Burnet County adopts landfill ban

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Burnet County Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday, Jan. 9, which prohibits the opening of a solid waste disposal landfill in the county.

A public hearing was held prior to passage of the ordinance and there was no public comment on the measure. Development Services Director Herb Darling said only one person had even emailed him about the measure — Richard McHale, chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee for the Capital Area Council of Governments.

County Judge James Oakley said the ordinance, which was drafted by a committee comprised of Darling, Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther Jr. and County Attorney Eddie Arredondo, is written so that “there are no areas which are suitable to place a facility like this” in Burnet County.

Sec. 364.012 of the Texas Government Code allows counties to prohibit the “disposal of municipal or industrial solid waste in the county if the disposal of the municipal or industrial solid waste is a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.” In order to do so, the commissioners court had to adopt an ordinance specifically designating areas in the county in which municipal or industrial solid waste disposal is prohibited.

Commissioners also approved allowing Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd and his jail administration negotiate with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the house of federal inmates at the Burnet County Jail. The current electronic Intergovernmental Agreement (eIGA) proposes a pay rate of $70 per day per inmate. The final rate must be approved by the commissioners court.

In other action, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve applying for grants from the Office of the Governor — Homeland Security Grants Division for a new Burnet County Sheriff's Office communications dispatch console and to fund Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training for fiscal year 2018.

A new console is needed at the BCSO to replace the old Zeetron console, which is 13 years old and is not meant to interface with the new P-25 system being used by Burnet County and other area law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, County Emergency Services Director Jim Barho said the CERT grant would help equip new CERT classes, replacing equipment that is 17 to 18 years old. A new class of CERT volunteers will be in training soon, Barho said.

Barho noted Burnet County will be hosting a security planning management course for public safety employees through CAPCOG on March 13-14 at the County AgriLife Extension building in the old Burnet Elementary School building. Meanwhile, the county has nearly completed renovations at the jail for the new Emergency Operations Center. Soon, equipment will be moved to the new center in the old kitchen area and the county constables will be moving their offices to the old location of the EOC in the basement of the Burnet County Courthouse.

Commissioners discussed the purchase of three vehicles to replace the ones used by the jail captain and his supervisors. Currently, the employees are using retired pursuit vehicles with high mileage. The county will put out a description of vehicles sought on the state Buy Board to get comparative bids.