Landfill officials considering options

With the impending departure of Box Elder County from the Northern Utah Regional Landfill Authority, the remaining members of the consortium have some things to figure out.

The consortium, which will consist now of Logan, Weber County and the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District — which serves Morgan County and all of Davis County except Bountiful — will begin planning for the future at its May meeting.

The remaining NURLA members eventually will decide if they want to pay Box Elder County to use its landfill at Little Mountain or attempt to purchase another landfill site in Box Elder.

Currently, Logan and Wasatch Integrated own landfills that are expected to be in operation for the next 14 years. Weber County sends its garbage to a private landfill in Tooele County.

"I wish I knew what was going to happen in the future," said Gary Laird, chairman of NURLA's operations committee.

But Laird isn't despairing yet, even though NURLA's original mission — to purchase the Little Mountain landfill, renovate it and use it for 80 years — likely would have saved the northern Utah counties money in the cost of shipping waste over that time.

"I think there are still some options available," Laird said.

But one of the pressing concerns is how to let Box Elder County bow out of the consortium.

Even though Box Elder County commissioners, on Tuesday, ratified an earlier decision to leave NURLA, they still belong to it because of a clause in the agreement that states that a unanimous vote by NURLA members is required to let any of the member entities leave.

That, and a required 180-day waiting period, were written into the agreement because it was assumed NURLA would be operating a landfill and that each member would have financial obligations.

But because Box Elder County voters turned down the sale of the Little Mountain landfill to NURLA during the November 2008 election, there is no financial obligation, Laird said. So NURLA is waiting for its attorney's advice.

Box Elder County Commissioner Rich VanDyke said he and his two fellow commissioners felt they could serve Box Elder County better by not belonging to the consortium because of an apparent conflict of interest.

They decided they would rather negotiate a business-type relationship with entities that want to bring their garbage to the county landfill.

It's a message they heard from constituents, and they wanted to be responsive, VanDyke said.

E-MAIL: jdougherty@desnews.com