Madison to Help Neighboring Counties With Storm Waste
By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
Noting that it was an emergency, that it would be temporary, and that Madison could find itself in a similar situation someday, the four Madison County Commissioners present at the special meeting Tuesday morning, June 26, voted to approve allowing neighboring Columbia and Suwannee Counties to use the Aucilla Landfill in Madison County to dispose of excess storm waste.
The two counties in question have been hard-hit by widespread flooding and asked to begin using the Aucilla site by the following morning, hoping to be able to revert to using their own sites by the next week.
Commissioners added that the counties would have to pay a “tipping fee,” i.e., their waste “would be weighed on the scale like everybody else,” and they would be charged accordingly.
The second item on the agenda was to declare a state of emergency in Madison County, allowing the county to make emergency requisitions and request assistance from the state in the form of sandbags, barricades, and reimbursements for storm-related costs such as a few extra chainsaws to clear away fallen trees where they impede traffic.
Tom Cisco, Director of Emergency Management Services for Madison County, said that by “just guessing,” he thought that there had probably been six eight inches of rain so far Tuesday, and that it might taper off to three or four inches by Wednesday.
Lonnie Thigpen Director of the Madison County Road Department, said that he expected to be able to start grading dirt roads in the county, when they had dried out enough. People might get a little impatient having to wait until then, he said, but as Commission Wayne Vickers pointed out, “You can’t grade mud.”
