The Sun has Set on Sun

Patti Hamilton, Exec V.P. and
Charles Gusmano, founder and COO of Southern Waste Systems
"I was born and raised in the garbage business"

From garbage you came and garbage you will return...but not in Lake Worth.

Our Commission finally had some teeth and voted not to renew either contract with Sun Recycling and we will do our own rolloff containers. We had a dawn of a brand new day, in spite of Palm Beach County's decision yesterday with Sun to extend their permit for 6 more months.

Finally after years of putting up with a bad decision of allowing our landfill to be used as a staging area in case of a hurricane, it is over.

Our land had been dormant for 15 years. In order to reclaim it and for it to be usable for another purpose, it had to be dormant for 20 years. We whored our 65 acres for $1,000 a month. This was the start of the mess. No one listened to the public on this issue then. The Commission rarely does. It finally took residents in the Osborne area to complain loudly and often and for years. I'm surprised that, along with their other health issues, they have not lost their vocal chords.

We spent $483,208.94 on landfill remediation engineering services contracts with the ABV although only $171,000 was approved by the Commission. See Internal Audit Report on Landfill of December 21, 2007. This is when several people should have gone to jail. The City hushed up the entire mess and last year, the City Manager even fired Scot Menke our Internal Auditor who did the Landfill Audit. This guy was a hero as are all those who uncover corruption. Where was the FBI?

To give the excuse that commissions and staff change as a reason for not knowing what is and has happened at that property is an excuse that NO ONE BUYS. Bill Coakley did a tremendous service for the City when he exposed this company. Everyone in this City knew of his work. And everyone ignored it…did nothing…looked the other way…and the City was happy to collect a measly $1,000 a month. It is a disgrace particularly when you consider all the costs involved in closing that landfill 18 years ago. We have made $36,000 over the past 3 years and we spent obscene amounts of dollars to close it.

Staff continues to amaze me. Public Works Joe Kroll knew all the problems as we complained about the dumping by Sun years ago and the “fill” that was being deposited on our land. He came to a meeting last night without the answer as to when the contract started. It depended on a DEP permit. RENT commenced 10 DAYS AFTER the DEP PERMIT WAS ISSUED. He didn’t have that information. So, check your records and see when you got the first $1,000. That's a start. The City attorney didn’t have it. And then the City Commission asked Sun to furnish it to them. Why should Sun do that? Why don’t you have it?

When asked about where we would dump hurricane debris, the City Manager suggested the golf course or even back on our landfill. Joe said Route 441. Now I really hate to be picky here, but the GOLF COURSE? The LANDFILL? How come no one ever has the answer or solution? Storm related clean-up information.

Well, we all have had it. It is now over. To even consider that Sun will get this property into the condition it was before it was contracted to them is a pipe dream. It would cost them millions of dollars. They made a ton of money dumping on our landfill with the pretense of getting it ready for hurricanes. The City Commission fell for the bull marketing job from Sun 3 years ago; it fell for the spiel from Staff; it sold out the residents of this City. And then they gave Sun another Contract. It took a lot of screaming to end it all and now we can go back and try and reclaim this land.

That’s the bottom line of it.

Photo by William Coakley
The "Fill"
That's what got dumped on our land