The trouble-plagued Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District has new leadership. The district includes Baxter, Boone, Marion, Newton and Searcy counties, with Carroll having withdrawn from the group in 2019. Its board is comprised of each county judge and the mayors of all Class I cities within the district’s boundaries.
According to its website, the district offers recycling services, targeting household and commercial recyclables; electronic and waste tire recycling and household hazardous waste collection centers. The district assumes the responsibilities of managing recycling grants, permitting solid waste haulers, monitoring volumes of district solid waste collected and addressing illegal dumps.
In a meeting Tuesday, the board selected a new interim director.
Just one week ago, the board voted to terminate its contract with a company whose employee, Melinda Caldwell, has served as the district’s director for the past 11 years.
In a statement, Caldwell says, “To be clear, myself and my company did not direct the purchase or downfall of Nabors Landfill. My first visit to Nabors Landfill was after it has closed. Violations, lawsuits, and environmental concerns loomed.”
Caldwell’s full statement is available here.
The action to terminate the contract with Caldwell’s company comes after the board asked her earlier for a detailed accounting of the district’s finances.
Some members of the board contend the contract was terminated because she would not provide a financial paper trail and other documentation.
But, Caldwell tells KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot news “documents and receipts are in good order and have always been available to the board.”
Following last week’s meeting, Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass, who until the end of 2019 had served as the board’s chairman, says the steps to remove Caldwell were problematic from the outset.
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Judge Pendergrass says the amended motion passed 6-3, with the three dissenting votes comes from the Baxter County contingency that also includes Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams and Gassville Mayor Jeff Braim.
With the termination of the contract set to expire June 30, the board moved to place Bill Lord in the director’s role on an interim basis without a contract.
Pendergrass says those who have been following the developments with the trouble-plagued district will remember Lord when the waste hauling operation and landfill were purchased by the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District from RLH.
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The board moved forward ironing out the details of a contract leading to Lord being named as consultant manager of the district Tuesday for the next 90 days.
Pendergrass says in his opinion the district is returning to the root of the problem he has been dealing with for the past seven years.
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Lord is charged with advertising for a new full-time district director.
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