Recycling Recycling

It seems the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District is out of compliance with Ohio EPA. Still. And the district says they need more money in order to fix this. There's a shocker. But there's something smelly about this whole thing and it isn't the trash.

It all started over two decades ago with HB 592...

1988 - HB 592 was passed that created solid waste districts in the state because we weren't recycling enough and the landfills were filling up. The Ohio EPA gets to oversee the districts and tell them how to do things. Problem #1. Since it is a government entity, tax dollars pay for it. Problem #2.

In 2009, the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District said they needed more money. To generate this money, they proposed a 'fee' of $3/ton of waste. A tax by any other name is still a tax. Call it a fee if it makes you feel better but it's still a tax. This tax would be levied on the trash haulers and will of course be passed on to their customers with rate increases.

But the tax must be approved by the county commissioners for each county, city council of the largest city in each county, and legislative authorities representing a combined population of at least 60 percent of the total population in each county. Athens loves paying taxes but the great people of Hocking County evidently do not. Logan City Council wouldn't pass it and neither would the county commissioners. It seems they had questions that were either not answered or were answered inadequately. Thank you to the elected officials in Hocking County for not playing the part of ostrich.

After a few months, the district recycled their plan to implement the $3 fee. Well, that is their business. Sort of. Hocking County again to the rescue. Questions gone unanswered concerning the finances of the district kept the Hocking County elected officials from approving the added tax.

Now Athens wants to take their ball and go home. The landfill used by the two counties is in Athens County. It's really close to the Athens/Hocking line though and wouldn't surprise me if some of it were located in Hocking County. Athens wants to break up with Hocking. The problem is that in order for a solid waste district to be a single county, that county must have a population of 100,000. Neither county meets that requirement and the Ohio EPA would have to approve the split. Hocking County would be left high and dry according to the threats made by the Athens County Commissioners. There's other stuff to it within the original bill that I am having a difficult time making heads or tails out of because it involves government speak and I'm not fluent in idiot.

The Ohio EPA says the Athens-Hocking District is not in compliance. I'm not sure exactly what that means but based on various newspaper articles dating back to February of 2010, we need to recycle more or maybe we need to generate more trash. I'm not sure. They want people to recycle but the county gets more money if we generate more trash. Since it's more money the county wants, do they want us to generate more trash? But the EPA says recycle.... makes my head spin....

The state says there is a partnership between public and private entities but at least a few of the private trash haulers don't exactly see it that way. They see it as the public side is pushing the private side out of business by causing the private haulers to raise rates. I can tell you that we pay almost twice as much out here in the county as what the people in the city pay using the county trash haulers. I'm pretty sure subsidies are involved. When the private trash haulers go to the landfill, they pay a fee to dump the trash. The county gets this fee. That's a subsidy, right?

But there's still the compliance problem. I'm not sure how the $3 tax will fix that unless it will be used to pay the EPA to look the other way. According to one of the private haulers, one way for the district to come into compliance is to add a handful of drop locations for recyclables in each county. Evidently there isn't enough participation and that's suppose to encourage it. In the same article from The Athens News:

He (the private hauler) said that officials often say that they are in the trash business because recycling doesn't pay for itself and they need the funds to pay for recycling.

Which is backed up on collegegreenmag.com:

“There’s not big money in recycling… so the government does it,” said Roger Bail, operations coordinator for the Athens-Hocking Waste District. “There’s money in trash.”

So they're trying to get more people to recycle more. We used to recycle stuff all the time. Pop and milk came in glass bottles. We took empty bottles to the store and got a deposit back. Now they come in throw away plastic. I like glass. And we drank water that came from the tap. You would fill a glass with water and wash the glass afterward to reuse it. Now we insist on carrying around plastic water bottles that end up in the landfill. But I'm sure the government had a hand in the glass bottles going away - probably some concern about hygiene. So the answer to that is now creating problems. Maybe if the government would stop trying to regulate everything, thus tying our hands, we wouldn't have either problem. We wouldn't be producing as much trash and would be recycling. Our trash haulers could make a living without raising rates to the point that many lower income families do not purchase the service to have their trash hauled away creating a bigger illegal dumping problem that the county also complains about.

Where and when will the madness stop?

Oh the Irony - Voting No on Issue 2

I wonder if anyone else noticed the irony on the front page of The Athens Messenger yesterday?

Since it was the day after election day, they naturally had the election results on the front page with the headline, "Voters reject union limits". The focus was the rejection of SB5 with an 80% no vote in Athens County on Issue 2.

Any time the topic of Issue 2 came up in conversation, face-to-face or on facebook, I mostly bit my tongue. Once I asked "Did you read the bill?", and got the usual response of "No" or "I read some of it", it was only a baby step to the realization that there was no way to try and convince someone who was so willing to eat the union garbage to vote Yes on Issue 2. They had made up their minds and there was no changing it.

Of course, one of the arguments to vote Yes was the jobs that might be saved. To my way of thinking, it came down to: Do you want more jobs or more money for fewer jobs? The 'no' crowd evidently wanted more money.

Ok. Back to the newspaper. At the bottom of the front page was a small article: "Looking like county will have fewer workers in 2012". It went on to explain the budget woes and how there were likely going to be layoffs or staff cuts by attrition in various county agencies. An article in today's paper went into a bit more detail and included whining from the heads of departments about how they have no where else to cut their budget and the rest of the typical resistance to the commissioners telling them the money just isn't there. And of course, Sheriff Pat Kelly didn't pass up the opportunity to campaign for his re-election.

If I were a commissioner, which will never happen because I'm just way too conservative for this county, I wouldn't be able to resist an appropriate or inappropriate comeback, depending on which side of the aisle you're on, of: "Well, maybe you should have endorsed Issue 2."

So Issue 2 goes down in flames while our local government department heads complain about budget cuts. I don't want to give credit to the death of SB5 as the reason just yet, but I will next year.

But not being one to always see the glass as half empty, I did find a positive way to look at things. Those of us who love to follow the Constitution to the letter and expect our elected officials to do the same, we do want less government, right? Well, we'll be getting it in 2012 in Athens County.

Athens is No 1 on Issues 2 and 3

Athens County has the distinction of placing first in the state on Issue 2 AND Issue 3. It's not something I'm proud of but I'm sure there are a fair number of liberals who would be if they knew how to get this information. But the reality is they don't really care once the election is over and things mostly went their way.

I have tried to explain to people who are not from Athens County just how liberal it is here. They think they know and they say they know but they really don't know the extent of it. We have Ohio University and I think for most people it stops there when they try to calculate the liberalness of the area. But they fail to include the non-student population and the non-OU affiliated people.

Now, however, I have something concrete to use to point out the level of liberalness.

Issue 3 was the healthcare amendment to nix Obamacare. It passed in all 88 counties and statewide it was 65.63% to 34.37%. If you list the counties according to percentages with the lowest percentage in the first position, Athens County is right there in the big number one spot. It passed 52.76% to 47.24%. The next county had issue 3 passing with almost 56% of the votes. So, we're number one with the lowest percentage of yes votes on Issue 3.

Issue 2 was the big repeal SB5 thing. Again, all 88 counties voted in unison against issue 2 and again Athens County places first. Statewide, the percentages were 38.67% to 61.33%. Now, put the highest percentage of  'no' votes in the first position and again you'll find......

.....YES!!! Athens County with a.... get this....

.....19.65% to 80.35%!!!!! Now that's a big gap.

I bet I can identify every single one of the 3070 people who voted yes on Issue 2.

So, when someone wants to talk to me about trying to convince the people of Athens to vote for the more conservative candidate or vote more conservatively on an issue, and I tell them I'll do what I can and they think I'm giving them the brush-off, which I usually am, I have these facts to use to help illustrate the liberalness of the county.

To Frack or Not To Frack

When I was reading the paper today, I got an idea about how to solve the fuss between the fracking camp and the no-fracking camp, the solar people and the drill, baby, drill people.

There was an article about how the City of Athens is thinking about passing legislation against hydraulic fracturing. It seems they want to be like Pittsburgh, which I think is stupid. It's stupid that Athens wants to be like Pittsburgh and it's stupid that Pittsburgh passed legislation that there will be no fracking in the city. I could be wrong but I think there has to be wells drilled for oil and gas before any of that fracking can take place. The last time I was in Pittsburgh, Point State Park was about the only place where there was room for a well and even I would be against that.

So here's my idea. Those of us who want to use coal to feed our power plants will get our electric from those plants, and those who want to use solar can go ahead and get their power from the solar fed power plants. Sign up for whichever you prefer and the electric company will bill you accordingly. Then, the electric company can determine how many of each kind of plant they need to supply the respective demands. That way, those of us who like to employ coalminers can pay $.04/kwh and the others can pay $25/kwh. No government subsidies, pay for what you use from the source you use it and everybody is happy.

As for the oil and gas, if you don't want fracking, fine by me. Just don't use oil and gas and you're good to go. Since I'm a drill, baby, drill sort, I'll have oil and gas options available for me to use.

Before you say my drilling will infringe on your access to 'clean' water that you claim fracking threatens - which it doesn't. Have you seen how deep they go? - you stay in town where there are no drilling rigs and I'll live out here amongst them. You're gonna want to stay close to town anyway since your electric car, powered with solar generated electricity, doesn't actually go very far between charges. Now, when it's time to replace that battery in a few years and it costs you a couple of grand and you need to dispose of the old battery, well, you figure it out.

And while we're on the subject of cars, you're going to have to make them out of something besides the plastic that is currently used. Plastic is made using oil. Maybe you could make them out of hemp. And bikes? Do you have any idea how much electric, oil, and coal the steel mills use to process metals?

Now, something else the EPA lovers might want to keep in mind about solar power. It doesn't always work. If the sun isn't shinning, you're running on battery. These last couple of weeks have been pretty cloudy here in Ohio and I imagine trying to keep up with demand during times like this will be kind of tough for the solar power plants. Winters get cold and summers get hot. And when the snow is flying and the sun hasn't been seen for awhile, you might want to make sure you have thermal underwear. Maybe you'll eventually be able to develop dependable batteries that last longer than the ones available now. I know my cell battery and computer battery are forever needing charged. They're power hogs. But then again, your curly fry lights use very little power so you should be able to see ok for the first few hours.

I'm sure there are some details that need to be worked out yet but that's the gist of it.

How to Overturn Your Own Bill

This just irritates me to the nth degree. And SB5 just got overturned by the voters in November.

The Ohio legislators introduced and passed SB5 using the economic issues facing the state as the reason for now being the time to get a handle on things. I liked it because it actually puts negotiations back at the local level which usually increases options. But the unions and many of the members perceive SB5 as an attack on their livelihood. I can see where they might think that. The merit pay part was probably what scared many and the unions have convinced their members that the state legislature doesn't think very highly of their worth to society. It's a scare tactic and I didn't buy it but this latest sure does make it difficult to defend SB5.

So, what did our legislators go and do? They gave double digit, in most cases, pay raises to staffers!!! What the .....?

According to 10TV:

Niehaus said he based his decision on market forces. “I thought it was important to protect the most senior members of my staff,” Niehaus said.

He said he was worried he would lose key staffers to other state agencies or private businesses if he did not pay them more.

One of the supposed results of SB5 was a mass exodus of public employees into their retirement systems, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch back in June. I don't know how you would figure out what that particular statistic might actually be, but I can tell you that I know many people who are retiring earlier based on fear that was created by SB5.

So let me see if I get this right. It's ok for local governments to loose the experienced employees but it's not ok for the state senate to loose experienced employees. Both are public employees paid by the taxpayers. Hmmmm. Not sure I see what the diff is.

From my perspective, I'd rather see less experienced staffers, including legislators, but term limits fixed that, right? No. Not really. They just jump from place to place now.

But where the difference does lie is in the dollars. A 3% raise to the normal public employee, i.e. cop, firefighter, teacher, state worker, is one thing since it's based on a salary around 50-75K give or take. But that isn't where we are when it comes to the staffers who got as high as a 37% hike. We're talking about increases in pay on salaries that reach six figures in many cases. I don't generally begrudge anyone their salary but I fail to see how any public employee is worth 6 figures in this economic climate.

Another argument in favor of SB5 was to decrease the size of government. I'm afraid this isn't a decrease in government. Nope. Not in my book. If you need so many staffers that to keep the good ones cost this much, government is waaaay too big. You're legislating waaaay too much. Introducing waaaaay too many bills. And I've read them. Some of them are downright asinine.

So while the rest of us are told to tighten our belts and the rank and file public employees are told you need to help contribute to the cause, the staffers at the state house are given raises.

Well, I see where your loyalties lie, Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus. It certainly isn't with J. Q. Taxpayer. And if you think that it's okay just because you got a couple of the D's to sign on to this scheme, let me enlighten you. They did it because this is what will sink the final nail in the coffin of SB5.

Tax Payers Have a Friend in Athens County

A great big thank you to the Athens County Auditor, Jill Thompson, and the rest of the budget commission for cutting the millage on two county agencies thus saving the taxpayers some cash - over a million dollars worth.

For 2012, there will be a levy reduction of .5 mill for The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Athens County Children Services will be reduced by one mill.

Why? Because they're hording money at a time when everyone else is tightening their belts and making due.

The Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities had 5.26 million dollars in extra cash at the end of 2010. Carryover for each of the previous 5 years was also in excess of 5 million dollars. Plus, there were generous pay raises every year including 5% for each of the past 2 years and as high as 6.65% in 2007. All the while having 300 people on waiting lists needing their services. What the heck is going on here?

Athens County Children Services had 5.1 million dollars in extra cash at the end of 2010 increasing their carryover gradually over the past 5 years. They have now reached almost 76% of their annual expenditures in carryover.

I understand having some carryover but I think over 5 million dollars worth for each agency is a weeeee bit excessive.

But wait, there's more. Last November, both of these agencies had tax levies on the ballot that were approved by the voters. How dumb are we? Well, I'm not but I was in the minority on those issues as both levies passed easily. One thing that is pretty certain in this county is that county-wide levies usually pass no matter what. No one questioned if either agency needed more money. No one ever questions any of them why they need more money. They just vote for the levy because..... well, there are several reasons that will have to wait for another post but one of them is because the various agencies just had the nerve to ask.

And now that they've had their budgets challenged, I suppose these two agencies will go on a major spending spree so they can ask the voters for more money or at least get the millage back they just lost. And I'd bet the other county tax-funded agencies will make sure they don't have very much carry over lest they face the same fate. And that's a sad state of affairs but unfortunately how things work in government. To translate: Spend it or you loose it. Spend it so you can get more.

At least in 2012 I get to keep a couple of extra bucks of my money. It won't be a lot, enough for maybe a nice dinner for two. But it's something. And I can't do much about voters being so willing to raise my taxes, but at least I know that someone in this county is watching and has the nerve to ask the recipients why they need so much spare change at the end of each year.

The First Casualty

The first one to go is a deputy. He's not exactly gone. Just demoted from deputy to transport officer. He can still arrest people. He just can't answer the phone.

On July 19th, when Mark Sullivan's wife called the sheriff's office to complain about her husband's abuse, she included this part about his having marijuana. The officer she was speaking to, Randy Secoy, told her “...to put it all in a grocery bag and bring it to the sheriff's office.” When she asked about the ones still growing, he told her to “just grab a hold of them or call the office and have somebody come out.

Isn't that what she was doing? Calling the sheriff to report a crime and this is how they handle it? A crime of this nature involving any other person, would be classified a major event from the Big, Bad, Drug Task force, aka Athens County Sheriff's Department. Had this been anyone else calling, it would have been plastered all over the sheriff's facebook page touting about how big of a bust they made and we have them behind bars and you're safe from the boogeyman now.

But that's not what happened. An Athens County Commissioner, Mark Sullivan, was the one who was being accused of committing a crime. His wife was reporting it and it didn't warrant even a house call by the deputy. Maybe he was busy updating his facebook page. Or maybe it was because the involved parties included an Athens County Commissioner and his wife. What she got in response was the proverbial take two aspirin and call me in the morning. In other words, - I really don't want to deal with this. Could you call back when someone else is on duty so they can deal with it?

It took three weeks for this particular incident to make it to the public and that's only because someone called the local media anonymously. The Athens Messenger got the run-around when they requested the reports and then what they did get was redacted. A request was made to the state attorney general's office for a special prosecutor but not until after The Messenger made it a headline.

Now a couple of more weeks have passed and the first casualty has been named. Why it has taken Sheriff Kelly so long to conduct an internal investigation and take action is beyond me. I can't imagine it would have taken me much longer than the amount of time it took for me to listen to the taped call WHILE Deputy Secoy was sitting in front of me the next morning. It's not like the sheriff didn't have access to the 911 tapes. Listening to the recorded call should have been enough to at least put Deputy Secoy on leave if not outright fired. Maybe I'm just impatient and the wheels of justice turn to slow for my taste.

So now Deputy, ahem, Transport Officer Secoy has been demoted and there's this last chance agreement. Last chance for what? He'll be on probation until next August and if he does something stupid, he could be fired. What could you possibly do transporting prisoners? Oh, I suppose you could possibly taser one unnecessarily or do we only threaten 10-year old students with that? Yes. Yes we do. But that incident got him 3 days suspension and some class time in conflict resolution and a class on how to balance his personal and professional life, as reported in The Athens Messenger. Now I'm wondering if they have those classes in conjunction with the Domestic Violence Intervention Program that Mark Sullivan was supposed to attend. Is there a pattern starting to develop?

Sheriff Kelly as quoted in The Messenger:

“Randy Secoy is a good person. Randy Secoy has made mistakes and we've corrected those. We've sent Randy to training and counseling. If that proper training doesn't work, then I have to move forward and that's what we've done with Secoy.”

Okay. But Sheriff. You said that the last reprimand had no bearing on your decision to demote Secoy over this incident. If that's true, then those classes can't be included as 'time served'.

But I'm thinking there may be a bit more to this story that has yet to be revealed.

How much is the sheriff trying to cover his own butt now because he didn't deal with all this the next morning? You know Mark was all the talk around the water cooler for at least the next two or three shifts.

Who was the supervisor on duty that night if it wasn't Secoy? And if it was Secoy, why didn't he cover his own rear and handle the call like they would any other one? They get plenty of practice around here handling drug calls. It should have been relatively standard.

Why would responding to a complaint by the wife of an elected county official be any different than anyone else? I can think of a few reasons.

So, Secoy is demoted and on probation and Sullivan is still a county commissioner.

And one more question, for now:

If someone breaks into my house and I shoot them dead and call the sheriff's department to report the break-in, do you suppose they'll tell me to put 'em in a bag and bring 'em in?