District will help with tire removal

 A local business will get some help cleaning up its new property.

Jay County Solid Waste Management District’s board on Monday decided to pay about half the projected cost of removing tires from a property along the west side of U.S. 27 between county roads 500 North and 600 North.

Board members also decided on a path forward in attempting to save money on recycling trailers.

Ryan Hurt of All Circuit Electrical, rural Bryant, returned to Monday’s meeting with his wife Julie after visiting the board last month to ask for assistance and advice on clearing old tires from a property he recently purchased. The property is at 5510 N. U.S. 27, and Hurt plans to expand his business at that location. He said when he bought the property he guessed their was about a semi-load of tires there. He now estimates the number to be in the tens of thousands.

“I knew there were tires there,” said Hurt.

“He just didn’t know the magnitude,” continues board member Mike Leonhard.

District director Samantha Rhodehamel reported that other solid waste districts in the state have varying policies on such requests. Some, such as Wayne and Union counties, do not contribute to such clean-up efforts while others, such as Randolph County, may pay up to half of the cost with decisions coming on a case-by-case basis. She said there used to be a state grant program for such work, but that no longer exists.

Hurt told the board he’s looked into several options for disposing of the tires. The most cost effective, he said, would be to rent a tire shredder that can handle about 600 tiers per hour. He estimates the cost at about $18,000, plus fees for landfill disposal.

Board members Randy Geesaman, Chuck Huffman, Bill Gibson, Chad Aker, Gene Ritter and Leonhard, absent Mike Rockwell, discussed the issue at length along with members of their citizens’ advisory committee. They expressed support for his efforts to clean up the property that has been an eyesore along one of the county’s main highways, but also were reluctant to commit funds given recent financial stress on the district.

Eventually, however, the board approved contributing about half of the estimated cost — $9,000 — to help with the project on a 4-2 vote. Ritter, Geesaman, Aker and Leonhard voted in favor with Huffman and Gibson dissenting.

The board also agreed to try to negotiate with Waste Management to reduce its costs after receiving advice from county attorney Bill Hinkle.

The solid waste management district is under contract with Waste Management through April 30, 2021, for providing recycling trailers. 

But because of increasing costs, the board has been looking at other options and learned it could save an estimated $35,000 annually by switching to Best Way.

Hinkle noted that there is no provision for terminating the agreement without cause, such as breach of contract, and advised the board that the best route forward would be negotiation for lower costs until the contract expires. Huffman and Geesaman said they would be willing to work with Rhodehamel in that process.

In other business, the board:

•Denied a grant request after additional review because it was deemed to not fall under the district’s “reduce, reuse, recycle” mission. The board had approved six grants totaling just under $2,600 at its last meeting. One other grant request had been denied for the same reason.

•Heard from Redkey resident Tony Fisher about his plans to start a local recycling company. He said he hopes to have the venture up and running this year. Board members expressed support for such an effort, but took no further action.

•Paid claims totaling $25,219.70. The district brought in $17,952.65 in tipping fees on 10,362.28 tons dumped at Jay County Landfill in February. The district has a current balance, including $200,000 in investments, of $409, 478.50. Rhodehamel also noted that the district received its check totaling $52,649.83 from The City of Portland for the return of unused recycling grant funds.

•Approved a social media policy.