Battle continues over Fifth District trash

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It appears the only way residents of the Fifth District of Cannon County can avoid having to pay twice to have their garbage disposed of at an area landfill is to give up curbside pickup service and carry their trash to the Cannon County Convenience Center themselves.

The county's Solid Waste Committee met Monday evening. Woodbury mayor Andy Duggin asked the members of the committee to once again ask the full Cannon County Board of Commissioners when it meets this Thursday to reconsider paying the tipping fees charged to the town when its trucks carry trash to a landfill. Duggin's request was not acted upon by the committee.

In September the commission voted not to pay the tipping fees, even though Fifth District residents pay a portion of their county property tax for that purpose.

The issue arose on Sept. 1 when the county closed the transfer station at the convenience center. For decades the town's trash trucks had been taking the Fifth District's trash there before it was hauled, along with garbage from all districts in the county, to a landfill by a private contractor hired by the county.

Now that the county has closed the transfer station, the town's garbage trucks are having to take the trash directly to a landfill. It is the county's stance it only has to pay the tipping fees for Fifth District trash if it is first taken to the convenience center by residents and then hauled to a landfill by a contractor it hires.

"The trash on that truck is Fifth District trash," Duggin told the committee. "We are asking for what we pay for. We are trying to help you. We are hauling the Fifth District trash for you."

The Woodbury Board of Mayor and Aldermen meets on Tuesday, Nov. 6. An attorney hired by the town, Evan Cope of Murfreesboro, was in attendance at the solid waste committee meeting on Monday. He did not address the committee. The town is considering whether to take legal action in an effort to have the county use the property tax money paid by Fifth District residents to pay the tipping fees at the landfill.

In addition to the issue of the tipping fees, the aldermen will also likely decide whether to continue to provide dumpster disposal services for a number of non-residential customers, including two county schools, located inside the town. The closing of the transfer station means the town is now having to also haul commercial trash directly to the landfill.

During the meeting Duggin said Fifth District residents are currently supporting about a third of the county's solid waste operation through their county property taxes. It was also brought out, by Fifth District Commission Ronnie Mahaffey, the total trash tonnage deposited at the landfill during September -- after the county closed the transfer station to the town's trucks -- was 303.67 tons. Mahaffey said the average in the months prior to that was about 563 tons per month.

If that type of downward trend continues, the cost to the county of of hauling and depositing trash should show a tremendous decrease in the coming months.

The town took a total of 91 tons of residential garbage and 41 of commercial to a landfill in September.

In other business, County Executive Brent Bush said he would present proposals received to perform the grant-funded upgrade work at the convenience center the next time the committee meets, along with a proposal from Southern Central Waste Services, who he has been in discussions with about privatizing the county's solid waste operation. Some city officials have speculated the county's decision to close the transfer station and not pay the tipping fees of Fifth District resident who the town collects trash for is part of an effort to force the town into ending its curbside service so that a private service could take over residential trash collection as well.

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CANNON COMMUNITY
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