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Sylva leaders table recycling vote
By Justin Goble
Sylva residents will have to wait a little longer to see if town officials will offer them a voluntary recycling program.
A decision was expected to come during the board meeting May 4; however, action was tabled until May 18, when town Manager Jay Denton will present a draft of next year’s budget.
The proposed program, which was devised by the town’s recycling committee, would require participants to purchase two 18-gallon bins: one for paper, the second for other recyclables.
According to town board member and committee Chairman Stacy Knotts, participants would have to buy their bins from the town. Bins will cost slightly more than $7 each, and the town will sell them to residents at cost, she said, adding that wheels and lids would be available for an additional cost.
Though officials voiced support for the proposal, they were unsure if they would be able to commit funds to one without looking at next year’s proposed budget.
When asked at the meeting if he thought he could fit the suggested program in with next year’s expenditures, Denton said he didn’t know, since a draft budget wasn’t yet available.
“I don’t really have a good answer,” Denton said. “I’m still looking at next year’s budget. If you instruct me to, I’ll set aside the $20,000. I’m going to look at as many options as possible to see if we can get it in. What I want to do is set it aside as it’s own department. That way, if we deem it unfeasible, we can just erase it from the budget.”
Denton later told The Herald his plans to spend $20,000 on the project covers costs to hire a part-time worker for one eight-hour day per week, once-a-week recycling pickup for every resident and retrofitting a town truck with bins to hold the waste. Though actual costs could be less, he said it would be easier to scale down the budget than to expand it if costs are underestimated.
Knotts, who has been a strong supporter of the recycling program, said she believes the program should be implemented to fill public demand.
“Nearly 82 percent of the people who have returned their citizen surveys said they would participate if we had the service,” she said.
Since the program will not be mandatory, she predicted that costs will be less than the estimated $20,000.
“I don’t think it will take eight hours to pick up the recycling,” she said. “So we won’t have to pay someone for a full day each week. That, and all of the Jackson County taxpayers will see the benefits since we’re sending less to the landfill.”
Though they were in favor of recycling from a moral standpoint, some board members weren’t sure if it would be feasible to appropriate the funds without knowing how many people would take part. Harold Hensley said he didn’t think the town should spend the money if participation was going to be low.
“If we’re going to have less than 10 percent of the citizens taking part in it, is the program really worth $20,000?,” he asked. “I think we should figure out how many people will take part in it before we make a decision.”
Board member Danny Allen pointed to the current year’s budget as an example, saying the town’s current expenditures make available funds tight.
“Jay was tasked with devising a budget similar to this year’s, but this year’s was hard enough to balance as it is,” Allen said. “If we add anything new, we have to cut something somewhere or come up with money somewhere. I’m not against recycling, and if we have the money we should go ahead with it.”
The town board’s Thursday, May 18 meeting is set for 10 a.m. at Municipal Hall.
In other business May 4, Jimmi Buell from the Jackson County Department of Public Health came before the board to give a presentation on the “Fit Together” grant, which the department recently received.
Buell said the Health Department will receive $120,000 during a three-year period from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to help institute a walking program in town. The program will start with churches in the downtown area and expand to include town and county employees, she said.
From the funds, $10,000 will be given to the town to help build a foot-bridge over Scotts Creek, Buell said, and another $20,000 will go towards creating a Greenway path between Mark Watson and Poteet parks.
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