Hobart waste dispute: Who's in charge? The county solid waste director asked for a legal opinion on whether the County Board or Solid Waste Board has deciding authority By Christopher Clough News-Chronicle Brown County Port and Solid Waste director Chuck Larscheid said he doesn't know what will become of the proposed waste transfer station in Hobart, one day after the village board unanimously voted to rescind a previous agreement to locate it there. Larscheid said he is awaiting advice from County Executive Nancy Nusbaum and Corporation Counsel Ken Bukowski. Bukowski wrote an opinion last week saying the Solid Waste Board (a subgroup of the department) had decision-making power in the site. But Hobart resident Jim Reigel sought and received a legal opinion saying the County Board holds the final say in the matter. The county Planning, Development and Transportation Committee is discussing it at its Oct. 3 meeting. The location is the former West Side landfill on State 54, which was closed in 1996. The plan was to construct an easily accessible station that would hold waste for transfer to landfills, part of the tri-county waste handling agreement between Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. Larscheid said he brought the authority issue back to Bukowski for further review. "The Solid Waste Board was formed to take the politics out of difficult siting issues," Larscheid said Wednesday afternoon. "(Selecting the Hobart site) was done with the authorization of the Solid Waste Board. "At this time, there appears to be some discussion with some County Board members about whether the board should have that authority. So I await further word from them, from the county executive and legal counsel." Larscheid said he hasn't begun thinking of alternatives to the Hobart location and isn't sure what the next step will be. Larscheid said it was too early to tell whether the delay in starting the tri-county program would cost the county any of its projected $43 million savings. "It's all up in the air," he said. "I don't know what's next, until I find out what the executive and corporation counsel decide." Sup. Alice Daul, chairwoman of the planning committee, said she didn't know what the future of the transfer station is. She said she wasn't sure whether the county could locate the station in Hobart even without the village's approval. She said she would like to have a special meeting of the full County Board to hear all the issues surrounding the tri-county agreement. She questioned the need for the agreement, given a recently-opened county landfill in the Town of Holland. "We've got 1,600 acres in Holland," Daul said. "The Solid Waste Board should pursue that and get out of the tri-county agreement. They say (the tri-county agreement will) save all this ($43 million), but I don't know how." Larscheid said he still believes the Hobart site is a good one for a transfer station. "I had been given the task of finding a station that is economical, efficient and within the metropolitan area to serve the 200,000 residents of the county," he said. "We feel we came up with one that was economical, efficient and not going to create any nuisance in the area." Larscheid also disputed several allegations that were given by the public as reasons for the village rescinding the agreement. Those included possible environmental dangers and the idea the decision was carried out as stealthily as possible. "A lot of misstatements, a lot of misinformation was said," Larscheid said. "This was the 11th open notice meeting that the station in Hobart was discussed. The Department of Natural Resources has no problem with us operating at the site. There are still people who doubt the facts."