Hickman County TN

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Solid Waste Committee · Meeting · Jun 1, 2026

Mon, Jun 1, 2026

Guides landfill operations, recycling, convenience centers, and collection policies for household and commercial waste across the county.

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Outline

This outline was generated by an LLM from a transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. Prefer the original recording when available.

The committee’s main substantive discussion was how to implement the new commercial and industrial solid-waste billing system approved by prior resolution. Members heard that the county’s existing data is too messy to bill accurately without substantial cleanup, especially for apartments, strip centers, storage units, and other multi-tenant or multi-building properties. The likely result is a delay from the resolution’s July 1 effective date to about September 1, with the chair planning to consult County Attorney Dan Mecklenborg on whether a one-year amendment is needed. The committee also recommended approval of the solid-waste budget for the upcoming budget meeting.

Other notable threads included the monthly financial summary, a billing-office collection rate of 91.76%, debt reduction of 4% month over month, recycling tonnages, a small but promising electronics/nonferrous scrap pilot that generated about $1,400 in two weeks using inmate labor, holiday scheduling around Juneteenth and July 4, reserve/equipment budgeting concerns, and renewed efforts to obtain FAA land adjacent to the solid-waste site through the county’s congressional delegation.

Call to Order, Agenda, and Minutes 0:00

  • 0:05 Meeting called to order; quorum confirmed with seven present and one absent.
  • 0:40 Motion to approve the agenda; second by Matthew Barnhill; approved without noted opposition.
  • 1:00 Public comment opened; no public comment offered.
  • 1:21 Motion to approve minutes from the previous meeting; approved without noted opposition.

Department / Official Reports

Financial summary 1:43

  • 2:41 Monthly expenses reported at about $233,000.
    • A substantial share was principal paid on loans.
    • Interest expense was described as about $10,000–$11,000, with references to loan lines/accounts 604, 612, and 613.
  • 3:37 Revenue was reported as running above budget for the year.
  • 3:55 Delinquent accounts were mentioned as an ongoing issue affecting the office’s work.
  • 4:14 Motion to approve the financial summary; roll-call style approvals were heard, including Matthew Barnhill; approved.

Billing office report 4:50

  • 4:58 Billing office report for May showed collection of 91.76% of bills sent out.
  • 5:07 Outstanding debt was reported down 4% from the prior month.
  • 5:14 Committee briefly reviewed the billing office’s work; no objections or changes were raised.

Recycling and materials report 5:42

  • 5:42 Recycling totals for the month included:
    • 3.5 tons of cans.
    • About 0.5 ton of other nonferrous metals, including copper wire, copper motors, batteries, and circuit boards from TVs and computers.
  • 6:06 Cardboard totaled 98.07 tons.
  • 6:15 Glass totaled 17.68 tons.
  • 6:22 Used oil is being stored onsite for winter heating, so little or no oil-sale revenue is expected to show for now.
  • 6:30 Plastic totaled 17.95 tons.
  • 6:30 Metal totaled 21 tons.
  • 6:43 “Buckets” and “number two” plastics/material categories were mentioned, but no clear figures were given.
  • 6:54 No member questions were raised on the recycling report.

Unfinished Business

Holiday staffing and schedule 7:08

  • 7:08 Staff scheduling was discussed because two holidays occur before the next meeting: June 19 and July 4.
  • 7:18 Because July 4 falls on a Saturday, the usual practice discussed was taking Friday off and working Saturday.
  • 7:42 Members noted the situation was tricky; a six-hour Saturday day was mentioned as the likely arrangement.
  • 8:08 Next committee meeting announced for Monday, July 6.

Nonferrous scrap and electronics pilot 8:12

  • 8:12 Jordan Sachs described a test program dismantling electronics and separating valuable scrap components.
  • 8:21 Materials with electric motors are being pulled from scrap metal loads and sorted.
  • 8:36 Inmates/trustees have been doing the labor; during a two-week trial, effectively one inmate was handling the work at the back area.
  • 8:44 The resulting scrapyard check was about $1,400 for that short trial period.
  • 9:05 The pilot was described as potentially workable on a limited basis, but likely borderline for part-time economics and not suitable as full-time work yet.
  • 9:20 The current success depends heavily on strong commodity markets, especially for copper and precious metals recovered downstream from circuit boards.
  • 9:41 Committee will continue evaluating the pilot rather than formalizing it immediately.

Commercial and industrial billing implementation 9:45

  • 9:45 The committee returned to implementation of the commercial/industrial billing resolution passed previously.
  • 9:53 The practical problem is that Solid Waste is currently being forced to make case-by-case judgment calls about who should receive a commercial bill.
  • 10:01 Assessor Randy Jenkins was asked to explain a plan to create a more reliable billing file/report.

Data cleanup and new file structure 10:17

  • 10:17 Jenkins said the county has a usable file for local government and tax billing, but not a clean commercial solid-waste billing file.
  • 10:42 He argued that if the county is going to bill commercial users, it should “build it right” rather than continue sending Solid Waste messy “junk piles” of data to sort through manually.
  • 10:57 His proposal is to create distinct files:
    • a commercial solid-waste billing file; and
    • a residential solid-waste billing file.
  • 11:16 E-verify/“E-ring” style vendor or software support was referenced as needing about two months to build the new structure once the format and input data are ready.
  • 11:34 He emphasized that the up-front work would make annual billing smoother in future years.
  • 11:50 He also wants the residential file cleaned up because current annual processing takes “hours and hours” to remove unnecessary data.

Delay from July 1 likely to September 12:48

  • 12:48 Members noted the prior resolution took effect July 1.
  • 13:02 Chair and staff advised that, under the current realities, actual billing may not begin until sometime around the end of September; Jenkins then estimated roughly September for implementation.
  • 13:19 The alternative, as framed in discussion, would be either delaying implementation or proceeding without adequate information and risking incorrect billing.
  • 13:26 The chair invited better ideas from members, but none were offered in the transcript.

Billing rules still need interpretation 13:39

  • 13:39 Jenkins outlined classification problems that the new system must solve:
    • apartments may sit on commercial parcels but house residential users who should be billed residential rates;
    • duplexes also appear in commercial property records and would need to be pulled back into residential billing.
  • 14:18 The intended commercial side would cover stores, warehouses, restaurants, and similar business uses.
  • 14:48 A strip-center example was discussed: one owner/building containing multiple businesses.
  • 15:03 The practical question raised was whether such a property should receive one bill or four bills.
  • 15:15 The apparent intent of the earlier resolution was billing by business/entity rather than only by building ownership.
  • 15:41 Jenkins said pulling from personal property records may help identify separate suites or businesses.
  • 15:50 The opposite problem was also discussed: a single business operating multiple buildings, such as storage units.
  • 16:07 Example given that a storage company with several buildings should likely receive just one bill for the operation, not one bill per building.
  • 16:26 By contrast, separate retail tenants such as O’Reilly Auto Parts were understood to be separate billable businesses.
  • 17:00 Members acknowledged the system will remain a work in progress even after rollout, but said billing cannot improve unless the county starts and refines it.

Residential billing unaffected for this year 17:35

  • 17:35 Normal bill issuance date was noted as July 1.
  • 17:47 Discussion indicated the county can still proceed with the residential side while pushing back commercial billing.
  • 18:02 Jenkins said rebuilding the residential file would not affect this year because the current residential file is already ready to go.
  • 18:24 The cleanup would instead improve efficiency for next year.
  • 18:30 Asked whether the file rebuild would cost additional taxpayer money, Jenkins indicated no extra county-commission approval was needed and that staff/vendor were willing to do it once given the needed information.

Possible amendment to the resolution 18:45

  • 18:45 Members noted the resolution appears to dictate when bills go out, so delaying commercial billing may require formal action.
  • 20:00 The chair suggested asking County Attorney Dan Mecklenborg whether this year’s implementation date should be amended.
  • 20:28 September 1 was floated as the likely revised target date.
  • 21:22 Consensus was to proceed with the file-building work immediately while the chair checks with Mecklenborg on whether an amendment is legally needed.
  • 21:36 The chair said he likely believed an amendment would be required and would report back if counsel raised any issues.

Late-fee structure under current resolution 22:10

  • 22:10 Current residential solid-waste bill structure was summarized:
    • base annual fee $110;
    • if late, it jumps immediately to $140 on day one;
    • then it tops out at $180 under the current wording.
  • 22:29 Members were asked whether there was any interest in changing that schedule.
  • 22:34 No member expressed interest; any change would require another amendment to the resolution.
  • 22:48 Committee agreed to leave the structure in place for this year.

New Business / Agenda Items

FY budget recommendation 22:58

  • 23:04 The committee turned to the solid-waste budget that had been enabled by prior resolution.
  • 23:11 Members were told action was needed so the budget could move to the Thursday night budget meeting.
  • 23:26 Motion made to recommend that the Budget Committee approve the solid-waste budget.
  • 23:37 No substantive discussion followed.
  • 23:50 Motion approved, with affirmative responses recorded.

Reserve and equipment earmarking caution 24:04

  • 24:15 Discussion noted a reserve in the budget tied to the resolution.
  • 24:31 A prior $15,000 mark and another $190,000 becoming available at the end of next year were mentioned in connection with reserves/equipment planning.
  • 24:50 Concern raised that if money is earmarked specifically for equipment and then not spent on equipment, those restricted funds may have to remain dedicated there.
  • 24:58 Finance Director Crystal Fitzgerald was described as cautious about earmarking: once funds are formally designated, they may not be easily repurposed.
  • 25:24 A table of projected needs/equipment was said to exist so members can anticipate future purchases, but no action was taken on changing the budget language during this meeting.

FAA land issue adjacent to solid waste site 25:39

  • 25:39 A member raised long-running “old business” dating back roughly five to eight years involving efforts to obtain FAA land adjoining Solid Waste.
  • 25:50 The earlier effort had gone through congressional channels, the county attorney, and the county mayor, but ultimately fell through.
  • 26:16 Because of redistricting, the county’s federal representation is changing; Andy Ogles was mentioned as the likely U.S. representative going forward.
  • 26:38 Staff transition among congressional offices was described, and a representative named Rick Williams was identified as the current contact.
  • 27:02 Williams had asked if there were county issues he could pursue, and the FAA land matter was raised with him.
  • 27:10 He offered to meet with committee representatives, the county mayor, and others interested in reviving the effort.
  • 27:34 Randy Jenkins may be included because deeds, plats, and related property details would be involved.
  • 27:48 The member described Williams as persistent in a positive sense and suggested that persistence could help move the matter.
  • 28:03 Members were told the meeting would be scheduled soon and interested committee members could attend.
  • 28:19 It was suggested the gathering might not need to be advertised as a formal public meeting because it would involve representatives meeting with local elected officials, but it would be open to anyone who wished to attend.
  • 28:57 No formal motion or vote was taken; this was an informational update and invitation.

Adjournment 29:18

  • 29:18 Motion made to close/adjourn the meeting.

Key figures and statistics

Figure Type Context / topic Timestamp
7 Attendance Members present 0:26
1 Attendance Members absent 0:26
$233,000 Expense Monthly solid-waste expenses 2:41
$10,000–$11,000 Interest expense Approximate monthly interest on loans 2:48
604 Account / loan reference Loan/account line referenced in financial report 2:57
612 Account / loan reference Loan/account line referenced in financial report 2:57
613 Account / loan reference Loan/account line referenced in financial report 2:57
91.76% Collection rate Billing office resolved/collected share of bills sent 4:58
4% Change Debt reduction from prior month 5:07
3.5 tons Recycling tonnage Cans recycled 5:42
0.5 ton Recycling tonnage Other nonferrous metals recycled 5:50
98.07 tons Recycling tonnage Cardboard recycled 6:06
17.68 tons Recycling tonnage Glass recycled 6:15
17.95 tons Recycling tonnage Plastic recycled 6:30
21 tons Recycling tonnage Metal recycled 6:30
June 19 Date Holiday before next meeting 7:08
July 4 Date Holiday before next meeting 7:08
6 hours Work schedule Saturday holiday workday discussed 7:42
July 6 Date Next committee meeting 8:08
2 weeks Pilot duration Electronics/nonferrous scrap test period 8:36
1 inmate Staffing Approximate inmate labor used in pilot at one time 8:36
$1,400 Revenue Scrap check from pilot program 8:44
2 months Time estimate Build time for new commercial billing file/system 11:16
July 1 Effective date Existing resolution’s billing start date 12:48
September Time estimate Likely start of commercial billing under delayed rollout 13:02
$400 Fee Commercial property amount referenced in discussion 14:35
4 bills Billing example Possible number of bills for four-business strip center 15:03
1 bill Billing example Preferred billing for one storage operation across multiple buildings 16:07
$110 Fee Base annual residential solid-waste bill 22:10
$140 Late fee level Bill amount on first day late 22:18
$180 Maximum charge Late-balance cap under current resolution 22:18
$15,000 Reserve / earmark Previously marked amount in budget discussion 24:31
$190,000 Reserve / projected funds Amount said to be available at end of next year 24:31
5–8 years Time span How long FAA land issue has been lingering 25:39