Garbage hauler says ordinance would 'put me out of business'

Buscemi threatens suit if county OKs solid waste plan

By Lisa Majors-Duff

"It's an open-and-shut case of discrimination," said Bill Buscemi, owner of Helping Hands, a garbage hauling business in Jackson County, about the proposed ordinance.

Jackson County commissioners plan to meet tonight (Thursday) with members of the solid waste advisory board to discuss details of the ordinance. The meeting will get under way at 6 p.m. at the Justice Center.

"If the county passes this ordinance, it will leave me no choice but to file a lawsuit because my business will fail," Buscemi said.

The problem with the proposed ordinance, he said, is that it reclassifies residential waste as commercial waste once it is picked up by a private hauler and then restricts that waste from being left at one of the county's eight staffed recycling centers.

"The county charges each household $60 to use the SRCs," Buscemi said. "Then (with the proposed ordinance) it says that a private hauler who collects residential trash cannot use the SRCs.

"The county is discriminating against those who cannot get their trash to the SRC and taking away a person's right to chose how to get their waste to the SRC," he said.

Buscemi, who has appeared before the board of commissioners on numerous occasions to offer his opinion on solid waste management techniques, said that those who are not "playing by the rules" will continue to get away with using the SRCs illegally after an ordinance is adopted because it's impossible to know for sure who is hauling garbage for a fee. There's also no way to know for sure if a small business owner is hauling his work waste to an SRC.

"There's no way (the county) can stop commercial trash from going to the SRCs except by requiring each business to prove where their trash goes," Buscemi said. "Otherwise, how would (the county) know?"

Buscemi said he's consulted an attorney, who advised him that the ordinance being considered by the county would qualify as discrimination.

"(The county is) about to make a mistake," Buscemi said of the proposed ordinance. "And I'm going to stand up for my business, just like I always have."

Commissioners first reviewed a similar document about two years ago but put off action for a variety of reasons, including some of the same concerns brought up by Buscemi. Solid waste advisory board members completed the new, streamlined proposal and presented it to commissioners in July.

"It took (the commissioners) a long time to review the original proposal, after which they asked us to simplify it," said solid waste Chairman Maurice Moody. "They also wanted us to have Geoffrey Willet (a state community development planner) review it, which we did."

As a result, much of the detail and administrative tasks called for in the original ordinance were eliminated, Moody said. As many as 15 pages were removed before the final draft was approved by the solid waste advisory board, he said.

"It's more policy now," he said.

A "significant change in philosophy" has been included in the new ordinance, Moody said.

"Instead of having a solid waste 'advisory' board, Geoffrey proposed we become a board similar to the planning board," said Moody. "This would take a lot of administrative burdens off the commissioners and allow a first step in the appeals process."

The proposed ordinance calls for the establishment of the solid waste board to reduce the economic, environmental and social burdens of solid waste disposal, to provide long-range planning for the disposition of solid waste and to make the operation of the solid waste system more responsive to citizen concerns.

A "pay-as-you-throw" addendum could prove to be the most controversial section of the proposal, said Moody, who admits to having concerns about using this method to not only finance solid waste removal, but also encourage citizens to recycle.

"The (solid waste) board was divided over this section, but we decided to keep it," he said. "My feeling is that it could increase illegal dumping."

To avoid just such a scenario, Moody suggested at least 18 months to two years be spent on education before pay-as-you-throw is implemented. But, said Moody, the ordinance itself should not be stalled because of this section.

"We would like to have an ordinance in effect, then have time to work on pay-as-you-throw," Moody said. "We'll need time to educate the (staffed recycling center) staff and to get public support for the process."

Buscemi, a supporter of the pay-as-you-throw concept, agrees that some type of ordinance should be enacted to put everyone "on a level playing field," but he opposes this ordinance.

The pay-as-you-throw addition to the proposed ordinance calls for each residential bag of garbage taken to an SRC to have a sticker. Fees for the stickers, which must also be visible on "gray good" items, would be established and adjusted annually by the board of commissioners, the proposal says. No sticker would be needed for recyclable disposals.

Enforcement of the ordinance is addressed in sections dealing with criminal and civil penalties. The provision calls for the ordinance to be enforced by the board of commissioners, the Sheriff's Department and other agencies having duties and responsibilities in the areas of health and solid waste disposal. Also, county solid waste employees, as designated by the chief administrator of the solid waste department, would be authorized to enforce the ordinance.

Criminal penalties call for a violation of the ordinance to constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $500, jail time of not more than 30 days and/or community service. Each violation and each day's violation would be treated as separate offenses.

Violators could also be sued by the county under a "Schedule of Civil Penalties" as approved by the board of commissioners. Such action would only occur following written notification of the violation and an opportunity to appeal. All appeals would be initially decided following a hearing before the solid waste board.

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