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Dean caught in middle of landfill deal

The Inverness lawmaker comes under fire because he is one of the landfill company's directors.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published November 14, 2005

SUMTERVILLE - Opponents of a proposed landfill in Sumter County have criticized the possibility of pollution and plummeting property values.

Now some of them are criticizing state Rep. Charles Dean.

Dean, R-Inverness, is a director of ACMS Inc., the company that wants to build a 180-acre landfill for residential and commercial garbage on a 420-acre site east of Interstate 75 about a mile south of Lake Panasoffkee.

Darrin Ferrante, a member of the Citizens for Clean Air and Water group that opposes the landfill, said Dean has a conflict of interest. The representative serves as vice chairman of the House Water and Natural Resources Committee and should be looking out for the environment, Ferrante said.

"I don't know where his dealings in Tallahassee would take him on this issue. ... I'm not suggesting that he's not an honest man. I'm just suggesting that he may have some power and some ability that the average person doesn't have," Ferrante said.

Dean said Thursday that he would have no influence over permitting of the landfill, which must be approved by the Sumter County Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection.

"I don't see any conflict. It's a very legitimate business," he said.

Landfills do not harm the environment if they are built with the proper health and safety features, said Dean, who represents District 43, which includes all of Citrus County, southern Levy County and a portion of northwest Hernando County.

"If there ever was going to be one that was done right, this will be done right," he said.

Currently, trucks haul Sumter County's garbage to a landfill in Osceola County.

That's the way Citizens for Clean Air and Water and several county commissioners would like things to stay.

"The people of Sumter County do not want to bury garbage in their back yard," Sumter County Commissioner Jim Roberts said.

And he said Sumter residents do not want garbage from other counties ending up in Sumter.

Ferrante said his group is particularly concerned about the landfill's proximity to Lake Panasoffkee.

ACMS president Randy Messer said Friday that he did not want to discuss details of the proposed landfill until the company had completed the permitting process.

But he emphasized that county officials will ultimately decide what garbage can be stored in the landfill. Burying garbage locally would be cheaper than shipping it out of the county, he said, and the landfill would meet all government environmental requirements.

Messer said he hoped to build a "bioreactive landfill," which would use state-of-the-art technology to use methane gas to generate electricity.

ACMS already has a permit to operate a construction and debris landfill on the site.

To construct a landfill for residential and corporate garbage there, the company must get approval from the Zoning and Adjustment Board and the County Commission in addition to state environmental agencies.

Ferrante said the Zoning and Adjustment Board is scheduled to discuss the proposed landfill on Nov. 21.

In addition to Dean and Messer, a list of ACMS directors on file with the Florida Division of Corporations includes Scott Adams of Inverness, Charles Strange Jr. of Hernando, Monica Haufler of Ocala and Charles Dean Jr. of Tampa.

--Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at 352 860-7309 or cshoichet@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 14, 2005, 01:03:13]