Unless you haven't been paying attention to what's going on in Wexford County over the last year, I am sure you have heard of the concerns regarding the Wexford County Landfill. Depending on where you live in the county certainly affects your opinions on this matter.
From what I understand, there is not much of a question as to whether or not the landfill can continue the way it is going. The money coming in is less than the money going out. The reserves to make up the difference are almost gone (currently $200,000). It doesn't take much business acumen to understand that this business model doesn't work.
The big question now is where to go from here. I've heard the following questions:
Do we really want more trash coming into our county? We are having problems with the trash we already have.
Just because we will accept more trash, does that mean that other counties will send it to us?
Why can't we just shut our landfill down and send our trash out of Wexford County?
How can we raise rates? Aren't our rates already high enough?
These are all great questions and the answers to these questions often vary based on the source of the answer you get.
As a resident and business owner in Wexford County, I can only say this-
We better get to working together in an expeditious manner to solve the problem. It is not going to get better on its own and the amount of time we have to fix it is constantly shrinking. It's time for everyone in Wexford County to seek out the facts, get solid answers, and form a plan that will get us out of this mess. It is likely that whatever plan is chosen will not please all of the people or even completely please anybody. I guess you could call that a compromise. I know that is what we need.
3 comments:
Chris:
Thank you for your thoughtful commentary on the state of our county in regards to the landfill situation. I think you are right on target with your comments - we all need to work together to find a resolution that is the best answer for everyone, and it may not be the answer that makes everyone happy - but may be the only solution. Unfortunately, the problems exist, and EVERYONE, who lives in Wexford County will be impacted in resolving this problem. It doesn't appear that there will be any solution that will please all parties - we will need to share the responsibility to correct the situation, prevent it from happening again, and move forward TOGETHER as a community. Great thoughts! Thanks for taking the time to state your comments so clearly . I personally think this is a step in the right direction.
Would it be a better idea to start a programme to get residents to start recycling more instead? From there we can gauge by how does recylcing cut down on the amount of trash gatthered as well as ppol more ideas from the general public and make them more aware that by recycling, they can help the county allot more of the funds to other projects instead. I hope this comment helps.
Having read the recent comments regarding the landfill situation I am at once struck with the thought that we may be overlooking the obvious. The solutions to our problems, all of our problems, can and should be sought and found and implemented by our elected officials. Our government has to be our 'problem solvers'. They have to save us when things go awry. After all, why else did we place them in office? We pay taxes, lots of taxes, and when we pay those dollars to our cities, our counties, our states, and our federal officials we have a right to expect that those monies are used to support our lives and correct our ills and provide for our security. If not, then why have governing bodies? If they need more financial support to prosecute their duties, then simply raise taxes, for heaven's sake. Take what you need from the citizenry and get the job done! I don't have the time or the inclination to fix the landfill problems. I want to put my trash at the curb in the morning, come home and find it gone, and not think about what has to be done to deal with it after that. It's not my job, man! Our economy relies on me to consume, dispose, consume dispose, earn more money and then consume and dispose again. I can't be stopping my life and worrying about where the stupid garbage is going! I didn't ask for water bottled in plastic high density polyethylene containers. I never petitioned anyone for flimsy, non-biodegradable sacks at the grocery store that are used once and then thrown away. My job is to earn, consume, and then dispose - so don't take my precious time with concerns about landfill problems. Just raise my taxes and solve the problem like good government folks should do. Haven't you learned anything from Hillary?
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