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Furor flies over garbage pickup issue
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
INVERNESS -- The County Commission voted Tuesday to delay a decision on mandatory garbage collection until a series of public meetings can be held on the issue. The decision was greeted with jeers from the crowd of more than 600 people, which wanted the proposal killed altogether. "I thought we were coming back here today to put an end to all of this," Ina Ray, owner of FDS Disposal Inc., said after the meeting. She fears mandatory garbage collection would put her small company out of business. "I don't want to be back here in six months, fighting the same fight," Ray added. The motion to suspend the proposal was made by Commissioner Josh Wooten, who said that while he supported releasing bids for countywide curbside collection, he did not believe there was enough public support for the plan. "I have come to the conclusion the public is not ready to buy into the policy yet," Wooten announced at the beginning of the meeting, which was held at the Citrus County Auditorium to accommodate the expected crowd. "While I perceive that it will solve many of our ills, I think community buy-in is very important." He recommended county staff set up a series of workshops to discuss mandatory collection, as well as other possible solutions to the county's waste management problems. Wooten's motion was approved by commissioners Jim Fowler and Roger Batchelor, both of whom have expressed support for releasing bids for mandatory collection. But the remaining two commissioners -- Vicki Phillips and Gary Bartell -- refused to vote for the proposal unless Wooten amended it to scrap the contract that was on the table. Wooten stuck to his original proposal, and was obviously irked by the division in ranks. He scolded Bartell and Phillips for making speeches for "further political gain." Wooten also noted Bartell had been one of four commissioners to approve spending $109,447 for a consultant to draft a plan on how to implement the policy. There is no schedule yet for the public meetings and it is not known when, or if, the proposal will come before the commission again. The commission first discussed sending out bids for countywide collection at its Jan. 28 hearing. After more than four hours of public debate, commissioners decided to table the issue until county staff could answer more questions. The issue being considered was whether to submit bids to haulers to gather specific information about mandatory collection. A vote in favor would not have implemented the policy. Since the January hearing, each commissioner met with County Administrator Richard Wesch and submitted a list of concerns. County staff members addressed those issues and drafted a new contract designed to help smaller, local companies better compete. For example, the number of years of experience required to bid on the proposal was reduced from five years to one. Also, residential service was divided into seven parts, instead of the original four, to give more companies an opportunity to bid. But haulers and many residents were not satisfied and jammed into the auditorium Tuesday. There were many homemade signs, including one that read: "Don't kill what made America great -- Vote no mandatory garbage collection." The expected protest was cut short by Wooten's announcement, which came at the beginning of the discussion. But at least 30 people still addressed the commission, pleading with members to put a permanent halt to consideration of mandatory collection. Some, like Homosassa resident Frank Hill, accused commissioners of using stalling tactics. "The move here today is purely to get the people here tired of coming to these meetings," Hill said. -- Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com .
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