Athens City Council hears community members advocate for Athens-Hocking Recycling Center

During Athens City Council’s meeting Monday night, Council Chambers were crowded with members of the community advocating for the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center (AHRC) to be re-adopted as the city of Athens’ primary waste collection organization. Employees, students, and other citizens also supported the establishment of a Council of Governments (COG) for waste collection and highlighted concerns about Athens’ current contract with Rumpke.

At the beginning of the meeting, City Council President Sam Crowl acknowledged “approximately 40 communications from our citizenry, both by email and by telephone call, regarding the desire that the city of Athens join in a council of governments for resource management.” 

This was echoed by multiple other members of council including Councilmembers Michael Wood, Micah McCarey and Alan Swank. Swank went on to say, “Unfortunately, in a town that prides itself on its tolerance of differences of opinions, we got quite a few emails that were downright disappointing, some vicious. Particularly the ones that attacked the character and motivation of at least one elected official in this room today. That was very disturbing.” 

Swank asked the meeting attendees who were present to speak on behalf of AHRC to mirror the civility of the first wave of correspondence council had received, which Swank described as “well-thought-out and well-reasoned.” Several attendees who ended up speaking before council on the topic of AHRC apologized for the behavior of those who sent such correspondence to council.

AHRC is a non-profit waste collection organization and recycling center. They also provide a location for composting and public education regarding recycling and sustainability. The city of Athens recently contracted Rumpke as the new waste collection organization for the city of Athens due to cost-effectiveness. The city of Athens establishing a contract with Rumpke has raised environmental concerns among some. Without their contract with the city of Athens, AHRC has had to lay off numerous employees and is in dire financial straits. Many members of the community have been advocating for Athens to re-adopt their contract with AHRC and establish a COG for waste management in Athens. 

A COG is a public agency that can be established when more than one municipality (whether that be a county, township, school district, etc.) collaborates on solving a shared issue. If a waste management COG were to be established, other municipalities in the region could join and work as a larger entity to handle waste management as needed in the region. COGs allow smaller entities to band together for the purposes of meeting their collective needs (like purchasing trash hauling vehicles). By being regionally focused, the establishment of a COG to manage waste collection through AHRC would provide local jobs and would uniquely understand the needs and financial situation of the communities it serves. 

During the period of the meeting dedicated to public comment, numerous people stepped forward to discuss AHRC with City Council. City Council Chambers were crowded, with every seat filled, several people standing in the back and sitting on the floor, and approximately 20 people in the hallway. 

Andy Vogt, the Board President of AHRC, was the first to speak and stated that the COG is close to being formed. Vogt stated that AHRC hopes to resume their services by August, though it may take longer. 

“We're grateful for the city of Athens,” Vogt said, “...but unfortunately our economic future is not great at all. In order for us to survive, based on the amount of infrastructure we have and the amount of infrastructure we support, we do we do need the city of Athens to be part of our program.”

Benjamin Shonk, a current employee of AHRC and Ohio University alumnus, had his position in the organization reduced to a part-time position due to AHRC’s financial situation. After describing the aspects of his job that he is grateful for and passionate about, Shonk said: “I feel very fortunate and I am honored to have this position in our community. I am nervous and shaking here today because it is on the line, and the people that can decide my fate and future here are the people in front of me.”

“We need more support for the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center. I think that we need to keep these jobs in our town,” Shonk said. “I want other people to have my job. I want to be working side by side with passionate individuals that want to save the environment. Rumpke is not going to do that for us.”

Heather Cantino, another member of the community, also argued in favor of AHRC. “AHRC provides local problem-solving,” Cantino said, “and is in the midst of planning, in collaboration with other local non-profits, toward year-round hazardous waste and refrigerants recycling and disposal, as well as working to reduce the growing food waste problem.”

Shannon Pratt-Harrington, appearing on behalf of Zero Waste Event Productions, addressed City Council about AHRC’s Compost Facility. “If we lose the Recycling Facility, we will lose the Compost Facility and we will lose our ability to do this zero waste plan that we all have,” Pratt-Harrington said. 

According to Pratt-Harrington, Zero Waste Event Productions was able to offer composting for 15 events this past year, including the Lithopolis Honeyfest, Columbus Earth Day, a section of the Ohio State Fair, two events at the Columbus Museum of Art and an event at COSI. She went on to include a list of many events in Athens that also produce large amounts of compost collected by her organization. 

“We’re not the only business that relies upon the compost facility,” Pratt-Harrington said, also mentioning Ohio U’s compost facility as not as feasible for her company’s compost, much less the compost of the city of Athens. 

“The next nearest facility is in Lancaster at the Southeastern Correctional Institute. Besides being 50 minutes away, it is a prison, so the labor for the compost there is questionable and I think you’ll run into some questions from the citizens of Athens if we’re sending it there.” Aside from Lancaster, other compost facilities are only further away and many are also correctional facilities. 

“In 2023, 760,540 pounds of compost were diverted from the landfill at the local compost facility,” Pratt-Harrington said. “So 247 tons of CO2 were taken out of the atmosphere by composting that instead of sending it to a landfill. This is equivalent to 44 houses’ electricity use for a year. So, I would encourage you all to figure out how to support the COG and save our compost facility, which is attached to the recycling facility…If you lose it, you’re looking at hauling compost very far.”

Amy Delac, a member of the city’s Environment and Sustainability Commission, said: “I just want to remind council as well as the folks in the room that in our February meeting, the Environment and Sustainability Commission did approve a unanimous motion to urge the city to move forward expeditiously with the Council of Governments.” 

Following the comments of numerous community members, Crowl informed the audience that the COG will be an item of discussion at next week’s Committee of the Whole meeting. Crowl asked that those interested in attending the meeting next week pay attention to the local announcements of upcoming meetings. The date of the upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting is still being determined due to the solar eclipse on Monday and additional scheduling conflicts. 

Additionally, several business owners and members of the community appeared before council to discuss and air grievances about the ongoing construction on West Union Street. Those who spoke on the West Union Street topic expressed their frustration at the continuous construction and the staggering impact the impeded traffic flow has had on their businesses. 

According to Mayor Steve Patterson, the West Union Street construction project was originally envisioned in 2017 but saw many obstacles (including three bid attempts) and was delayed multiple times. Patterson stated that due to market saturation, it was necessary for the city to raise costs and extend the amount of time allotted for construction. Acknowledging the impact the construction is happening on West Union Street businesses, Patterson added that the city was pushing the contractor to finish certain phases of the project early, to allow two-way traffic to be re-introduced to parts of West Union Street by August. The contractor has not provided a firm price to the city for the change order, but Patterson expected the city would have to “pay handsomely” to achieve this goal. 

Patterson added that the contract includes the services of a community liaison who would assist property owners with concerns about traffic or maintenance. “We do not believe the contractor has met this requirement as robustly as they could,” Patterson said, stating that the city would be pushing for the contractor to make this liaison more accessible. 

Furthermore, Patterson implored the public to “not take it upon themselves to move the signs or barricades in that work zone.” Over the weekend, several signs had been moved to adjust the flow of traffic, an activity Patterson described as “illegal” and “extremely dangerous.”

In other business:

• An ordinance for first reading introduced by Councilmember Jeff Risner authorized City Council to accept the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) 2024 Energized Community Grant funds.

• Wood and several other members of City Council mentioned receiving correspondence in support of the Baileys Trail System.

• McCarey acknowledged Sunday, March 31 as the Transgender Day of Visibility, thanking city administration for flying the Transgender Pride Flag as commemoration.

The meeting concluded with an executive session to discuss issues of pending and threatened litigation.