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Highlands Today

Asphalt plant is being audited

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: September 20, 2009

SEBRING - After Ken Wheeler proposed the idea of an asphalt plant in 2006, critics lined up: government shouldn't compete with private businesses; the $3.3 million investment was too risky; landfill techs don't know how to make asphalt.

Another criticism was that the landfill - between Sebring and Lorida - couldn't make asphalt as cheaply as Highlands County could buy it.

That's what Clerk of Courts Bob Germaine is determining, with an audit that began in July.

"This is a very, very important audit," Germaine said Friday. "There's a lot of argument out there - that we can buy it cheaper; that we can make it cheaper. The people want to know."

Wheeler, the county's solid waste director, is confident that Germaine's investigators will arrive at the same conclusion as Wheeler predicted.

"We did some calculations from last year, with the Office of Management and Budget staff," Wheeler said. His three-year-old estimates were compared to actual costs, and they were slightly higher than the actual numbers.

One reason why: he's using diesel fuel to heat the asphalt. Wheeler's original idea was to run the asphalt plant solely on methane - the natural gasses produced by rotting garbage.

"The methane pump has been down for a month," Wheeler said. Today, he calculates that 79 percent of the heat used to produce asphalt comes from methane, and 21 percent from fuel oil.

Diesel spill?

It's the diesel that's causing a problem at the landfill. On July 24, according to an e-mail from Department of Environmental Quality specialist Raquel Arias to landfill operations director Dick Gorman, she investigated a 5,000 gallon diesel spill at the landfill. She found nothing, and closed the complaint.

"That wasn't true. That was a false report," Wheeler said.

Last week, he found out about a confirmed spill - 10 to 15 gallons of diesel.

He said he couldn't speak more about it because personnel actions may be warranted.

"I will know more on Monday. On Monday, we'll finish the cleanup," he said.

Was it smart?

Commissioner Guy Maxcy, who voted to purchase the asphalt plant, still thinks it's a good idea: "So far, based on what I've seen and the answers I'm getting from Ken Wheeler."

"Most of the calls I've been getting are fix my road, fix my potholes, fix the cracks and the shoulders," Maxcy said. "We need to be overlaying 40 miles of roads a year. If we don't do that, we're going to be having a lot of failures on those roads in the future, and it will come sooner rather later. For us to have a chance to meet that goal, the asphalt plant is the answer."

Until the audit is concluded - and the auditors are still investigating - Wheeler is taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"We've responded to requests for additional information from the auditors, but we've received no negative feedback at this point," Wheeler said.

Highlands Today reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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