District OKs recycling bonuses (01/23/07)

Those Saturday morning hours in weather that at times can be miserable is paying off for groups that staff drop-off recycling sites operated by a local solid waste management district.

Members of the Jay County Solid Waste District agreed Monday to pay $14,827.95 in bonuses to area not-for-profit groups for the 18-month period ending Dec. 31, 2006.

The groups, which are also paid $150 for each Saturday morning worked, were paid 1 cent per pound of material collected during the past year and a half, plus a half-cent bonus for each pound of increased collections over the previous bonus period.

By far the biggest bonus will be paid to the Bloomfield Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization, which collected about 469,700 pounds of recyclables from May 2005 to Dec. 31 - or about 33 percent of the 1.4 million pounds collected by all district groups over the same period.

The county-wide total of recycling collected in 2006 was down about 6,000 over 2005.

Bloomfield will receive a $4,697.07 bonus check, while the West Jay Optimist Club will get $1,749.20; the Judan Judo Club $1,467.24; 4-H Shooting Sports $1,360.46; and Madison Go-Getters 4-H Club $1,309.71. For a complete list, see box above.

During discussion about the proposed bonus schedule, board member Gerald Kirby said, "I think that's an incentive we don't want to fool around with."

Board members Gary Theurer, Milo Miller Jr., Faron Parr, Bill Gibson and Kirby voted to approve the proposed bonus schedule. Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier and Dunkirk Mayor Sam Hubbard, also board members, were not in attendance at Monday's meeting.

Also Monday, board members asked district director Kay Hayes to begin scheduling a company which will be hired to provide free shredding services for county residents in the spring - most likely in May.

County residents, including those from business and industry, will be able to bring items for shredding to a single location - most likely district headquarters. The shredding day will probably be held on a weekday to accommodate businesses, Hayes said.

Kirby, whose wife Sandy is Redkey's Clerk-Treasurer, said that Redkey alone will have more than a dump truck of documents and papers to shred.

In other business, members of the district board:

•Heard Hayes report that the district's tipping fee income based on trash dumped in the Jay County Landfill was $19,959 for December, based on 16,128 tons. The landfill collects a $1.25 tipping fee per ton of eligible trash that is then passed on to the district.

•Voted to encumber a total of $18,845.96 in funds from the 2006 budget to cover expenses incurred last year - including the bonuses paid for the drop-off recycling program.

•Approved claims of $19,098.91, leaving a checking account balance for the district of $157,738.08.

Heard Hayes report that she worked this past week to resolve an issue with a drop-off recycling box in Dunkirk which was not picked up as scheduled. Many area residents dropped off recyclable materials outside the box, and Hayes paid a group to pick up the material and place it inside the box.

Leon Leach, general manager for Waste Management, the owner of the Jay County Landfill and the trucking company which hauls the district's recycling away, said the district would not be charged for the late hauling of the recycling box.[[In-content Ad]]Here is a look at the bonuses which will be paid to area groups which staff recycling drop-off locations through the Jay County Solid Waste District:

•Girl Scouts of America 818 - $714.53

•GSA 812 - $140.80

•GSA 824 - $131

•GSA 819 - $36.40

•GSA 826 - $67

•GSA 806 - $56.40

•Redkey Faith Ministries - $86

•Redkey Optimist Club - $93.90

•Redkey UMC - $57.90

•Judan Judo - $1,467.24

•West Jay Optimist - $1,749.20

•Redkey Church of the Nazarene - $207.20

•Boy Scouts of America 214 - $184.20

•Delta Theta Tau (Redkey) - $93.91

•Redkey Better Workers - $123.90

•Redkey Lions Club - $147.90

•Bloomfield PTO - $4,887.41

•Madison Go-Getters - $1,309.71

•GSA 811 - $609.30

•BSA 212 - $583.36

•Jay County Shooting Sports - $1,360.46

•Cub Scouts 3202 - $488.44

•Gamma Nu (Redkey) - $67.80

•Town and Country Homemakers (Redkey) - $28.40

•Redkey Junior League - $25