DECATUR - Despite a request by residents of Harristown Township to table the matter for a month, the Macon County Board voted 16-4 Thursday night to approve an agreement that opens the door to expansion of the Veolia ES Valley View Landfill.

Veolia attorney Gerald Callaghan reiterated afterward that approval of a host agreement is only the first step and that he wasn't sure how soon application for expansion would be made.

The agreement increases the amount of money the county would receive after an expansion from $1.27 per ton of waste to $2.25 per ton and put the money in the county's general fund rather than a separate solid waste fund.

An amendment proposed by Linda Little, R-Decatur, to continue giving $1.27 per ton to solid waste and send the remaining 98 cents to the general fund failed 13-7.

After acknowledging that the solid waste has $1.4 million in reserves, enough to run the department more than three years without any money from the general fund, Little said the county should either get proactive about a permanent facility for the department or stop talking about it.

Board Chairman Bob Sampson, D-Decatur, argued against the proposed amendment. "I remember a time when we were sitting in this room laying off people because we didn't have any money in the general fund," he said.

Little was joined by fellow Republicans Phil Hogan of rural Dalton City, Merv Jacobs of Decatur and Ed Yoder of Oakley in voting against the host agreement itself. Keith Ashby, R-Decatur, was absent.

"We go out and raise this fee, you know doggone good and well it's going to come right back to the consumer," Jacobs said. "I think we're passing on a fee to the taxpayer that's unnecessary."

Jay Dunn, D-Decatur, said the county looked at host agreements approved by nine other counties and hired Larry Clark, an attorney who has represented governments on more than two dozen similar projects.

Clark, in turn, said that township residents could express their objections during the siting hearing required after Veolia applies to expand its landfill and that the county addressed as many of their concerns as it could in the host agreement.

Elmer Turner, who spoke for the residents, said a meeting Thursday afternoon with Veolia's regional engineer had helped but that they should have been involved in the discussions much earlier.

"We need to be a part of this process," he said.

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