Once again the solid waste fiasco in Gwinnett County has reared it’s ugly head. As many of you are aware the county awarded the Request for Proposal for an additional solid waste study to the R W Beck Company. Yesterday was the second in a series of eight meetings to be held through out the county to gather resident input. Other than the attendees that were either employees of R W Beck or the county there were 18 people in attendance, five of which were former members of the Citizens Committee on Solid Waste. To be totally honest I was disappointed in the turn out. Had I not recieved an email notifiing me of the meeting I would not have known about it. I am amazed that the county is spending $131,000.00 to gather citizen input and the meetings are so poorly advertised. Jamie Ward of the Gwinnett Daily Post is doing his part to make citizens aware of the meetings but everyone does not get the paper.
Saturday’s meeting was fairly uneventful. A Power Point presentation detailing how we got to the point we are at was used to start the forum. Ron Baker, a former member of the citizens committee spoke first in the open comment section. Ron was a bit upset with the amount of money being spent on Solid Waste both with this study as well as the various lawsuits that we as citizens of Gwinnett County are going to have to pay. He was also bothered that we can’t open Fire Stations built with SPLOST funds however a new stadium can be up and running.
Patrick Malone, also a former member of the citizens committee also spoke. Patrick stated that he heard what the citizens said regarding wanting choice however he interpreted it to mean that they wanted a lower price. I have to say that I believe that the citizens of Gwinnett County are intelligent enough to state exactly what they mean Patrick. I heard the same comments that you heard and I truly believe that the citizens of Gwinnett County want to be able to choose who their trash hauler is. Just for the record I exercised my ability to choose my hauler 3 weeks ago and fired Waste Pro, one of two the selected haulers in Gwinnett County, and hired Robertson Sanitation, not one of the two selected haulers, as my new hauler. Guess what Patrick, I also got a much lower price.
Another member of the citizens committee, Jimmy Orr also spoke. Jimmy requested that the work and recommendations of the Citizens Committee be carefully reviewed and considered. He also stated that these recommendations are a matter of public record as they were read and entered into the minutes of a Board of Commissioners Meeting. I have not been able to find when this happened but will take Jimmy at his word.
Several Private citizens also spoke and I apologize for not having their names. Their primary comments centered around reducing the number of trucks collecting trash in their neighborhoods and not instituting another County Government Department as they feel that private enterprise can and will better manage the situation. The other main issue brought up was the billing of trash services on the tax bill. This was also one of the most highly discussed issues with the citizens committee.
The forum concluded with an exercise of placing colored dots on posters to show attendee votes on several issues. Just as happened in the previous study by Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, at least one of the choices was flawed by not offering all the solutions available. This one was regarding recycling. The choices did not include an option for RecycleBank which was discussed in depth at several of the Citizen Committee Meetings. As we all know, you can make a survey say anything you want it to say depending on how you word a question. My advice to the people conducting the phone surveys, the internet surveys and the wording of these questions at these public meetings, be fair and don’t construct your surveys with leading questions. Just remember, there are many citizens of this county that will be watching very carefully.
In an attempt to help get the word out regarding these meetings and when and where they will be held, here is the schedule as I know it:
June 25 6:30pm to 8:00pm Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center Auditorium – 75 Langley Drive – Lawrenceville
July 9 6:30pm to 8:00pm George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center – 55 Buford Highway – Suwanee
July 11 10:00am to 11:30am Pickneyville Park Community Recreation Center – 4650 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. – Norcross
July 15 6:30pm to 8:00pm Dacula Park Activity Building – 205 Dacula Rd – Dacula
July 18 10:00am to 11:30 am Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center Auditorium – 75 Langley Drive – Lawrenceville
July 25 10:00am to 11:30 am George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center – 55 Buford Highway – Suwanee
I am planning on attending several of these meetings but will not be able to make it to all of them. Anyone who can make it to any of the meetings please comment here so that we can collectively keep people informed as to what is being said at the meetings.
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Here is a link to the article in the AJC that Patrick Fox wrote about the report from the consultant, R W Beck.
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/solid-waste-plan-report-119660.html
Let me know what you think!
The results I predict will closley mirror the results of Mike B. “blue ribbon” panel, which from any feedback I recieved was said tobe ignored by the remainder of the BOC.
There was never a report submitted to the panelists, to my knowledge at least, by Mr. Royal (chairman) summarizing exactly what was presented to the Board in a meeting to take place. I understood he was supposed to “review” the findings with the BOC.
The request for proposals on this subject was issued before the panel was engaged, the panel was never told of its existence, and our county taxpayers paid over $100,000 for this seemingly redundant process.