Port and Solid Waste Board discusses county revisions By Monique Balas News-Chronicle The Brown County Port and Solid Waste Board lost the ability to make decisions independent of the County Board last week, and some members are upset about the lack of warning about the change. The County Board decided by a 14-11 vote with one abstention at its meeting last week that the Solid Waste Board must get final approval from the county before it receives any state or federal assistance grants, levies taxes or borrows money from sources other than the county board. County Executive Carol Kelso said the impetus came after she was reviewing environmental laws and realized the Solid Waste Board would not have to get county approval if it decided to receive PCB-contaminated sediment at a county landfill. "You've got a group of very talented professionals on there, but it's kind of unusual in Wisconsin that unelected people can receive money," Kelso said. "It really puts the final decision-making with the elected branch." In addition, any contracts or agreements the Solid Waste Board enters into must be subject to review and final approval by the County Board. "They can make their decisions and advise certainly, but when it comes to approving contracts we want that to go to the county board," Kelso said. The one power the Solid Waste Board retains is the ability to purchase property. "It still allows the Solid Waste Board to make decisions, but the county board has to approve it also," said Solid Waste Board director Chuck Larscheid. Board chairman James Rasmussen said Brown County Executive Carol Kelso called him before the county board meeting to explain the revisions because she felt elected officials should have final say in Solid Waste Board actions. But some board members expressed concern the board should have been given more notice and information about its reduced authority. "Basically what we've become is a subcommittee," said Sup. Mary Marquardt. - In other board news, members discussed a request by Sup. Joe Van Deurzen that commercial waste haulers dumping waste at the County's Waste Transfer Station be charged a higher tipping fee than municipal users. Van Deurzen said the extra money could possibly go toward the Brown County Highway Department because commercial users are a larger burden on the roads. Larscheid told the board Brown County Corporation Counsel John Jacques has said agencies such as the Solid Waste Board do have authority to set discretionary rates as long as there is a rational basis for the rate distinction. - Larscheid announced in his director's report the board the village of Hobart has appealed a lawsuit to shut down the waste transfer station in Hobart, which has been operating since June. - The Solid Waste Board received a good government award from Foth & Van Dyke for its Tri-County Recycling and Solid Waste Agreement with Outagamie and Winnebago counties. The counties' Northeast Cooperative Recycling and Solid Waste Disposal Agreements have saved $52 million on in disposal costs and $8 million in recycling costs over 12 years. Award recipients were determined based on examples of governmental cooperation in which governments were able to reduce costs without diminishing the quality of service. "We realized there wasn't a whole lot about all the good government going on," said Tim Weyenberg, CEO of Foth & Van Dyke. "Instead of cursing the darkness, we thought we'd light a candle."