Dougherty County Landfill sees significant uptick in usage

ALBANY — According to a report from Dougherty County Solid Waste Director Scott Addison, garbage was big business for the county in 2015.

Thanks largely to delivery of inert materials from the city of Albany and 3,000 tons collected from out-of-county customers, revenue at the landfill increased 19 percent from the previous year, up to $3,272,260.41. That total included a 4 percent increase in municipal solid waste ($2,804,912.31) and an astounding 223 percent increase in construction and demolition collections (24,318 tons). The C&D collections brought in $467,348.10, a 681 percent revenue increase.

In his report to the County Commission at its Monday work session, Addison also told the board the county’s remaining capacity for its municipal solid waste facility is 54 years, its C&D facility’s life expectancy 59 years.

“I must say, though, that those numbers fluctuate from year to year, depending on activity at the landfill,” Addison said.

Public Works Director Larry Cook also gave his annual report at the meeting, going over activities of all six of the departments in Public Works: drainage, road maintenance, engineering, fleet maintenance, environmental control and parks maintenance.

“We’re proud of the jobs we do, and these 54 employees (within the department), we feel, are dedicated to Dougherty County,” Cook said.

The two directors also recognized top performing employees during the meeting. Supervisor Timothy Pannell was named Solid Waste’s Employee of the year, while Equipment Operator Willie Frank Daniels and Fleet Maintenance Manager Russell Allenbaugh were named Employee of the Year and Supervisor of the Year, respectively, for Public Works.

County Attorney Spencer Lee and Planning Manager Mary Teter updated the commission on the rezoning request of Veola Cook, who asked that a 10-acre tract at 4016 Harris Road be rezoned R-MHS (mobile home, single-family residential) from AG (agriculture), a request that the commission had tabled at its Dec. 14 meeting.

Because of a health issue, Teter was told to contact the owner and let her know the board must, by resolution, act on the matter by next Monday unless she requests a waiver on the 70-day period in which the commission must take action.