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08/22/2006: "SWAC Wants More Info From Staff"

(Consultants Todd Peterson & Don Kehrer aiding discussion of SWAC meeting)

The Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) met on Monday to review the input from a well attended open house that had been held earlier in the month Previous story , and to answer general questions on how to handle garbage on San Juan Island. The Committee was unable to resolve the questions of what to do with garbage and recycling on San Juan Island. They did agree they wanted to do something about improving a transfer station, and to encourage recycling, but just where all this was to happen, and in what kind of facility, and how much it would cost, were questions that did not get resolved

If the hope of the County Council was, as SWAC member Tom Munsey informed the Committee "The Council wants you to tell them where to build a transfer station. They do not want to make that decision", then the Council will be disappointed with the results of the meeting.


While it was expected the meeting would deal with questions that came out of the last official meeting in July ( "Does San Juan Island want mandatory curbside pickup service..or ..to develop a New Transfer Station at a new location, or the Town property?"), and to contrast those questions against the responses of the public at the public workshop held in August, some on the committee were of the opinion that since the question posed at the August workshop was about curbside pickup, only those against "mandatory curbside pickup" showed up, so the results of the workshop may not reflect what the community really wants.

The meeting started at 11:30 a.m., and by 2:00 p.m. some on the committee were attempting to form a motion, but were only able to speak on what they saw as important issues that needed to be addressed. It seemed that the Committee was looking at two main questions: Should "universal pickup" be imposed, or should "self-haul" continue to be allowed. Todd Peterson, the consultant hired to aid the committee, tried to pull together motions out of the dialog between the committee and staff, but both attempts at passage of these motions failed. While the motions were labeled by Committee members Wally Gillette and Bob Freehauf as not being understandable, the main objection may have been that without an understanding of costs, the Committee could not support one proposal over another.

At the end of the meeting the staff from Public Works was given direction to provide additional information on how a site plan could be laid out on the only two properties that seem to be the focus of the group: the current site and area around the dump, and the land that was purchased by the County off of Beaverton Valley road. The questions and problems will be taken up at the next meeting.