BRODHEAD - The fate of Monroe's representation on the board that oversees the county transfer station remains uncertain as the board holds off on recommending the city's seats be taken away.
Current Green County ordinance states the eleven-member Solid Waste Management Board be made up of five members of the county board, four citizens who have "demonstrated interest in the problems of solid waste management," and two representatives from the city of Monroe.
The Monroe representatives must be the chair of Monroe's Board of Public Works and the president of its Common Council - currently Aldermen Charles Koch and Brook Bauman, respectively. If either are unable or unwilling to serve, the mayor appoints someone to fill that vacancy.
According to Green County Clerk Mike Doyle, the ultimate decision to remove board seats would be left to the county board of supervisors.
"The (waste management) board will have to come through with recommendations," he said.
Since January, when Monroe withdrew its membership to the transfer station, the waste management board has several times tabled a resolution to recommend the county board remove Monroe's seats from the board.
It's another wrinkle in the ongoing contract dispute between the Monroe and the solid waste board. The transfer station is where municipalities from throughout the county take their garbage before it is transported for permanent disposal in Janesville.
Monroe believes the transfer station's membership fees, which include a tipping fee, currently set at $45 per ton, as well as a fluctuating operating fee, are unfair because the city doesn't know in advance what it will be charged. Monroe also argues it is paying a share of the cost for commercial haulers to dump its trash at the transfer station.
While it's no longer a member, Monroe continues to use the transfer station, paying the non-member tipping fee of $52 per ton.
Waste management board chairman Rich Vogel said the board has delayed recommending removing Monroe because it wants to have time to reach a contract agreement with Monroe.
"It's much easier to work together if (Monroe) is sitting at the table with us," he said.
Vogel said he hopes to find some resolution to keep Monroe as a member in the next few months, when municipalities are working on next year's annual budgets.
"Monroe is a very important community for us," Vogel said.
For her part, Bauman said she has no problem if Monroe's seats are removed from the board.
"I would be fine with it," she said.
Bauman said the current ordinance states that the board should be served by members of the transfer station, which Monroe is not. She added Monroe is financially in a better spot not as a member.
"We wouldn't be "on the hook' if something were to happen," she said. For example, members would have to pay if new equipment is needed or the transfer station needed more staff.
While she said she feels optimistic about coming to a resolution, there is still a chance it may not work out.
"If there isn't a resolution soon," Bauman said, "both parties will just have a walk away."
Koch, however, said he appreciates the decision to hold off on the recommendation.
"(The board) wants to work with us, too," he said.
While Koch said the board's discussion on removing Monroe's representative is a little premature, he believes there is still hope that this will get resolved soon.
"They had given us the courtesy to come with resolutions to the whole (transfer station issue)," he said.
Current Green County ordinance states the eleven-member Solid Waste Management Board be made up of five members of the county board, four citizens who have "demonstrated interest in the problems of solid waste management," and two representatives from the city of Monroe.
The Monroe representatives must be the chair of Monroe's Board of Public Works and the president of its Common Council - currently Aldermen Charles Koch and Brook Bauman, respectively. If either are unable or unwilling to serve, the mayor appoints someone to fill that vacancy.
According to Green County Clerk Mike Doyle, the ultimate decision to remove board seats would be left to the county board of supervisors.
"The (waste management) board will have to come through with recommendations," he said.
Since January, when Monroe withdrew its membership to the transfer station, the waste management board has several times tabled a resolution to recommend the county board remove Monroe's seats from the board.
It's another wrinkle in the ongoing contract dispute between the Monroe and the solid waste board. The transfer station is where municipalities from throughout the county take their garbage before it is transported for permanent disposal in Janesville.
Monroe believes the transfer station's membership fees, which include a tipping fee, currently set at $45 per ton, as well as a fluctuating operating fee, are unfair because the city doesn't know in advance what it will be charged. Monroe also argues it is paying a share of the cost for commercial haulers to dump its trash at the transfer station.
While it's no longer a member, Monroe continues to use the transfer station, paying the non-member tipping fee of $52 per ton.
Waste management board chairman Rich Vogel said the board has delayed recommending removing Monroe because it wants to have time to reach a contract agreement with Monroe.
"It's much easier to work together if (Monroe) is sitting at the table with us," he said.
Vogel said he hopes to find some resolution to keep Monroe as a member in the next few months, when municipalities are working on next year's annual budgets.
"Monroe is a very important community for us," Vogel said.
For her part, Bauman said she has no problem if Monroe's seats are removed from the board.
"I would be fine with it," she said.
Bauman said the current ordinance states that the board should be served by members of the transfer station, which Monroe is not. She added Monroe is financially in a better spot not as a member.
"We wouldn't be "on the hook' if something were to happen," she said. For example, members would have to pay if new equipment is needed or the transfer station needed more staff.
While she said she feels optimistic about coming to a resolution, there is still a chance it may not work out.
"If there isn't a resolution soon," Bauman said, "both parties will just have a walk away."
Koch, however, said he appreciates the decision to hold off on the recommendation.
"(The board) wants to work with us, too," he said.
While Koch said the board's discussion on removing Monroe's representative is a little premature, he believes there is still hope that this will get resolved soon.
"They had given us the courtesy to come with resolutions to the whole (transfer station issue)," he said.