Governance change plan sent to waste district board

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - A proposal to form a regional solid waste management authority will go the Board of Directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Districts after the district’s policy committee passed a resolution at Friday’s meeting asking the board to take the proposal under advisement.

The measure passed by a 9-4 vote, with one abstention. Tuscarawas County Commissioner Jim Seldenright, Warwick Township trustee Belle Everett, Mike Chek of the Tuscarawas County Health Department and Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht voted against the resolution. David Elwell, representative of the public from Wayne County, abstained. Twenty one people serve on the policy committee, but 15 attended Friday. William Franks, Stark County’s health commissioner and the chairman of the policy committee, is not required to vote unless there is a tie....Read more.

Online input: EPA creates Web page on Countywide

By PAUL KOSTYU
The Times-Reporter

COLUMBUS - The Ohio EPA has established a Web page containing public documents related to its orders for Countywide Landfill and Recycling to fix problems associated with two underground fires.

The state agency also set up an e-mail address for people to send comments about and suggest possible project ideas for a $250,000 Community Benefit Project Fund that EPA Director Chris Korleski created. The fund is intended to help the communities affected by the landfill.

Local residents will be getting a notice detailing the information from Melissa Fazekas, deputy director of communications for the agency....Read more.

Who should have power? County officials oppose change in waste district rules

By NOAH BLUNDO
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - A proposal going before the policy committee of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District today that eventually could lead to the creation of a solid waste authority has drawn opposition from Tuscarawas County commissioners, who serve on the district’s board of directors.

Under such an authority, decision-making power would move from the board of directors – made up of the three counties’ commissioners – to a board of trustees with 21 or more members consisting of county, city, township and health department representatives as well as citizens and representatives of waste generators in the area....Read more.

Landfill chief at EPA has new job

By PAUL KOSTYU
The Times-Reporter

COLUMBUS - The chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency division that oversees landfills has been moved to a different position and replaced with another long-term employee of the agency.

Daniel J. Harris, who served as chief of the Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management since 2001, will oversee “technical aspects of solid waste regulation,” according to Chris Korleski, director of the Ohio EPA....Read more.

EPA searches for evidence of illegal dumping in Pike Township

BY Malcolm Hall
The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - Concerns that hazardous and solid waste materials are being dumped on a Riceford Road SW property brought state law-enforcement and environmental authorities here Tuesday.

The investigation is focused on a 42.5-acre site that is the home of Charles "Sonny" Alborn. Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation agents secured the property, on which several junk automobiles and 55-gallon drums were scattered.

"There have been allegations made that there has been hazardous waste illegally dumped and stored on-site, and solid waste as well," said Richard Fair, a BCI special agent who supervises the environmental enforcement unit. "We are here to assist the Ohio EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). They still are in the process of looking and seeing what they got."...Read more.

Landfill's neighbors want fairer shake

The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - Here's a picture no Realtor would want a house- shopping client to see: A homeowner wearing a mask while mowing the lawn, the better to blot out the smell from the nearby landfill.

That is an experience Marilyn Stith describes to illustrate the joys of living near the troublesome Countywide landfill in Pike Township. Stith wonders, as she told The Repository for a story Sunday, how her home, to which she says she has made no improvements in 10 years, could increase in value by $41,000 in the most recent reappraisal by the Stark County auditor's office. Stith and 13 other landowners near the landfill want their property taxes lowered....Read more.

Licensing process needs more openness

The Canton Repository

PLAIN TWP - If you had an interest in the future of the Countywide landfill, did you learn all you wished to know about what went into the decision of the Stark County Board of Health last week to keep the landfill open? Or did you find the process less sensitive to the need for thorough public understanding of this important issue than it could be?

Because Health Commissioner William Franks indicates that he is simply following Ohio law, we challenge state legislators to revisit the law....Read more.

Auditor wants landfill sites re-evaluated

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

CANTON - Millions of dollars in property taxes hinge on a real estate appraiser’s answer about how much four large Stark County landfills are worth.

The county auditor is trying to determine if landfills owned by Republic Services, American Landfill, Eslich Environmental and Minerva Enterprises have been undervalued — and therefore pay lower taxes than they should. To get the answer, the auditor plans to hire a state-certified private appraiser with a history of assessing landfills or similar properties....Read more.

Landfill’s neighbors contest tax bills

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - Marilyn Stith has tolerated the garbage trucks rumbling down her road to the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility landfill. She coped with the foul odors from the landfill last year by wearing a mask when she mowed and by keeping her backyard swimming pool under cover.

She has mostly kept her complaints to herself.

Until she opened her tax bill. County appraisers increased the value of her home in one year by $41,000....Read more.