ATHENS, Ohio – As a new local council of governments forms, the local waste services nonprofit Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc. continues to receive questions from the public about what’s next.
The Southeast Ohio Recycling Terminal Council of Governments officially formed mid-May. The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District and village of Amesville were the COG’s founding members. The city of Athens, along with Nelsonville and Logan, are poised to join as well.
“There’s still a fair amount of confusion about what a council of governments is, and what the relationship is between Athens-Hocking Recycling and the council of governments: SORT is going to absorb all of the operations and assets and employees of Athens-Hocking Recycling, and then Athens-Hocking Recycling will still exist, but to support the council of governments,” AHRC Executive Director and SORT Secretary, Treasurer and Fiscal Officer Crissa Cummings told the Independent.
So, what is a COG?
According to the Ohio Auditor of State, any two or more governing bodies of political subdivisions may enter into an agreement amongst each other to establish a COG. A COG may form for a variety of purposes, but usually members join to work together to achieve a mutually beneficial goal.
The Buckeye Hills Regional Council, the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia and the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council are all COGs that may sound familiar to Athens County residents.
Why a COG to absorb AHRC?
AHRC proposed a COG to preserve local control over recycling infrastructure, after the city of Athens contracted with Rumpke Waste & Recycling late last year.
The loss of Athens’ revenue – about 40% of its annual revenue – threw AHRC into financial trouble in late 2023, which continues to this day.
If AHRC were to close, Athens County would lose not only dozens of local union jobs, but also one of its two Class II composting facilities. None of Athens’ contiguous counties have such composting facilities.
Organizers and proponents of the COG, like Cummings and Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District Director Jane Forrest Redfern, believe that maintaining local control over waste services makes the regional economy — and its customers — less likely to fall victim to a corporate monopoly market; while contracting with the COG may be cost-saving for municipalities, too.
What does it mean for a municipality to join the SORT COG?
Just because a municipality joins SORT doesn’t mean it will receive or contract for services; it will simply become a member, after it posts a $500 annual membership fee, and after being accepted by the COG’s current membership.
“In order to receive trash services from the COG, [members] will contract with the COG,” Cummings said.
Will the city of Athens residents continue to be customers of Rumpke?
In November 2023, the city of Athens accepted a bid from Rumpke, who underbid AHRC, ending its near-decade long relationship with the city of Athens as its trash hauler. WOUB reported that Rumpke’s bid was significantly lower than AHRC’s; AHRC’s bid came out $1.7 million more over four years.
As a way to save AHRC’s assets and operations, many residents have spoken out about the city’s decision, and have put pressure on the city to drop its contract with Rumpke, and to join and contract instead with the newly formed COG.
Advocates for the COG, including AHRC Board President Andy Voigt, argued the only way for the COG to effectively absorb AHRC’s operations is for Athens to participate in and contract with the COG.
The city cannot contract with another waste hauler without opening bids – unless it contracts with another government entity, such as a COG.
Athens City Council is currently in the process of reading Ordinance 0-53-24 to approve the city’s pursuit of a SORT membership. The ordinance is set to appear on third reading at the council’s regular meeting on June 17.
Cummings said that in order for Athens to drop Rumpke, two additional ordinances are required: one to terminate its contract using the 60-day opt-out notice; and another to contract for SORT’s hauling services (SORT will begin conducting business on/after its first regular meeting on June 17).
But for now, Athens plans to keep its 3-year contract with Rumpke Waste & Recycling, WOUB reported.
Stone affirmed in a June 17 email that Athens plans to maintain its contract with Rumpke.
“It is important to note that if Athens were to terminate its contract with Rumpke, it is prohibited by law from entering into a contract for service with SORT unless it could provide the same service at a lesser cost,” Stone said in an email. “That is very clear in [Ohio Revised Code] 167.081 … [ARHC], as a private corporation, bid on the Athens contract twice in the last 18 months and was significantly higher each time. Also, it is important to note that changing service providers is disruptive and it is not something to be done frequently.’
Stone explained that if Athens City Council passes its “authority to join” ordinance, the city will simply become a SORT member: “Athens would be a co-equal member of the governmental organization (COG) with the other members that would take over the assets of the private non-profit corporation (AHRC).”
Joining SORT provides potential benefits for the city of Athens in the long-term, Stone said in an email.
“A COG for waste disposal could allow Athens to opt for creative waste management approaches in the future, particularly with sewage sludge disposal, yard, waste, composting, etc., if it makes sense for Athens residents,” he stated.
How has AHRC changed since December 2023?
“We’re definitely still seeing a shortfall each month,” Cummings said. “We’ve been narrowing the gap where we can.”
Cummings said AHRC has been fortunate to receive community support, including gaining new commercial and residential customers. But the nonprofit continues to operate with a minimal staff.
The Independent reported that in November 2023, AHRC employed 49 people, 31 of whom were full-time. Since then, the numbers have dropped.
“We’re pretty much in a holding pattern,” Cummings said. “We’re still running on a skeleton [crew], which has been particularly stressful for the recycling sorting staff.”
Now, 33 total employees work at AHRC.
“And we probably have dropped a little too low,” Cummings said. “We are probably going to go ahead and hire for the sorting line, because we really can’t keep up with what we’ve been running at. We went from 16 staff to 12 staff [on the sorting line].”
Currently, Rumpke is picking up recycling from the city of Athens and taking it to process at AHRC; the company is in the midst of building its own (massive) recycling facility in Columbus.
Since the city of Athens switched its contract to Rumpke, “The recycling that is coming in from the city of Athens is a lot more contaminated than what we brought in,” Cummings said. “And so there’s a lot more bagged recycling and just flat-out trash coming in. That’s been stressful.”
Cummings said she is not sure why there has been a change in the quality of materials the recycling center sorts. There is a direct correlation between the quality of recyclable materials and AHRC’s revenue, Cummings explained.
“We also get income from the sale of material,” she said. “The more of those we get, the better our financial outlook is.”
There’s also been a drop in the amount of food waste AHRC is receiving for composting, Cummings said.
“It’s a little more than half of what was coming in, but it’s a really substantial drop; I would say it’s probably dropped by a third,” she said.
AHRC has recently solicited for day laborers to help cover staff vacation time, Cummings said. It has also sought the help of volunteers for litter cleanups around the facility. These volunteer opportunities will continue, she added.
So, what’s next?
Cummings said that SORT hopes to transition AHRC customers and staff under SORT’s umbrella next month. Operations will remain the same, and AHRC will keep its 740-594-5312 number.
“The goal is going to be switching over all the operations and employees and transfer agreement for the assets during the month of July,” Cummings said. “I would say the soonest [the COG would be offering hauling services] would be at the beginning of August.”
How does AHRC plan to stay afloat through the changes?
“The only real breaking news was that we got a $100,000 match donor to help us weather a transitionary period,” Cummings said. The donor desires to remain anonymous, she said. The fundraiser will continue through the end of the year.
“Our fundraising goal was $200,000, and if we can make this $100,000 match, that should be enough to get us through the end of this year, and potentially a little bit into next year, depending on the commodities market,” Cummings said. “The hope is still that we will be able to have the city of Athens contract for services with the council of governments by January of next year as a path of stability for the financial situation.”
Cummings said that August is when AHRC’s financial situation will become more strained.
“August [is] when we start to struggle … There’s going to be enough money, but instead of having the money in the bank to pay the bills, we’re gonna have to wait for payments to come in to pay the bills,” she said.
SORT will hold a board meeting on Monday June 17 at 10 a.m. at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, 35 Public Square, Nelsonville.
Note: This article has been updated since initial publication to include comments from Stone.
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