Huron Co. nixed cheaper trash deal

NORWALK — It's not clear exactly who kiboshed a deal that could save taxpayers in Huron County up to $1.1 million annually, and county officials don't want to talk about it. But county director Pete Welch, in a Jan. 29 email to commissioners, failed to tell them how much the cost to haul trash could be reduced if the county allowed haulers to bypass a transfer station. "You have to question, where is the savings in transportation costs," Welch told commissioners Joe Hintz, Terry Boose and Bruce "Skip" Wilde in the email.None of the commissioners responded in writing to the email, which was included in records related to a dispute with Erie County about a trash contract between the two counties that was abruptly ended by Huron County last year. The Register received the records after making a public records request.The savings Welch failed to observe in his email to commissioners seem to be in plain view. If haulers were permitted to bypass the transfer station and deliver the trash from households and businesses in the county directly to the nearest landfill — either the Erie County Landfill in Milan Township or a landfill owned by Rumpke Sanitation in Richland County — Huron County would still collect its tonnage fee, currently $54, minus whatever agreed fee the individual landfills would charge for disposing the garbage.The cost to transport the trash from the transfer station averaged about $16 per ton in 2017, or about $656,000. That cost would be eliminated.The payroll for Huron County employees who move the trash from the floor of the transfer station into the hauling trailers is about $449,000 annually, most of which would be eliminated under the proposal that got shot down. That puts the potential savings at about $1.1 million annually, give or take, depending how other expenses would be assigned if the transfer station is eliminated.Welch failed to mention the entire formula in his email, and Huron County walked away from the proposal. Erie County had obtained a legal opinion that determined eliminating the transfer station, which is located at the closed Huron County Landfill near Willard, would be possible if commissioners designated both landfills as disposal centers for Huron County refuse. Welch said he spoke with an attorney who said his "gut feeling" was it would be difficult to make the change. Haul, dump, move, haul, dumpHintz, Boose and Wilde did not respond to requests for information how the decision was made, or whether there was a vote to end the Erie County contract to haul trash in favor of the more expensive contract with Rumpke Sanitation maintaining the transfer station.Welch, who told a reporter at the Norwalk Reflector the Huron County Landfill operates in the black, would not confirm figures provided by the auditor's office that show it has been operating in the red since the switch to Rumpke was made at the start of 2018. The canceled contract with Erie County was through the end of this year. The current arrangement requires all trash haulers in the county to take waste to the transfer station, where it is weighed and then dumped on the floor of a barn on the property. The county charges the haulers the $54 per ton rate and county workers then pick up the trash and place it in trailers lined up at the transfer station.A trucking company then hooks up the trailers and hauls the trash to a landfill in Richland County, owned by Rumpke Sanitation. Rumpke charges the county $29 per ton to haul and dispose the trash in its landfill. Erie County charged $26 per ton to haul and dispose it in the Erie County Landfill.The disposal fees charged by the respective landfills could be re-negotiated if the transportation costs included in those fees is eliminated. In 2017, the final year Huron County honored the Erie County contract, there was an operational surplus of $216,601 for the Huron County Landfill and transfer station and a year end balance of $553,463.Last year the Huron County Landfill and transfer station lost $257,865, according to figures provided by the county auditor, and had a year-end balance of $296,598.This year, the operating deficit likely will top the 2018 total and the ending balance will be in the red.Erie County filed a lawsuit last year against Huron County contending it improperly breached the contract to haul trash to Erie County. The proposal to eliminate the transfer station and have haulers go directly to the nearest landfill instead was made as a potential settlement of the lawsuit, but Huron County rejected it. No commentThe two counties appeared to be on the verge of renewing the contract as late as January of this year. It's not known what exactly upended the deal. It's also unclear why Huron County officials are opting to keep the higher-cost method of hauling-dumping-shoveling-hauling and dumping despite the potential savings in streamlining the process. They have not refuted the formulas, or responded to questions about what advantages there might be in keeping the transfer station open at a cost of up to $1.1 million annually if it's not necessary to keep it open."I have been instructed by (commissioners) not to be answering questions," Welch told the Register on Friday.Boose, Hintz and Wilde did not respond to written inquiries or telephone messages.Erie County's lawsuit seeks $1 million to cover losses it contends it suffered in 2018-2019 after Huron County stopped honoring the contract. If the proposal to renew the old contract had been accepted, or the proposal to eliminate the transfer station been agreed to, the lawsuit would have been settled.But Huron County commissioners opted to use Rumpke Sanitation and now is operating in the red with no end in sight, with their constituents footing the bill. It's not clear why they rejected the settlement, or why they chose to pay the higher costs charged by the Rumpke.It's also not clear why they are maintaining the transfer station.Erie County commissioners sued all three Huron County commissioners — from left, Joe Hintz, Terry Boose and Bruce "Skip" Wilde — after they allegedly breached a contract. Erie County claims Huron County illegally ended a deal for transporting trash from Huron County to Erie County