By Taylor Boyd
Less than a month after being named interim county administrator, Michael McGuinness was formally appointed to the position Monday by the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
The board voted unanimously following a brief closed session to remove the interim designation from McGuinness’ title. (See next week’s edition for more.)
“This is a massive honor,” McGuinness said shortly after the meeting.
The appointment followed the first installment of the Patrick County Learning Series, which was held Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the county’s transfer station.
McGuinness said the purpose of the series is to explain the work of county departments, outline their goals, and answer residents’ questions about daily operations.
“These people here are rockstars, if you haven’t been here for two years to see the difference,” McGuinness said. “If it’s a question of what they’re doing, it’s important that you know why they got to run that loader and pack and pack and pack. It’s because right now if that trailer pulls out of here right now and it’s empty, you pay for 23 tons out of your tax dollars.” Transfer Station Manager Scottie (Hylton) and his staff “pack that trailer as full as they can get it.”
McGuinness said the series is expected to continue in January with a visit to the county’s tax and revenue office. In February, the county plans to partner with the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce to discuss the county’s various boards.
Hylton said the county produces roughly 19 million pounds of trash each year.
“On average every month we do two or three trailers of trash that goes to the landfill,” Hylton said. “Last month, we sent 715 tons of trash to the landfill, and 481 tons was weighed in. As you take that number and minus 234 tons of trash that came in last month that wasn’t weighed in, that accounts for every car that comes in.”
Hylton said that amount equals about 10.25 tons of trash per day brought to the transfer station in cars and trucks that is not weighed. “That’s a lot of trash,” he said.
When asked about what items must be weighed before disposal, Hylton said household cleanouts generally do not require weighing.
“If you’re cleaning out your house and you have a microwave or a television, it’s just trash,” he said. “Now if you brought me one TV, and I do this across the board all the time, I’m not going to make you weigh in one TV. If you have a truckload of TVs, that’s a different thing. You have to weigh it in. That’s $69.75 per ton, but the easier math is $3.50 per 100 pounds.”
Hylton said the approach is largely based on common sense. “That’s what we try to establish. We’re not here as the trash police,” he said.
Other transfer station employees also briefly spoke about the facility’s Goodwill donation box, recycling area and other features during the event.
