Residents upset at city's lack of action
By MATT NEWHOUSE
News editor
About 30 residents attended the Marion City Commission meeting Monday, upset about the commission's decision not to formally reject negotiations with potential landfill companies.
It included a request that Mayor Eloise Mueller resign.
Resident Lou Wegerer asked Mayor Mueller why the city was ignoring the results of a non-binding election held earlier this month.
At the March 11 meeting, Commissioner Jim Crofoot made a motion to stop any negotiations to site a landfill at the quarry just north of U.S.-56. The motion died for lack of a second.
Mueller said at the meeting that the city should remain open to developing the site as a landfill.
The election, in which the majority of those voting opposed siting a landfill at the quarry, was non-binding.
Wegerer asked what the city would have done if the vote had favored a landfill.
"We probably would have pursued it," Mueller said.
She said there were many residents who didn't vote, and many more voted in favor than she suspected.
Wegerer said the voter registration list included many names of people who had left but hadn't been dropped from the rolls. He said the turnout for the non-binding special election wasn't that much different from other recent city elections.
"If you ever have a vote again, no one's going to show up, because it doesn't mean anything," Wegerer said.
He said bringing the issue up repeatedly continued to cause anger and divisions within the community.
"We want to discourage this issue," he said, which is why the city commission should vote to not pursue any negotiations with a solid waste company.
Wegerer said Mueller should resign if she wasn't willing to represent the people by supporting the vote.
Dan Baldwin, city attorney, said no one commissioner could make a decision for the city. It takes a formal vote of the commission for action to take place, no matter what each commissioner's individual opinion, he said.
Options uncertain
Mueller said the county was unsure of its options, so the city should remain open to proposals. She noted there were many steps a potential developer would have to follow before the city could take action.
"We're kind of crazy to drop something like that, but the city is not actively pursuing a landfill operation at this moment," she said.
Mueller said if an engineer's study of the site showed a landfill would pose a danger or health hazard, she would oppose efforts to locate it there. However, she thought modern technology and inspections would prevent problems from occurring.
Crofoot said any income the city derived from tipping fees probably would go to a fund so the city would have its own financial protection if there are problems after it closed. Trusting the state to solve any problems may not be wise, he said.
"I don't see where it will save us in taxes, but I can see where in 30 years it could really increase them," Wegerer said.
Rocky Hett, one of the owners of the property, said landfill owners pay $1 a ton to the state, which is held for 30 years after a landfill closes. The money is used if problems develop. KDHE also can extend the company's responsibility for another 30 years.
No landfill proposed
Harry Bennett, who serves on the four-county regional solid waste planning committee, said the committee would recommend a lengthy study of possible landfill sites within the county over the next five years.
However, the study would be based on a variety of issues, such as location near populated areas or water sources.
"It will be painful and long, but it will all be done in the public eye," he said. He emphasized that there is no favored or expected site. Others have said the region wants to locate a landfill in the western part of Marion County.
"It isn't near Tampa, it isn't near Durham, it isn't on the county line," Bennett said. "It isn't anywhere at this time."
Wegerer said solid waste disposal rates are low for residents. The trash generated county-wide is small — about 600 tons a month — and shipping it to existing landfills is working out as a cost-effective option.
Fred Helmer of Marion asked Mueller if the landfills she has inspected are on or within city limits. She said she didn't know about those in Kansas, but had been told by Waste Connections officials that there are four landfills within the borders of Tulsa, Okla.
Helmer said the landfill at Topeka is several miles outside the city.
"Do we want their garbage in our yard?" he asked.
