NELSONVILLE, Ohio — At its meeting Monday night, Nelsonville City Council passed a resolution for the city to join the recently formed local council of governments for waste and recycling services.
The resolution authorizes the city manager to enter into an agreement with the Southeast Ohio Recycling Terminal Council of Governments “for the purpose of providing public waste management services.”
The resolution passed 4–1 on its first reading.
Councilman Johnny Flowers voted against the ordinance because in January, the council (then composed of different members) passed an ordinance that instructed the city manager to seek bids for trash services. Since then, the city renewed its contract with Athens-Hocking Recycling Center.
“I am going to have to vote no for this because I feel like we’ve already had an ordinance passed for our city manager to put out a bid for these contracts,” Flowers said. “I don’t think it would be right for me to vote for this when I’d be voting against the ordinance that we’d already voted on for Mr. Cangemi to put out a bid for the trash hauling in Nelsonville.”
Just because a municipality joins the COG doesn’t mean it automatically contracts with it for trash services; WOUB reported that while Athens plans to join the COG, it also plans to maintain its current contract with Rumpke Waste & Recycling.
The SORT COG will be able to conduct business around mid-June, following the 30-day waiting period after its formal foundational submission to the Ohio Auditor of State. In the coming months, the COG will also absorb Athens-Hocking Recycling Center’s assets and operations.
The nonprofit was thrown into chaos by the city of Athens’ decision to drop its contract with AHRC.
A resolution is the first step for a municipality to join the COG, Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District Director Jane Forrest Redfern said at the city’s May 22 utilities committee meeting. Then, the COG will then vote whether or not to accept the new member.
Other business
On second reading, the council passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to apply for, accept and enter into an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Water Pollution Control loan funding agreement. The ordinance passed 4–1, with Flowers again as the lone no vote, for which he gave no explanation.
The council also heard first reading of an ordinance to designate certain city officers to be bonded and established bond amounts: city manager at $100,000, city auditor at $1 million, city treasurer at $300,000, and mayor’s court clerk at $25,000. Public employees in Ohio are bonded in case of theft while in office.
City Auditor Taylor Sappington said the ordinance was needed because current Nelsonville City Code is unclear about bond amounts.
“State law says these positions have to be bonded, but council doesn’t have an amount in the code,” Sappington said. “It’s effectively zero, which it shouldn’t be, right — you guys should set an amount higher than zero.”
Council members Justin Booth and Tony Dunfee were absent from the meeting, as well as City Attorney Jonathan Robe.
Washington County Commissioner Kevin Ritter was on the agenda to address the council, but he did not attend. Ritter, a Republican, is running for representative of Ohio House District 94; his Democratic opponent is Wenda Sheard of Athens.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, June 10 at 7 p.m. in Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
Correction: The headline of this article has been changed from “Nelsonville joins solid waste council of governments” to its current headline, due to inaccuracy; the COG must first accept Nelsonville as a member it officially becomes one. We apologize for this error and any confusion it may have caused.
