Board mulling recycling future
A partnership with a private operator and a new facility at the landfill are among the considerations.
With recycling operations coming under fire from several directions, Floyd County Public Works Director Michael Skeen said he’s meeting with a local businessman today to discuss a potential partnership.
Skeen said Ira Levy, owner of Paper Recovery on East Sixth Street, contacted him about a potential joint venture that could involve a wider variety of recyclables.
The Rome-Floyd County Recycling Center at 405 Watters St. ended 2015 about $250,000 in the red and recently stopped accepting glass because of the expense.
Additionally, neighbors
are continuing to push for relocation of the facility they deem an eyesore.
“It’s an economic development issue,” said Charles Love, a leader of a North Rome residents’ coalition.
The discussion came during a meeting of the Rome-Floyd County Solid Waste Commission and included debate about
the $1.4 million in special purpose, local option sales tax funds earmarked for improvements.
“We don’t want a piece of it, we don’t want a partial, we don’t want a Band-Aid, and we want it moved,” Love said.
County Commissioner Scotty Hancock said the SPLOST funds should be held aside until there’s a clear vision of what’s next. City Commissioner Sundai Stevenson said she doesn’t want to wait long because the facility sits at a gateway to North Rome.
One option is to combine a loan from the Solid Waste reserve account with the SPLOST funds to build a new recycling center at the Walker Mountain Landfill.
“It’s time for us to sit down and say this is what we want to do and head in that direction and figure out a way to pay for it,” County Commissioner Irwin Bagwell said.
However, City Manager Sammy Rich said some efforts should be expended on improving the appearance of the center during the Neighborhood Enhancement clean-up program currently underway.
The Solid Waste Commission is expected to call a special meeting in two weeks to settle on a plan of action.