Local & State Headlines

Dougherty praises waste department

• Dougherty County commissioners consider a request to sell surplus equipment to nearby Worth County.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Mike McCoy, director of the Dougherty County Solid Waste department, and his staff were recognized by Dougherty County commissioners Monday morning for their third 100 percent score following a recent compliance inspection of the Dougherty landfill by the Department of Natural Resources.

“The inspection is unannounced, and it is very detailed,” County Administrator Richard Crowdis said. “It’s due to employees like the ones we have in Solid Waste that we achieved a perfect score.”

McCoy, who told commissioners: “We will continue to strive for excellence,” his Solid Waste team and county employees who worked on the county’s water station during the March 1 Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon were recognized during the commission’s work session.

Also at the meeting, Crowdis told commissioners he would have a list available soon of railroad crossings in the county that are due improvements. Crowdis said the county should be able to tackle “two or maybe three” of the crossing sites most in need of repair.

During his quarterly report to the commission, Flint RiverQuarium CEO Scott Loehr noted that attendance at the aquarium had risen 2 percent over the most recent fiscal year and that the RiverQuarium’s endowment program had received almost $148,000 in gifts through March.

Noting that visitors to the aquarium during 2008 had come from a number of states and from Canada and that 1,100 school children were scheduled to visit this week, Loehr told the commission, “Our private/public partnership is working.”

Commissioners also were given details about bids on an ambulance cab and chassis and module remount for Emergency Medical Services (from $62,625 to $68,961) and were asked to consider a request to sell a pickup truck and mosquito sprayer that is due to be replaced soon to “sister county” Worth County rather than advertise those pieces of equipment.

“We are required to advertise surplus material and accept the highest bid unless we have an agreement with a sister county,” Crowdis said. “Worth County will utilize this equipment to replace older equipment in their mosquito spraying program.”

Market value costs of the equipment have been set at $2,000 for the pickup and $500 for the sprayer.

Commissioner Jack Stone encouraged his fellow commissioners to get the word out about the county landfill’s acceptance of used tires free of charge from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

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