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The newspaper has had several articles on the financial problems with the Mon County recycling program. As someone who had hauled recyclables to the Westover site and/or local pickup spots for many years, I hope the program survives. I've been waiting for someone (the newspaper, the County Commission or the SWA) to provide some more in-depth information on why this situation occurred and more importantly what future options are. The public facts are that the SWA got into a too-expensive building rental and at the same time lost a lot of "volume" when Morgantown, Westover and WVU contracted out their recycling. The SWA has lost personnel and apparently is running on a shoestring now.
Some of the questions I still have are: why is the single-stream recycling that Morgantown etc are getting cheaper than the multi-stream approach the rest of the county has to do? It seems on the surface that it has to be more expensive to re-separate everything after collection than to have people such as myself keep everything separate to begin with and deliver it all to a few sites for pickup. Also I expect the contractor is making a substantial profit. How can the contracted single stream be a better deal than having a common approach across the county? Why is the contractor getting higher pay for the same materials (or are they being subsidized?) What are Morgantown etc residents paying for this service? If it is indeed a better approach, why shouldn't the county go the same route? Who owns the facility that SWA was renting at such a high rental? If the county owns the building, why did SWA have to pay such a rental? It seems to me that the County Commission would want to know the answers to these and other questions in order to look at future options.
Can anyone on here provide some insights into this?
Interesting post. I've wondered about some of these issues myself. I do know that some communities in the state got huge state grants (as much as a quarter million dollars) to support their recycling programs and Morgantown, as usual, did not.
Living in the city limits of Morgantown, my wife and I have put our metal and glass in the single stream recycling containers but we've taken our cardboard and paper to the county's collection site. I know we could put that stuff in single stream too, but I have trouble believing Tony's boys will actually separate it out instead of dumping it when nobody is looking. Like you, I hope the county's program survives.
Looks like the recycling program is done for now. All of the green bins have been roped off, removed or have no trespassing signs on them. Bloom is posting on facebook that they are trying to figure it out in the next 48 hours - that means it is done.
I don't understand how this is even plausible. I mean I am looking at this on face value and don't claim to know the ins/outs of the Solid Waste Management group but....what exactly does the county do? Get proper equipment and salt trucks? Nope. Fix the roads? Nope. Provide life sustaining services? Debateable. So the property tax that I'm paying is going for.........
Looks like the recycling program is done for now. All of the green bins have been roped off, removed or have no trespassing signs on them. Bloom is posting on facebook that they are trying to figure it out in the next 48 hours - that means it is done.
I don't understand how this is even plausible. I mean I am looking at this on face value and don't claim to know the ins/outs of the Solid Waste Management group but....what exactly does the county do? Get proper equipment and salt trucks? Nope. Fix the roads? Nope. Provide life sustaining services? Debateable. So the property tax that I'm paying is going for.........
Frankly, our county government has always been a good old boys network. Most recently, that group had a tiff among themselves and a couple years ago Bloom was the result of that. Seemingly, he didn't have the respect of his peers at MHS where he was a guidance counselor, but he milked that job as long as he could get away with it while he established himself in the county's political culture. Once there, he proceeded to ally himself with an old guard bozo and screw up the wonderful park system, among other things. We now have someone who's apex of his job experiences prior to the Bloom years was heading up the trash collection crew running all the county parks, and that individual quickly drove off the best of that organization's management.
We are blessed in our county with abundant resources, amazing potential and amenities, and all the ingredients necessary to thrive and grow, and our county is doing so in spite of local government, not because of it. Imagine what could be accomplished here if we actually had forward thinking, community minded people with vision running things. The sky is the limit.
Frankly, our county government has always been a good old boys network. Most recently, that group had a tiff among themselves and a couple years ago Bloom was the result of that. Seemingly, he didn't have the respect of his peers at MHS where he was a guidance counselor, but he milked that job as long as he could get away with it while he established himself in the county's political culture. Once there, he proceeded to ally himself with an old guard bozo and screw up the wonderful park system, among other things. We now have someone who's apex of his job experiences prior to the Bloom years was heading up the trash collection crew running all the county parks, and that individual quickly drove off the best of that organization's management.
We are blessed in our county with abundant resources, amazing potential and amenities, and all the ingredients necessary to thrive and grow, and our county is doing so in spite of local government, not because of it. Imagine what could be accomplished here if we actually had forward thinking, community minded people with vision running things. The sky is the limit.
Very true CT on all points. Bloom's "reign" was right when I moved to morgantown and your statement about screwing up the park system is spot on.
I mean, if someone came back at me and said "first responders are paid very well with your tax money" - I'd be estatic but I know THEY aren't getting paid well either. So where the hell is the money? I tried talking to Bloom but it was like watching paint dry. Perhaps I've just been naive up until my mid 30's but this, to me, is a complete slap in the face among all the other things that the "county" hasn't done. Really? Mon County, WV can't sustain a recycling program? REALLY?
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