Landfill idea tabled again; public thoughts go under review
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 28, 2004
The Perry Commission again Tuesday tabled a vote on a new county solid waste plan.
The commission plans to hold a workshop to review the transcript from the January public hearing in Uniontown and the large amount of correspondence it has received regarding the proposed new landfill. The time of the workshop was not set by press time.
Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. was concerned that the commission act in the time guidelines set by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). “There is an urgency,” said county attorney and state senator Hank Sanders. ADEM knows the commission is working on the plan, said commission chairman Johnny Flowers. Sanders later said the commission had 60 days from the public hearing to vote on the plan.
Sanders also told the commission that a lot of correspondence regarding the landfill had been sent to ADEM.
Several opponents of the proposed Uniontown landfill again attended Tuesday’s meeting.
A sheriff’s deputy was also on hand at the commission meeting. There had been some heated exchanges at the last meeting between commissioner Turner and a few of the landfill opponents.
In other action from Tuesday’s meeting, the commission approved resolutions for two bills to be introduced into the legislature.
The first gives a $5,000 maximum expense allowance for the county coroner. A line item in the county budget for animal control will be eliminated to allow for the additional money for the coroner.
The other bill places a $10 additional fee on documents recorded in the Perry County Probate Office. Documents such as deeds, mortgages and other instruments will be affected. The fee will not be added to any licenses.
Although there was talk of the fee money being applied to school textbooks, public health and public safety, the money from the fee will go into the county general fund budget to be used “according to needs,” said commissioner Turner.
After the regular agenda was completed, the commission went into executive session joined by county Emergency Management Agency Director Hank Cosby.