Ohio County Seeks to Privatize Recycling Center

The Knox County, Ohio, Board of Commissioners is weighing two bids as a step to having a privately owned company take over the county’s recycling program. According to local press reports the county is weighing bids from two companies: Ross Brothers Salvage, Mount Vernon, and Brothers Inc., Marion.

Under the six-year Ross Bros. proposal, the county’s annual $50,000 Delaware/Knox/Marion/Morrow Solid Waste District recycling grant for capital improvements and repairs would go to Ross. Bros. They also propose an additional “cost to the county of $30,000 for the first year of operation with an automatic renewal at the discretion of the county and DKMM for an additional five years” to cover operating costs.

A proviso was included in their proposal that stated, “If the gross income from the sale of recycled materials decreases by more than 15 percent from one year to the next, we would need an additional $10,000 per year to help make up the loss.”

Ross Bros. proposed to lease the two KCRC buildings and surrounding property for the six years at a rate of $1 per month.

Under the Sims Bros. Inc. proposal, they would receive the annual DKMM recycling grant of $50,000 and they would lease the KCRC property from the county for a sum of $8,200 per year, payable in 12 equal monthly payments.

The proposal states, “Sims Bros. Inc. will work with the independent waste haulers, the village of Gambier, and all interested municipalities to process their curbside materials at a fair and reasonable cost and will strive to offer them convenient, efficient service.”

The two proposals will be reviewed by Keith Bailey, director, DKMM Solid Waste District, and he then will make a recommendation to the commissioners as to which proposal is considered best. The commissioners reserved the right to not accept either proposal and maintain the status quo of the county running the KCRC operations.

If the commissioners decide to privatize the operation following receipt of Bailey’s recommendation, the final approval must come from the DKMM Solid Waste District’s Board of Directors because of the contract Knox County has with the DKMM to provide the recycling operation in Knox County.

The proposed privatization of the KCRC, scheduled to take place on or about May 1, will not impact the AlleyCat trailer drop-off programs at the satellite locations around the county, according to the commissioners. Mount Vernon (Ohio) News