One issue of particular concern for the commissioners is the fact that the Chapel Hill Town Council has still not passed a resolution endorsing the plan.
“I’m just totally amazed that this is still out there,” said Commissioner Stephen H. Halkiotis. “It seems like they’re blowing people off, and I don’t understand why.”
Wilson’s idea for completing the three-year plan was the formation of a separate group of elected officials to ensure the proposal’s completion. But Commissioner Alice Gordon said further work on the plan simply should be left to the solid waste advisory board.
The commissioners eventually directed the board to hold a joint meeting with municipal officials from applicable jurisdictions.
Advisory board chairman Jan Sassaman said the elected officials would possess assets that board members lack.
“We don’t have the political savvy that the elected officials would bring,” he said.
County Manager John Link said he thought the issues being discussed had already been worked out in a previous agreement.
“I’m sensing that there’s some confusion about the interlocal agreement,” Link said. “It seems (Chapel Hill wants) to renegotiate it indirectly.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.By Ted Strong
Assistant City Editor
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
Managing storm debris and finalizing a long-term solid waste management program are the two most important landfill-related issues facing Orange County, local officials say.
Gayle Wilson, the director of the county’s solid waste management department, also said the county needs to take more action to alleviate these problems.
“Now we’re basically operating on a shoestring and a prayer, and that’s really not a good way to be,” Wilson said Wednesday.
At a Tuesday meeting of the county’s Board of Commissioners, Wilson gave local officials an update on the area’s latest tribulations with debris cleanup.
The county lacks the land to properly dispose of the waste, Wilson said.
He said the cleared space the county was able to use to handle debris from Hurricane Fran is now being used as a landfill.
He also said the county was only able to handle the last big ice storm by getting temporary permission from Chapel Hill to store the ground-up debris on a parcel that normally has significant use restrictions.
“In my opinion, you absolutely could not handle something like (Hurricane Fran),” Wilson told the commissioners.
Tuesday’s meeting also featured a discussion of long-term waste management planning that centered on the county’s Three Year Solid Waste Management Plan. The plan states that the county should reduce the amount of waste it generates by 61 percent per capita by 2006.
One issue of particular concern for the commissioners is the fact that the Chapel Hill Town Council has still not passed a resolution endorsing the plan.
“I’m just totally amazed that this is still out there,” said Commissioner Stephen H. Halkiotis. “It seems like they’re blowing people off, and I don’t understand why.”
Wilson’s idea for completing the three-year plan was the formation of a separate group of elected officials to ensure the proposal’s completion. But Commissioner Alice Gordon said further work on the plan simply should be left to the solid waste advisory board.
The commissioners eventually directed the board to hold a joint meeting with municipal officials from applicable jurisdictions.
Advisory board chairman Jan Sassaman said the elected officials would possess assets that board members lack.
“We don’t have the political savvy that the elected officials would bring,” he said.
County Manager John Link said he thought the issues being discussed had already been worked out in a previous agreement.
“I’m sensing that there’s some confusion about the interlocal agreement,” Link said. “It seems (Chapel Hill wants) to renegotiate it indirectly.”
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
