When explaining to employees at the solid waste department why they were being laid off at the Beaver Hill Disposal Site, management explained that Waste Connections has threatened the county in a disagreement over the recently submitted RFP (request for proposal) to haul trash. Emails to the commissioners asking for clarification have gone unanswered but the company is famously litigious, just ask “the Google”. The company is said to object to the terms or pricing per ton to haul solid waste to out of county landfills while repairs are made on sections of ducting and the site is “evaluated” by independent engineers.

At yesterday’s BOC meeting, Commissioner Cam Parry let it be known that the county was finally sending a “letter” to Waste Connections regarding its failure to meet conditions of its franchise agreement. Parry said, “we’ve decided enough is enough” and explained away the year it has taken the commission to act on this as time spent reviewing legal positions. Parry has previously characterized enforcing compliance with a 2003 agreement as “punitive” and not “positive”. When it was announced the county was finally taking action against the company for starving the BHDS there was some surprise amidst the cheers. Why would the county suddenly act when it had balked in the past? Now it seems this letter may be little more than a tit for tat response or simply a ploy by one or more commissioners to help negate revenue Waste Connections owes the county.

The solid waste department has been horribly mishandled since Parry was appointed and became the liaison. His decision to lay off workers will, for the first time since the plant went into operation, cost the general fund money in the form of unemployment payments. The county will continue to pay these workers through the general fund and yet receive absolutely no services for that money. According to the paper, turning off the burners will cost the county $3,000 per day to haul off leachate water normally used to cool the burners. The layoffs are already adding to the expense not only because the taxpayer will receive no services for the money spent but because the metal reclamation which provides revenue is not sufficiently staffed to operate at optimal levels.

While we all enjoyed a warm and fuzzy moment yesterday thinking this commission was finally listening to the people and doing its job to protect county assets… the reality is the commission has made a huge mess of this whole matter. Parry’s representation yesterday that the commission had had enough of Waste Connections behavior, was disingenuous at best and downright dishonest at the worst.

On a separate note and speaking of disingenuous, Randy Sanne and I were speaking on the street corner yesterday afternoon when Parry happened by on his way to his car. Parry lit up like sunbeam, flashing a giant “jim Carrey, is everybody happy!” smile and stretched out and shook Sanne’s hand. “Hey, you look great! Campaigning is good for you!” he gushed with a glow before striding across the street. All the while he knew but gave no hint that Sanne and three others had just been laid off without notice. Sure it may be the proper place to let management tell staff they are being laid off but I found that whole scene majorly, totally, as in finding bunnies boiling in your cook pot, creepy.

Meanwhile the merchants of misinformation are hard at work over at The World spinning the numbers to prime the public for the conversion of the incinerator to a transfer station.