County turns up heat on scrap dealers' $18K bill

The county's Solid Waste Authority has asked the county attorney to write a letter to two scrap metal dealers in an effort to collect some $18,000 owed Bedford County.

Last month, Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman, who manages waste disposal for the authority, told the board that South East Recovery Group was still some $10,000 behind in payments for scrap metal recycling.

The authority voted last month to send a certified letter to the company to ask payment to be made within 30 days. The company was behind on payments for two and a half months at that time.

Smotherman told the authority Thursday evening that the firm has been making some payments, but has not been able to give the county the full amount, adding that South East Recovery Group only had a week to pay the rest of what is owed.

However, Middle Tennessee Metal Recovery, the firm the county did business with last year, has not made any payments, which resulted in the total of $18,000 the authority is owed.

South East Recovery Group was awarded the contract last December at 65 percent of the average of the first and third Friday's price of metal on the New York Stock Exchange, after Middle Tennessee Metal Recovery fell behind on payments to the county last year due to falling metal prices caused by the economic downturn.

The authority has yet to award a new contract for scrap metal recycling.

In other business, Smotherman gave the authority a report on the sanitation truck that was involved in an accident in Deason on July 30.

Smotherman said that the final report stated that the driver of the garbage truck was not at fault and that both vehicles involved in the accident were totalled.

While there was damage to property where the accident occurred, thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, Smotherman said, and they are currently working with the insurance company on compensation for the truck.

Ironically, the truck that was totalled was the very vehicle the authority voted to replace last month when it accepted bids for a 2010 Freightliner roll-off truck at a cost of $111,084.

The new truck should be delivered in the next 45 to 60 days, Smotherman said, and in the meantime, a spare vehicle is being used, although he said that he "hopes that it holds up" until the replacement can arrive.

Solid Waste Coordinator Gay Ervin also reported that the county has met this year's requirement by the state to reduce the amount of solid waste disposed of in its landfill by 25 percent on a per capita basis.