Right call is clear, contract or not

It’s hard to believe we have to recycle this editorial again, but apparently we do.

Jay County Solid Waste Management District unanimously voted late last year to request repayment of tens of thousands of grant dollars it had provided to Portland, given that the city has discontinued the curbside recycling program that those funds were intended to help support. With the city council having taken no action on the matter, district vice president Chuck Huffman made the request in person on Feb. 18.

Once again, we are baffled by council’s apparent inability to make what is clearly the right decision on this matter.

The solid waste management district’s sole purpose is to keep items out of Jay County Landfill by encouraging the mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

As we have said previously, for the city to consider keeping that money and using it for anything other than recycling is unconscionable.

But, apparently, some council members are still not convinced.

At that Feb. 18 meeting, one council member wondered out loud if the city should return the funds because no contract was in place stipulating such a requirement.

While that is true, it also doesn’t matter in the slightest.

In our community — in all communities, really — it takes teamwork to get things done.

When Portland Water Park was being built a few years ago, the city insisted on a public-private partnership. That project moved forward thanks to donors small and large, including $50,000 from the county.

In the last year, the city and county have partnered on multiple projects, including drainage work north of the city and at the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Grounds and Jay County Fairgrounds.

And the entities have been teaming up for several years in an effort to mitigate flooding issues.

We point all of this out because such partnerships are only possible if there is trust and mutual respect.

If Portland refuses to return the grant funding to the solid waste management district, why would any local government unit ever agree to partner with the city again?

Why would the county help with a drainage project in the area around the courthouse?

Why would Dunkirk, Redkey, Pennville, Bryant or Salamonie team up for a Stellar Communities application?

And why would the solid waste management district, if curbside recycling were to return to Portland, ever even think about giving grant funds to help pay for such a program as it has for the last decade?

On Monday, Portland City Council should vote, unanimously, to return the requested grant funds to Jay County Solid Waste Management District.

It’s the right thing to do. We don’t need a contract to tell us that. — R.C.