Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Mayor reveals landfill solution to lock in Gurdon for 10 years

A landfill contract though the Southwest Central Regional Solid Waste Management District, for Clark, Hot Spring and Garland Counties, means Gurdon will not have to worry about the possibility of a regional landfill near the Smithton community for five to 10 years.

Mayor Clayton Franklin, a member of Solid Waste District Board, said Thursday the five-year renewable contract was signed on May 18 between the solid waste district, for the three counties mentioned, and Waste Management of Arkansas Inc.

"Waste Management has many locations across the nation, but has three in Arkansas," Franklin said. "This agreement means we could use any of the three, but White Hall is the closest. There is also one in Jacksonville.

"Our contract means Gurdon can begin using the SWD and WMA regional disposal at White Hall on Oct. 1, 2005, with the first five-year contract being up on Sept. 30, 2010. And as long as both contracting entities agree, the contract can be renewed for an additional five years, with a new ending date of Sept. 30, 2015."

Franklin said the per ton charge for Gurdon, under the Solid Waste and Waste Management contract agreement, will be $19.60 a ton.

"This is considerably cheaper than we are paying now, and even if we had a landfill at Smithton we could not beat this price," Franklin said.

According to Franklin, the waste per year from Clark, Hot Spring and Garland Counties, is approximately 100,000 tons.

"I don't know anyone in the Smithton community who would have rather had a landfill in their backyard instead of continuing to keep their community in tact by signing this contract with an experienced company; especially considering the large volume of garbage," he said.

"Waste Management of Arkansas is set up to take care of our needs and to do it at an inexpensive rate, with efficiency and professionalism."

Franklin said Clark County Judge Ron Daniell also sits on the SWD board.

The mayor admitted this contract does not necessarily kill the idea of a regional landfill in the Smithton community forever, "but it puts any serious discussion of an independent landfill there at least 10 years down the road."

The Smithton community is off of 10th Street out of Gurdon, toward Highway 67. "This landfill contract buys us time and is certainly a good solution to the landfill problem for the next decade," Franklin said.