By Bonnie Culverhouse
Even though the Webster Parish Police Jury sold the Landfill Road location, members are faced with the question of what to do with the Sarepta Transfer/Receiving Station at Wenks Landing, which was not part of that sale.
Parish attorney Patrick Jackson said, while the sale of the landfill just north of Dixie Inn is moving along, “We’ve got to walk through the transfer station and what we do with that. That’s something the jury has to decide.”
If the jury wants to keep the receiving station open, it will be at the parish’s expense, Jackson said.
“They (purchaser Republic Services) say they don’t want the receiving station,” Jury president Jim Bonsall said. “We have talked about keeping it open one or two days a week.”
The receiving station in Sarepta falls in Juror Daniel Thomas’ district.
“Prolonging it, the people will be just as upset if we close it now or a year from now,” Thomas said. “Free can’t last forever.”
While the police jury owns the land, all of the equipment at the receiving station – including compactors and bins – is owned by Republic, with exception of the office building. There is one on-site Republic employee, who will possibly be moved to the main landfill after the sale.
Jackson said he has been meeting with attorneys and exchanging documents since the landfill bid was awarded to the current operating company, which is also Republic Services.
“I expect between this meeting and the next, I will be asking for some authority to have a special meeting to have the jury give Mr. Bonsall the authority to execute the transfer documents,” Jackson said. “It’s all in line with what has been represented. We still have a few little things like title and surveys … there is some environmental language that’s a big part of this, but everything is moving forward as expected.”
Jackson said the jury is under no serious time crunch now, but he feels the sale will be final soon with no major issues.
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