The legacy of a bad decision by two Skagit County commissioners in 2005 on solid waste is a new and, hopefully, effective governance system for trash and a $240,000 expense to defend against a pair of lawsuits.
Now that the lawsuits are out of the way, we can expect that the new Solid Waste Governance Board will be able to plan for a system that operates efficiently and in the public interest.
The suits were dismissed by agreement between the county and Deluxe Recycling and Disposal, which had gone to court to force the county to process its application for a transfer station site. Without it, Deluxe would not have access to the waste stream generated within county boundaries.
Deluxe also had acquired the old Cimarron Recycling and Transfer company, inheriting the lawsuit that company had filed when the county declared its contract null and void. Cimarron got the contract after then-Commissioner Ted Anderson and Commissioner Don Munks ignored the wishes of the cities and altered the solid-waste comprehensive plan to allow private competition with the county’s transfer station.
When Cimarron received its site designation for its recycling operation, it was noted that Anderson and Ray Sizemore, a former Anacortes City Council member and part owner of Cimarron, were longtime friends.
Belatedly, the 2005 commission — with Anderson and Munks ruling as a majority of two — decided to open the county waste-handling business for bids. But, with Cimarron having tied up about a third of the waste stream already, there was little incentive for companies to offer serious proposals, and that effort died.
The dismissal of the Cimarron lawsuit, hopefully, has cleared the decks for a clean, open bidding process with all of the county’s waste up for grabs.
Now it is up to the new governance board to devise a structure that will provide the public with a system that maximizes recycling, reduces the flow of waste to landfills and keeps rates at a reasonable level.
The governance board will not have a say in the siting of a Deluxe waste-handling facility across the street from Sedro-Woolley High School, unless it is to handle in-county waste.
Part of the understanding that led to the dismissal of the lawsuits was that Deluxe could transport waste from outside the county to the Sedro-Woolley site, assuming it has all the proper permits from the state Department of Ecology and the county Department of Health.
That is an issue that remains in dispute between the residents of Sedro-Woolley and their own city officials, some of whom have seemed unmoved by community objections to the proposed Deluxe site.
It is an issue that could well be grist for the next city elections.
• Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood, Editor Don Nelson and City Editor Dick Clever.
Dumped trash suit gives clean slate to board
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