By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
CARRBORO – Conversation got tense at the Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night at Town Hall, with Mayor Mark Chilton and Orange County Justice United member Tish Galu squaring off over solid waste.
At the beginning of the meeting, Galu spoke with the board about the upcoming Assembly of Governments meeting, set for Jan. 26, at which the closing of the landfill and the mitigation plan for the Rogers Road community will be discussed.
Galu spoke to the board about why she believes closing the landfill in 2013 is important for fulfilling promises that were made to the Rogers Road community in 1972.
“Closing the landfill ends an era that has contradicted our values as neighbors and stewards of the environment,†Galu said.
She urged board members to be sure to attend the meeting to discuss the closing of the landfill, plans to help the Rogers Road community and what will happen to the county’s trash once the landfill closes.
Galu’s presentation to the board came on the heels of Chilton’s announcement that he believes the landfill should remain open until 2015 to give Orange County time to build a solid-waste transfer station.
Once the landfill closes, county trash will be hauled to Durham for disposal, and Chilton is concerned about both the fiscal and environmental impacts of doing so.
Chilton told Galu it would cost the town of Carrboro $200,000 a year to haul trash to Durham because the town would have to hire additional staff, outfit trucks to drive the distance and spend an additional $100,000 a year on diesel fuel.
“Two hundred thousand dollars a year is only 1 cent on the tax rate, so for my house it would be an extra 350 bucks, and I can afford that,†Chilton said. “But not everybody can afford that.â€
While Galu responded by telling him she believed there were multiple alternatives to consider that still allowed the landfill to close in 2013, Chilton told her he did not believe that to be true.
“You have had your say, so let me have my say,†Chilton said, explaining that the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro would together save roughly $500,000 a year by having the landfill open till 2015.
“If we don’t spend half a million a year, but instead build the transfer station in Orange County, then I think what we should do is take what we are saving … and put it to the improvements to Rogers Road.â€
Chilton is proposing building a waste transfer station at the intersection of I-40 and N.C. 86, but fears it won’t happen if the landfill closes before it’s built.
Discussion between Galu and Chilton grew even more heated when Galu attempted to correct Chilton’s remark about the 1972 plans for the landfill. Chilton responded that once Galu had done the considerable amount of research he had into the landfill situation, she would then be welcome to correct him.
Before walking back to her seat, Galu told Chilton, “I think, quite frankly, if you lived with that amount of garbage behind you, you would want the landfill to close too.â€
I don’t think Trish even lives in Orange County. I think the local government officials should ask speakers if they live in, and pay taxes to the government agency they are appearing before.
It seems government entities in Orange County are accepting a new provision – representation without taxation.