ACC Commission Approves Solid Waste Changes

9:20 PM: Doug Lowry uses his closing comments to take a swing at Alan Reddish and Bobby Snipes, calling them weasels. He says he has people asking him to put their heads on a platter. Lowry says he's "tired of it," and that he's "taking the gloves off."

8:47 PM: Drought management measures. Kathy Hoard asks for the tweaking of the restrictions. UGA has geared up its "every drop counts" campaign. ACC uses the Bear Creek Reservoir. Drought management plan doesn't specify how reductions are to be achieved. To minimize the confusion that does exist. Other counties that are members want to have similar measures in place. Authority is continuing to allow drip irrigation, hand watering any day of the week.

8:43 PM: Kelly Girtz makes a motion to approve a volume-based garbage fee system in the Urban Service Distric. Nancy Denson allows Lowry to continue bashing the staff and the solid waste proposals. Lowry wants private companies to offer a $9 volume based garbage fee.

8:37 PM: Lowry talks about the RecycleBank. He blasts the RecycleBank and says it's ludicrous. This kind of stuff's got to stop. Lowry makes a motion to deny the request. Kelly Girtz makes a motion to approve item 1, a and b.

8:33 PM: Lowry recommends sending the fee back to the Solid Waste Task Force. He makes a motion and Ed Robinson seconds the motion. Lowry says there's a process for budget discussion.3 to 6, the motion fails. Gertz, Hamby, Hoard, Herod, Sms, Kinman approve the proposed 60 cent fee, and the motion carries.

8:27 PM: Ed Robinson puts in his two cents worth. Ed and Doug are dancing the same dance. Recycling for Ed has been a huge frustration. I've got Doug's back on this, he says. Doug Lowry says the fee idea didn't come from the task force; they talked about education, they didn't talk about the fee. This is a budget issue and a budget item. That's what this really is. I have no intention of allowing staff to sidestep this process because it's inconvenient for them, he says. It's not about 60 cents. It's about over $200,000. It's a tax of mover $200,000 on our people. We need to talk about this in our budget so that people can talk about it. This fee was never talked about.

8:18 PM: George Maxwell says we should see how single stream recycling works before we add 60 cents to their bill. A 60 cent fee might be the difference between them getting a sandwich or their medicine. Reddish says the landfill enterprise fund is being depleted. One of the functions it pays for is the educational component in recycling.

8:15 PM: Alice Kinman says the 60 cent program is to continue to fund the education program that's not being funded as robustly because the tipping fees have dropped and "we are a victim of our own success." We have done a great job but we are lagging. We are tired of 25 percent and we want to take the next step. "I feel like I was elected because of my strong stand on environmental issues," she says. Staff was responding loud and clear to what they were hearing from this body.

7:57 PM: Ordinance to amend the code of Athens Clarke County is read. Doug Lowry says he hears that Solid Waste spends $200,000 on its recycling efforts. $77,000 of this money is used for personnel issues. Doug says they've seen staff ignore the commissioners and do things they feel is best. The issue is who's got the juice? He's wondering why the Solid Waste folks get to buy a pickup when the ACC Police have to wait to get their patrol cars. He says this is a slush fund and he won't support it. This is about power, he says. Who's got the juice? And it's a mistake.

Ed Robinson says, Amen.

Kathy Hoard says this isn't the right venue for such verbiage. And Kathy says accusations being made about the staff in a public venue are wrong because the staff can't respond. Who's got the power? The people who elect them.

Kathy Hoard says Alan Reddish gets to respond. Alan says every item is carefully reviewed by staff. Alan says he asks the staff to give an objective opinion of everything that comes before the Mayor and Commission on the agenda reports. Alan says the budget gives you oversight of any expenditure. To suggest we have ever said it's not the business of the commission as a whole, is just not untrue. That has never been said to any of you and won't be as long as I'm the manager.

Mike Hamby says the Solid Waste Task Force has talked about recycling. We are trying to extend our landfill's life even longer. The object is to minimize the waste stream. It's trying to minimize the amount of waste going into the landfill. We are using it to offset the tipping fee on the landfill. Address the billing mechanism, asks Hamby. Why not the water bill? Not everyone gets that service, says Reddish. Those peeople who are paying the fee would be more likely to recycle. More people are recycling, there are fewer tipping fees the haulers are paying because they will throw away less trash. Suki Jannsen does a great job with the recycling efforts in town. There's a need to continue to educate the public about what we're doing. There's not a new major program on the horizon this 60 cents will pay for. Is there going to be an evaluation a year from now? asks Hamby. Reddish says the single stream recycling program will start at the end of October, and there will be an increase in recycling. When we put in an education program years ago, it was thought it would keep them engaged. Minimization fee will enhance participation rate here.

7:54 PM: Harry Sims makes a motion to recommend Plan 1A, the motion passes by everyone but Doug Lowrey. Sims asks the Mayor to study the effects of the Super Districts and whether they are relevant. Mayor Denson says there doesn't need to be a motion. Ed Benson, Gwen O'Looney, Homer Wilson, Len Sapera, and others are appointed to a study committee.

7:52 PM: Ed Robinson is talking about George Bush, how people elect folks who look like them, that "Kerry is a weirdo," that we need that voice on the commission, that statistics say we are not there yet, that 300 years ago, we threw these people into the pit of darkness. (Is this free association? Poetry?) Now he tells the Commission they are all good folks.

7:46 PM: George Maxwell says the commissioners should focus on representing the whole community, not just their own districts. All people are being represented. He gets phone calls from people in other districts. I think we have moved beyond that, he says. People work for and vote for the people they think will better represent them. He ran for Commissioner of the people and for the people.If we do the job we are elected to do, I think we don't need to worry about our race preventing us from having a seat behind the rail. Whatever we do here tonight, it's got to go through the state and then the Voting Rights people to be approved, because we are under the Voting Rights Act. We have a duty to do what is right for the people of Athens Clarke County. The people have spoken, and we have done what the people of Athens asked us to do. The map is the map they have asked us to present.

7:40 PM: Kathy Herod says the issue of race needs to be discussed. She sought office on City Council in 1983. The district she was seeking was occupied by African Americans. It was the Hancock Corridor, Brooklyn Creek, and housing communities. The cost was $5,000 to run. I think people haven't looked at race in a long time. When she served on City Council, each district had two representatives. Now she works with Mike Hamby. Whether one is representing 5,000 or 15,000 people, it's hard to do it solo. It's valuable to have a working partner. She took a vote to represent everyone, not just the folks in District 7.

7:32 PM: Andy Herod says he thinks people vote for candidates, at least in this county. Andy wants to talk to Gail Schaffer, the Board of Electrions director. Andy wants to know about the mechanics of moving voters to a different district. She doesn't want to change voting precincts in 2012, when there's a Presidential election. 

7:23 PM: Ed Robinson endorses sending the "more conservative" map to Atlanta, with the current districts remaining in place, tweaked a bit. Doug Lowry says he believes a man or woman of any race can be elected from any district if the person is someone of quality. Voters look at the candidae and judge the person. Doug says we need a heterogenous commission.

7:22 PM: Going to the report from the Reapportionment Committee. Harry Sims is recounting the membership of the reapportionment committee. And now he's summarizing the work of the committee.

7:20 PM: Dustin Baker at Pinyon Pine Circle. Wants to get rid of them but keep the 10 districts. I think the system violates the one person, one vote. Two commissioners representing 28,000 people vs. 120,000 people of the superdistricts, they can negate the votes of more people.

7:19 PM: Willie James speaking about the super district. Do away with them, but keep the number and divide them up. Districts one and two are too large for one person.

7:18 PM: Matthew DePalma of Triple A Sanitation. Here to discuss the . All citizens would be able to partkae of this program. This isn't the way it was proposed to the haulers. How did the single stream work? The program was laid out that the entire community could partake of the program.

7:15 PM: Larry Dendy, a Winterville resident, speaking about solid waste proposals. When unification happened, he joined the Soild Waste Citizen Advisory Committee, and it's been meeting for 20 years. They have worked with the solid waste folks on many different things. There's a lot more that can be done. You can take steps to encourage more recycling. These are sensible and practical suggestions. What we are trying to accomplish is to imcrease recycling. The measures before you aren't heavy handed or intrusive. The only thing they will do is promote recycling. "I personally will be happy to pay 60 cents a month to increase recycling," Larry said. We believe proposals before you are reasonable, forward thinking and will bring about an increase in recycling.

7:14 PM: Former ACC Commissioner Alvin Sheats appeaers. He's here on behalf of the silent voting block. There was a time when we thought that prohibition was necessary. It's time to do away with the super districts.

7:11 PM: Bill Fox, a local waste hauler, speaks about the recycling education fee. I would like to know who gave y'all the report, he says, because the minutes don't support it.This is a tax to fund government. It's going to impact the poor more than anything. 60 cents is going to impact the haulers. It needs some accountability. Did the recycling increase or decrease? We have committed or complied with everything the county has asked. It's going to hurt the economy and small business owners. They want to go to five levels. It really just complicates things and adds to the costs a small business owner doesn't need to absorb. It's a conflict of interest when staff recommends what should be done. They don't have experiience in the free market business.

7:09 PM: Ken Dious is speaking about his 10-district commission plan. He says that within five years, there won't be any African American commissioners in Athens. He says his plan better represents the African American community. And that he has brought a voting suite.