Waste district gives OK to increase (12/23/2008)

It was a happy pre-holiday meeting for staff of a local conservation organization, which received a pay raise for 2009 and an annual bonus.

Members of the Jay County Solid Waste District board of directors approved a salary ordinance Monday authorizing a 3 percent raise for director Kay Hayes and administrative assistant Jill Hall, along with a $100 bonus.

In a brief end-of-year session, board members also discussed a request from a not-for-profit group to pay for a drop-off box at a local industry to collect a large load of cardboard.

Judan Judo, which has been picking up the cardboard from Mars Petcare Inc. and taking it to the once-a-month drop-off trailer it staffs in the parking lot of Marsh Hometown Market, requested the district's help because a large amount of recyclable material has accumulated.

The cost for placement and hauling of a 20-cubic yard box is $273, Hayes told board members Monday. Members of the judo club will load the palletized cardboard into the box at the Mars site, and it would then be hauled away by Waste Management Inc.

Board members agreed on a one-time basis to pay half the cost for the box, if Mars agreed to pay half.

In other business Monday, waste district board members Gerald Kirby, Bill Gibson, Bruce Hosier, Gary Theurer, Milo Miller Jr. and Faron Parr:

•Approved the 2009 meeting schedule, with meetings generally set for the fourth Monday of each month at district headquarters, 5948 West Ind. 67, Portland. Meetings begin at 3:30 p.m.

•Allowed claims totaling $13,798.08, leaving the district with a checking account balance of $91,259 and an investment account of $101,845.18.

•Were introduced to Jim Link, the new manager of the Jay County Landfill, by Waste Management of Indiana official Barry Ledbetter. Link, a rural Portland resident, replaces long-time local landfill manager Leon Leach.

•Thanked Theurer for his service to the board. Theurer, a Jay County Commissioner for the past 12 years and a member of the county solid waste district since its inception in 2002, gave up his commissioners' seat and won a spot on the Jay County Council in the November election. Gerald Kirby, who lost a bid for Theurer's commissioners' seat, will remain on the county council. He said Monday he plans to ask to be reappointed by the council to the waste district board.[[In-content Ad]]