“The decomposition at landfills creates methane, which has to be vented into the atmosphere,” Sykes said. “The Environmental Protection Agency has set deadlines for requiring we flare it off.”
He said the county is working on this project in advance of the deadlines. The methane created at the landfill will be captured to create electricity. There are two positive aspects of the project, Sykes said: the county can sell the electricity created to the power company, and will obtain carbon credits as well.
Of the four bids received for construction of the methane recovery project, the lowest was from The Shaw Group. The bid the company submitted was for $971,241. However, Sykes said, the bids were 19 percent over estimates cost for the project.
A breakdown of funding for the project includes $907,000 in funding for the project, but $184,000 of that figured is labeled “probable funding.”
Sykes told the court his company had come up with some modifications to the project that could cut the cost of construction.
District Six Magistrate Chris Harris said he was hesitant to award the bid if the county wasn’t sure it would have the money to pay for the project.
“I know it is a really great project,” Harris said. “But we are facing some challenging financial times. There is an estimate that we will have a shortfall of $2.5 million in mineral severance income this year for the general operation of Pike County. If this gas isn’t going anywhere, why can’t we wait six months?”
Sykes said Shaw would not commit to working to reduce the cost of the project without a commitment from the county to award the bid to the company. Magistrate Jeff Anderson suggested making the award of the bid contingent on Shaw bringing the cost of construction down. The motion passed with that contingency.
“We have a duty to the taxpayers of the county to know where the money for projects will come from,” Harris said. “We don’t want to commit without having funding in place.”
In other court business, agreed to donate homes to be salvaged to a local organization that helps ten different charities in the county.
Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford and floodplain coordinator Jimmy Kiser asked the court for approval to donate homes bought by the Army Corps of Engineers to HELP, or Helping Ease Life’s Poverty.
Houses that are located in flood plain are purchased by the Army Corps of Engineers. If the houses can’t be flood-proofed, then the Corps of Engineers buys the houses, in Pike County’s name, and relocates the family.
Many times, the houses can be salvaged for building materials such as windows and doors. The Fiscal Court voted to allow those items to be donated to HELP, an organization that operates thrift stores and raises money to be distributed among ten charities, included HOPE, RAM and others.
“These houses will be torn down anyway,” Assistant County Attorney Roland Case. “They are of no value to the county.” He went on to explain that the county will get to keep any materials that it chooses. Personnel from the county work release program will help dismantle the houses.
“HELP is a worthy organization,” Rutherford said. “They help a lot of people in the county.”
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