Pages’ SectionA

The Abaconian

September 15, 2008

The Editor Says... Local Gov. and residents working together

   

a - ; AR AROSE I,

Local government is an exercise in
bringing the governing process closer to
those affected and letting local people par-
ticipate in the decision-making process.
Although we use the word “local,” there
has been minimal interplay in the past be-
tween local government leaders and town-
ship residents. Those elected ran the show
without feeling the need for consultation
with their local communities.

We see a trend where more residents
are becoming interested in their commu-
nities and are wanting to have a voice in
the decisions made for their towns. Abaco
residents can be quite passionate when situ-
ations are not to their liking. Several ex-
amples come to mind.

The residents of Elbow Cay are work-
ing closely with the Hope Town District
Council to control the density of a pro-
posed development on Joe’s Cay. There
is mutual benefit in their working together
for a common goal

The association that Central Pines resi-
dents and property owners have formed
helps control development there in posi-
tive directions. It has held meetings with
Housing officials on matters that concern
the residents. Members have worked with
the Dundas Town Township Committee to
get garbage collection, their road verges
cleaned and other services.

A group in Central Abaco is petition-
ing the Cental Abaco District Council for a
public hearing on the proposed Snake Cay
development. That group feels that it is
public land and whatever is allowed there
should involve public consultation.

Another group is pressuring the Cen-
tral Abaco Council to be more active in
opening the new solid waste landfill. That
group realizes that the serious situation of
residents living with acrid and irritating
smoke can be alleviated as soon as the new
landfill is operational. How soon this will
happen remains to be seen.

These are all citizens wanting to have
more input into their community affairs.

We have four terms of local government
experience behind us, and we are entering
the fifth term. The town committees and
councils are local people, and they will

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have to adapt to the fact that they serve
their communities. As their residents be-
come more involved, these local govern-
ment bodies must realize that they have to
listen to their constituents.

Opportunities related

to the landfill

The Central Abaco District is the coun-
try’s largest local government district after
Freeport. It has caught government’s at-
tention as this Council has been given the
responsibility for handling the new solid
waste landfill. Establishing the ground
tules, overseeing the operation and looking
into innovative collection and recycling op-
tions all have plenty of room for consulta-
tion, interaction and cooperation in making
this new facility operate to its maximum
potential.

Not yet considered is the interplay and
management of two transfer stations and
their integration into the overall system.
We must remember that refuse from North
and South Abaco must be accommodated.
Programs considered acceptable for Cen-
tral Abaco may have to be modified for
other districts.

AS we see it, the landfill operation will
be a joint venture between the Council, the
management company winning the con-
tract, the towns involved and other people
creating new businesses from the recycling
possibilities. It will not be a simple matter
of signing a contract, then sitting back to
watch it happen. It will have to be an ongo-
ing project constantly being fine tuned and
adjusted. It will require educating our public
on new ways of coping with their garbage,
and it will be a long term project to get pub-
lic cooperation. It will require the manage-
ment company and the Council listening to
ideas from the public and working together
to bring about a satisfactory system.

Although the 40 pages of tender docu-
ments have 10 pages specifically related to
the site operation, much has been left un-
said. The process is much more complex
than just diverting trucks and containers to
the new location.

Council members are expected resolve
the basic issues soon, ask for bids, select
a management contractor and get the fa-
cility operational. Although venturing into
unknown territory due to the varied scope

of work, the magnitude of the refuse to be
handled and the desire to separate and re-
cycle some items, Council members will
find themselves involved throughout the
coming year and into future years as they
grapple with unresolved issues.

For instance, the way garbage is col-
lected now, everything goes to the dump.
It is expected that this pattern will con-
tinue initially. It will not be practical for
any sorting efforts on incoming trash to be
carried out at the landfill site. We cannot
change the system at this point. Successful
recycling will have to begin with coopera-
tive residents and businesses at the origin
of collection working out a system. How
this will be accomplished has not been dis-
cussed yet.

Used tires and batteries may be relatively
easy to collect as they are mostly generated
by the business community at a relatively
few points. Household appliances, known
as white goods, will be harder to manage
as homeowners upgrade, replace and dis-
card the old units.

Then there is an increased potential for
recycling aluminum cans. Although the
volume of these is huge, comprehensive
collection is not an easy matter. There are
now several collection points for aluminum
cans, and this present minimal effort could
be expanded and developed into a major
business. Does this fall within the landfill
management or does it become the respon-
sibility of another person or business? It
is easy to look at the volume of arriving
beverages (read aluminum cans) as fork-
lifts unload trucks and containers. Com-
pare this incoming volume to the meager
amount of cans in the present collection
bins. We doubt that one percent of our alu-
minum cans is being recycled.

Back in the late 1990s Man-O-War
showed that shredding and chipping their
landscape debris reduced their total trash
volume by one third or more. Although
shredding and chipping will be a compo-
nent of the new landfill, the actual mechan-
ics of this aspect has not been determined.
It is one thing to be enthusiastic over the
potential of using mulch in public areas or
selling it for profit, but it’s another issue to
actually put this into practice. The inten-
tion is to keep the material out of the refuse

cell while using it to enrich our soil.

This is a state-of-the-art facility waiting
to be put into operation. Different govern-
ment leaders from Nassau have made state-
ments to the effect that Abaco’s landfill is
expected to be operated at a higher level of
proficiency than similar facilities in Nas-
sau. Without admitting it, the implications
are that the Nassau facility is a mess.

Reading the ten pages of operating pro-
cedures tells us that much more is expect-
ed than simply dumping and mashing the
refuse. A brief summary of the expected
work can be found in this paper under Lo-
cal Government at Work.

Government sees opportunities for recy-
cling some items and is leaving the work-
ing details and implementation to our
Council, local businessmen and concerned
citizens. There will be many opportunities
for interested persons to study the system,
make suggestions, see that some recycling
is implemented and encourage new busi-
ness ventures.

The tender documents suggest the site
can expect slightly less than 100 cubic
yards of refuse per week from the entire
Abaco community. A quick count shows
our present dump is taking approximately
2500 cubic ther aspects of the site manage-
ment and operations procedure will have to
be worked out as experience is gained.

The hardest part of any new project is
getting started. Once this project gets un-
derway, there will be many suggestions
made on how it can be done better and
more efficiently. Many of these will be
valid. This expected criticism should not
detract those responsible from getting the
process started.

Local Government is local people mak-
ing local decisions. Getting the solid waste
landfill operating is the largest challenge
our Central Abaco Council has been given.
A senior staff member from Environmen-
tal Health in Nassau is expected at the next
Council meeting to assist in issuing the
contract tenders and help in ironing out the
wrinkles in the operating procedures.

Essentially, a landfill is a major on-go-
ing environmental issue. It was said in the
spring that the initial learning experience
may take a year or more before the various
aspects are running smoothly.

 

ettere to the ditor

 

A very dangerous

situation
Dear Editor:

On August 26th I had the opportuni-
ty to take the afternoon water taxi from
McLean’s Town to Crown Haven, an ex-
perience that I have actually enjoyed on
more than one occasion.

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But this time it was different. About half
way through the trip one engine stopped
and we were left with an overloaded boat,
making approximately 4 knots. The Cap-
tain borrowed a cell phone and suppos-
edly called for help. We were told that
another boat was on the way in order to
get the passengers to Crown Haven before
dark. We watched for the other boat for
about 30 minutes but never saw anything.
Some of the passengers were trying to get
service on their cell phones to help the
Captain get in touch with his company,
but we were out of range of the cell tow-
ers.

Finally, I got service on my 10-year-
old Bahamas cell phone and called my
friend who was waiting for me at the ferry
dock. He alerted the other Captain as to
our problem. We were finally found and
transferred to the other boat. We arrived
at the Crown Haven dock before dark
without any new problems.

I was very concerned for the safety of
some of the passengers. You could tell
they were very worried about the situa-
tion. There were 28 people on this 26-foot
boat and at least half were women and
children. There was approximately 700
pounds of personal baggage stowed in the

forward cabin on top of the life preserv-
ers. There were numerous bags of cement
in the boat along with many large boxes
of unknown weight. The passengers were
crammed into the boat so tight that it was
very uncomfortable. The boat had two ac-
cess ports in the transom that were miss-
ing covers, allowing water into the bilge
while underway at this slow speed. The
boat provided the Captain with little or no
emergency equipment at all, no working
VHF, no emergency signaling device and
no cell phone.

I was sitting on that boat wondering
what kind of inspection does this water
taxi company have to pass in order to get a
licenses to transport people across the wa-
ter? It appears none. The Bahamas gov-
ernment needs to look into this situation
before an accident happens, resulting in
the loss of life. If something is not done,
I feel sure we will someday read about
a tragic senseless accident involving this
company that could have been prevented.

Thank you,
L. Trenary

 

Please see Letters Page 26