Officials discuss future of landfill

By Traviss Thomas

While no decisions were made at Thursday’s Hutto City Council workshop, some important questions were answered regarding the future of the regional landfill.

County Judge Dan Gattis and Pct. 4 Commissioner Ron Morrison were there to field city officials’ questions, which mainly concerned a permit to expand the landfill and challenges to the county’s contract with Waste Management.

The meeting was open to the public but closed to public comment.

The review of the permit application to expand the landfill has been moved from the State Office of Administrative Hearings and is now awaiting a decision by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Williamson County is waiting on a decision by District Judge Burt Carnes in a lawsuit against Waste Management, Inc. to determine whether the current contract is void or valid.

At the workshop, council members brought up concerns about the fate of the landfill post-closure.

According to Gattis, the current contract mandates that Waste Management remain responsible for the landfill for 30 years after its closure, but in terms of developing the site, “the county has no plan for that land,” he said.

Councilmember David Begier said he would like to see the land developed into an industrial park and offices.

Councilmember Ronnie Quintanilla-Perez asked if recycling efforts might be expanded with the goal of extending the life of the landfill. Begier agreed, saying the county needs to push recycling.

Gattis responded that while the county supports the idea of expanding recycling efforts, the county government is not in a position to do much.

“Recycling puts the county in an uncomfortable situation,” Gattis said. “We’d like to do everything we can to make [the landfill] last as long as we can, but there’s a certain volume you need to make [a recycling center] work.”

Morrison said recycling has been one of his priorities, but a successful program is a result of community education and not county mandates.

According to Gattis, the permit amendment currently being considered would do nothing to expand recycling services. The current permit only allows recycling of wood, about 10,000 cubic yards of which have been recycled since January, Gattis said.

According to Scot Stromsness, operations manager for the City of Hutto Public Works Department, approximately 29 percent of local homes are currently using the curbside recycling program. Curbside recycling in Hutto began last year.

Having apparently come prepared for a discussion about the merits of recycling, Morrison ended the meeting by giving a reusable cloth bag with the three-arrow recycling logo to each member of the Hutto City Council.

Mahlon Arnett, a member of the Hutto Citizens Group, said the county needs a long-term plan for the landfill.

“The one thing that came out of the meeting was, if they win the lawsuit, the county does not have any vision for the landfill,” Arnett said. “They have to look at what they want to have happen there and on the surrounding land.”