policy committee passed a resolution at Friday’s meeting asking the board to take the proposal under advisement.
The measure passed by a 9-4 vote, with one abstention. Tuscarawas County Commissioner Jim Seldenright, Warwick Township trustee Belle Everett, Mike Chek of the Tuscarawas County Health Department and Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht voted against the resolution. David Elwell, representative of the public from Wayne County, abstained. Twenty one people serve on the policy committee, but 15 attended Friday. William Franks, Stark County’s health commissioner and the chairman of the policy committee, is not required to vote unless there is a tie.
If a regional solid waste management authority were formed, decision-making power would move from the board of directors – made up of the commissioners from the three counties – to a board of trustees with at least 21 members consisting of city, county, township and health department representatives along with citizens and representatives of waste generators in the area.
Stroh said he proposed the idea after looking at Hamilton County, which has a solid waste management authority in place.
Obrecht suggested policy committee members attend a board of directors meeting to find out how the board handles money and other issues pertaining to the district.
“The buck would stop with the authority and it would do everything the board of directors now do. It would also take a lot of politics out of the plan and take the pressure off the nine county commissioners,” Stroh said.
Seldenright said the commissioners need to be involved.
“Hamilton County is a single waste district, and the authority works well for them,” Seldenright said. We are a three county solid waste district, and the Tuscarawas County commissioners represents all of Tuscarawas County.”
Stark County commissioner Gayle Jackson embraced the idea.
“It takes the politics out of it and, after being a member of the policy committee for so many years, (it) has erased the boundaries of politics,” she said.
Everett raised concerns a 21 member board of trustees would indeed bring politics into the discussion and would discourage new members from serving on a regional solid waste management authority. She suggested building a great team rather than making any drastic changes.
Obrecht also questioned the idea.
“I have great concerns about 21 members on a board. A large board is cumbersome, and the commissioners are sometimes cumbersome with only nine. When I come to a board meeting I put on the hat of the district. I also have problems with a board that is not elected in charge of public money – that is just my feeling. We have a lot more to improve, and I am looking forward to writing a new solid waste plan,” Obrecht said.
The district can begin to write a new solid waste plan in June 2008. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency wrote the plan for the district after several failed attempts to get a plan approved by the board of directors. Until the new plan was approved in December 2006, the district had operated under a plan approved in 1993.
If the district’s board of directors approved a resolution to form a waste management authority, a copy would go to each legislative authority in the district. As with the process for passing a solid waste plan, 60 percent from each county would have to approve it, including the councils of each county’s largest city. A resolution may be adopted for the formation of a regional solid waste management authority, for the purpose of executing all duties and responsibilities imposed on or granted to the board under this chapter. If the resolution is adopted the board shall send a copy to the legislative authority of each municipal; corporation and township located within the district and request the legislative authority to vote on the formation of such a regional of authority.
The process would follow the same procedures as when the solid waste plan needs approved by the three largest cities in the district and other entities.
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