Hearing on Countywide license set for May 9 in Plain Township

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

PLAIN TWP - Everyone should know next month whether Stark County Health Commissioner William Franks wants to shut down the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility for its chronic odor problem.

Franks told health board members Wednesday that he expects to present his recommendation at the group's May meeting.

The county Board of Health set a hearing for 10:30 a.m. May 9 to listen to Frank's recommendation on whether the board should renew the Pike Township landfill's 2007 operating license....Read more.

Countywide: We follow the rules

By NOAH BLUNDO and ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA - A spokesman for Republic Services Inc., Florida-based corporate parent of Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta, said Thursday that the landfill’s diligence, not variation in the inspection process, is the reason Countywide has far fewer violation notices than another landfill in the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District.

Previously, Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl had said that his interest was piqued by the wide berth between the number of violations the Stark County Board of Health issued to Countywide and the number Tuscarawas County’s board issued to Kimble Landfill at Dover. Abbuhl is awaiting a response from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to a letter he sent about the possibility of having the same inspectors monitor all the landfills in the waste district....Read more.

No shortage of ways to shut citizens out

The Canton Repository

PLAIN TWP - Some weeks are better than others for Stark County citizens who want to know how their government operates. This has not been a good week, judging by these developments:

• You might assume that a public hearing actively involves the public, but don’t assume.

County Health Commissioner William Franks has asked his board to schedule a public hearing on the future of the Countywide landfill immediately after the board’s May 9 meeting. Franks has to hold a hearing only if he plans to recommend that Countywide’s operating license be yanked. But because he says he hasn’t made up his mind, he wants to schedule a hearing in any event....Read more.

What garbage

The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - During two decades of grass-roots environmentalism, Club 3000 has closely monitored the garbage dumped at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township. Now, just as the Bolivar-based group's persistence has begun to pay off with a massive cleanup plan in the works, Stark County's health commissioner, William Franks, appears as interested in digging into the club's finances as he is the underground fires and foul odors coming from the 258-acre landfill.

Franks is in the process of formulating a recommendation to the county health board on a 2007 operating permit for Countywide, not a renewal of Club 3000's status as a private, nonprofit organization. He has offered no public explanation for his outrageous demand for financial records, which, so far, the club has denied. Incredibly, the health department's legal counsel, Deborah Dawson, thinks Franks is not abusing his authority....Read more.

Landfill fee hike sought

By PAUL KOSTYU
The Times-Reporter

COLUMBUS - A Stark County lawmaker wants the governor to change course on assessing fees at construction and demolition debris landfills saying the money is needed to monitor groundwater and protect the public.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency dropped plans, three years in the making, to charge a 10-cent per ton fee on waste dumped at the landfills in order to follow Gov. Ted Strickland’s directive that taxes and fees not be raised in the two-year budget he submitted last month to the Legislature....Read more.

Landfill needs $22 million more to comply with EPA

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - Countywide landfill’s owner has told Wall Street it will cost another $22 million to solve odor and fire problems at the dump.

That’s on top of about $4 million Republic Services said it spent last year trying to vanquish the stench emanating from the southern Stark County landfill.

“It’s a lot of money,” said Republic’s spokesman Will Flower. But “this is an environmental issue we’ve committed to fixing.”...Read more.

Clean-up group's records sought

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Stark County Health Commissioner William Franks is seeking the financial records of a grass-roots group in his inquiry into a troubled landfill, although it remains unclear why he wants the records.

Club 3000, based in Bolivar, is refusing to provide its records, including financial contributors and in-kind contributions from 2002 to 2006, and its officials are troubled by Franks' request.

Spokesmen Tom O'Dell and Dick Harvey both questioned why Franks needs Club 3000 financial records in his inquiry into Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township....Read more.