ATHENS, Ohio — Next week, Athens City Council will discuss joining a council of governments that is forming to absorb Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc., as the nonprofit projects a grim future.
The council will discuss the city’s critical membership in the Southeast Ohio Area Resources COG at its committee of the whole next meeting next week; the meeting date and time remain to be determined due to the April 8 solar eclipse.
The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District District is spearheading the efforts to launch the COG, alongside Amesville, which recently became the council’s second core member. The COG is one way to salvage AHRC’s waste, recycling and composting infrastructure — which could be wound down by fall if something isn’t done to save it.
AHRC’s operations were thrown into disarray late last year when the city of Athens decided to contract with Rumpke Waste & Recycling for its trash services beginning in 2024. The city’s previous contract with AHRC had represented 40% of AHRC’s revenue. If Athens joined the COG, it would be able to break its contract with Rumpke through a 60-day notice.
ARCH’s future looks increasingly grim
AHRC’s “finances really don’t work without the city of Athens,” Executive Director Crissa Cummings told the Independent on March 29. The same day, AHRC announced in a press release that its future looks “bleak.”
“If we continue operations, as we have it, we are forecast to run out of money by late summer, early fall,” Cummings said. “In terms of timeline, the city needs to make the decision this month. … It’s either gonna happen, or it’s not.”
After Athens ended its contract with the organization, the AHRC board decided it would wait until March to see if the city joined the COG. If that didn’t happen, Cummings said, AHRC would begin to wind down operations.
Now it’s April and “we’re proceeding with that plan,” Cummings said. “If they [Athens] change their mind, it’s a lot easier to adjust to that new reality.”
In the meantime, the nonprofit is looking at how it can maintain integrity as it eyes phasing out services.
“The April board member meeting is going to be centered on making sure that we can honor our contractual obligations, but also start a plan for trying to salvage what can be salvaged,” such as the composting facility. “Obviously, we want to see the sorting facility survive, too, but we have not seen a path forward for that.”
AHRC cannot “responsibly just continue to operate and then run out of money,” Cummings said.
“We’re not going to get ourselves to a point where we can’t pay our bills, and harm other local businesses — it’s just not ethical,” Cummings said. “We definitely don’t want to get into a place where we suddenly can’t pick up the trash and recycling at [Ohio University] or in Nelsonville. So we’re gonna figure out how to honor those contracts.”
AHRC began as a public entity, which later became a private nonprofit that carried over its union workforce. Its existence was built upon its relationship with the city and its customer base.
“All of the infrastructure was really built around the city of Athens, and then ended up being able to serve the greater region,” Cummings said.
Loss of revenue from the city of Athens forced AHRC to lay off employees, further affecting its ability to function effectively.
“We’re at the bare minimum staff that we can have and maintain current operations,” Cummings said.
Since following this story, the Independent has seen AHRC’s employment number drop from 49 in November 2023 to 35 in March.
District “optimistic” following Amesville decision
In an interview on March 29, AHSWD Director Jane Forrest Redfern said the COG is still working out its bylaws and agreements.
“We’re basically going to get a commitment on who the initial members are, and once we find the initial members, then we’ll file with [the auditor], and then 30 days after we file, we become a COG,” Forrest Redfern said.
In light of Amesville’s recent decision to join the COG, and Nelsonville City Council’s decision to allow its city manager to partake in planning discussions, Forrest Redfern sounded hopeful on March 29.
“In government time … we’re doing lightning speed,” Forrest Redfern said. “I’m optimistic about the COG.”
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