Charles Slaughter, president of the independent haulers association, spoke to the commission regarding recent rumors circulating that a large trash company might be taking over trash pick up in the county.

“In recent weeks there has been talk that a large waste company is looking at the industry in Chilton County,” Slaughter said. “Keep in mind that it was a large waste company that burned the county several years ago. It has been said that this waste company is pushing for mandatory pickup. I am here tonight along with others representing the independent waste haulers to ask what is really going on.”

Caton addressed Slaughter’s concerns telling him that no large company had contacted the commission.

“I don’t know where the rumors are coming from,” Caton said. “We have not talked to any company about coming to this county, there is no one who has contacted us.”

Caton told Slaughter that three commissioners met in a work session to talk about a situation that had come up but no formal discussion was made during a commission meeting.

“We [the commission] have been accused of some things,” Caton said. “There are a tremendous amount of lies that have been told about this situation.”

Slaughter told the commission he was not at the meeting to try to drive a wedge between the county commission and the independent waste haulers.

“We have always had a good relationship with the commission,” Slaughter said. “Especially with commissioners Bobby Agee and Heedy Hayes who faced a lot of heat many years ago when a large company purchased a landfill and told citizens they would be able to have access to that landfill. It ended up the citizens had no place to take their waste. The lesson to be learned from that experience is any time you are dealing with a large waste company, they always have a larger agenda. They have one agenda they want to show you and one they don’t want to show you.”

Slaughter also expressed concerns about employees from a large waste company addressing him in public recently with reports that there would soon be “real large garbage trucks in this county.”

“Anytime we hear things of that nature we get concerns and we just want to find out from you all what is happening,” Slaughter said.

Caton told Slaughter he appreciated him addressing the commission with his concerns but nothing had been formally discussed about a large company coming to the county.

Now that two commissioners would be serving on the Solid Waste Authority board, Slaughter asked if decisions made on the board would still be able to flow freely among board members or if there might be some “heavy handedness” from commissioners on the board.

Caton told Slaughter the two commissioners serving on the board would represent two of the nine votes and decisions would still be able to flow freely with the board.

“We appreciate you coming and talking to us about this,” Caton said. “We have heard the rumors and we aren’t sure where they got started.”