FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Angry Council OKs Funds for Waste
The City Council voted 3 to 2 last week to spend $50,000 from reserve funds to pay a consultant to develop a waste-management program required by the state.
Council members also voted to express their outrage to state legislators because the program’s cost was not anticipated in this year’s municipal budget.
Mayor George Scott called the program “another example of the state stuffing something down our throats.”
He and Councilman James Petrikin cast the dissenting votes to spend the reserve funds.
According to the Waste Management Act of 1989, cities and counties must have a program to divert solid wastes from landfills by 50% over the next decade.
Many cities realized that a consultant would be needed to meet the law, but the specific state regulations were not released until last month. The council was forced to make an immediate decision because the city’s plan for complying with the regulations must be prepared for review by state and local boards by March 1.
The council debated delaying the decision in the face of fines totaling $10,000 a day for not getting the package to the state in time.
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