By Barbara Brown

Two weeks after frustration set upon the East Central Solid Waste Commission to the point where throwing in the towel seemed the only option, it seems the commission has made up and wants to re-open talks with Kanabec County.

At the May 12 general business meeting, the commission members became so agitated with each other over Kanabec Countyís hold-out on the joint powers operating agreement that the group voted to halt all projects except everyday operations while the commissionís executive director, Gene Kramer, could investigate selling the landfill.

The idea came from commission member George Larson, from Isanti County, after he was frustrated by Kanabec Countyís refusal to sign the joint powers agreement for operation of the landfill.

That agreement expires in 2007 and a new one must be signed before then.

The biggest snag for the agreement was Kanabec Countyís demand that it be paid the $4.55 per ton ìhost feeî for all trash coming into the landfill, including their own.

The Mora landfill is in Kanabec County and the four other counties on the commission ñ Isanti, Chisago, Pine and Mille Lacs ñ agreed to pay Kanabec the host fee to dump trash there.

The counties, however, could not agree whether Kanabec should be paid to dump its own countyís trash at the Mora site.

While the new joint powers agreement does not officially have to be in effect until 2007, the commission would be in a better position to move forward with the hydrological study and expansion plans it has with an agreement that would extend far beyond 2007.

The commission has been working on the new joint powers for nearly a year and thought it was at an agreement when Kanabec County contested the host fee.

East Central Solid Waste Commission is the largest public solid waste facility in the state.

The May 12 meeting ended with orders to Kramer to find out the commissionís options and how sale of the property could commence.
At a special meeting May 28, the commission received a packet from R.W. Beck planners with options.

The three options put before the board were to sell the Mora facility and get out of the trash business, close the landfill and develop a transfer station at the site or go back to the negotiation table on the joint powers agreement.

After hearing the good and bad sides of each of the options ñ including the possibility that privatization could mean more trash from outside the five counties would come in to Mora ñ the counties relented and agreed to return to talks with Kanabec County.

ìI made the motion and it may have been too premature,î said Larson. ìWe were all a little frustrated at the last board meeting,î Larson added. ìI would be in favor of going back and working on the expansion.î

The commission agreed to give Kanabec County one county board meeting, held June 1, to discuss the joint powers and then return to the commission with its proposal at the next solid waste commission meeting June 14.

ìI want to take this out of the realm of politics and keep it in the realm of business,î Kramer told the commission. ìI have all along wanted to renew the joint powers. We can make this work. We can all be happy.î

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