MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority (SWA), during a special meeting Wednesday, Jan. 21, passed a motion halting its recycling program indefinitely.
SWA Chairman Hayward Helmick, citing major funding issues, said there is no way to continue the operation due to its lack of funding and employees, among other reasons.
“We don’t simply have the money to do it [continue the program], and I don’t have the time. We only have one employee, we have no management … it’s going take a minimum of two, maybe three truck drivers … you’re looking at $125,000, at a minimum, just in salary,” he said.
The motion passed 3-1, with Helmick as the only nay.
SWA member H.R. Scott, speaking to a standing-room only audience at the WVU Extension Office, in Westover, said the authority’s certified public accountant found no ways for it to generate money, and that it cannot function at the capacity it once did.
Authority Treasurer Robert McConnell said the future of the SWA is in the hands of the taxpayers and the ballot box…