County Solid Waste Advisory Committee to undergo restructuring

The Thurston County Solid Waste Advisory Committee is looking to restructure its membership due to the creation of two new county districts.

County Solid Waste Manager Jeff Bickford, along with Renee Sinclair, chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, presented to the Board of County Commissioners on Thursday, August 24, to discuss the committee’s recommendation.

The current count code limits the committee to 15 members, consisting of one elected official from each of the seven participating municipalities in the current Solid Waste Management Plan and three citizen representatives from an unincorporated jurisdiction in each county district.

The committee also comprises a County commissioner, a Port of Olympia commissioner, a private business representative, a waste collection representative, and a recycling industry representative.

The committee has been looking to add a representative representing the agriculture sector. One committee member currently has a dual role representing the agriculture sector but also serves as a citizen representative, which Bickford said is not technically allowed.

Instead of increasing the number of its members, the committee recommends maintaining the number of members they have, and reducing citizen members from three to two at-large representatives while adding one dedicated agriculture representative.

Sinclair said they came up with the recommendation, considering it was not easy recruiting citizen representatives who took an interest in solid waste and maintaining quorum, especially during meetings held in summer.

The county website currently states that one of the citizen representative positions is vacant.

The county would hold a public hearing about the restructuring of the committee before adopting the proposed changes.