INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Board of Commissioners later this month will revisit its decision to close the Winter Beach Customer Convenience Center.
In an effort to save approximately $250,000 annually, Commissioners had voted 3-2 to close the convenience center, which collects the least amount of trash and recyclables of all the centers county-wide.
The Winter Beach Customer Convenience Center is located at 3955 65th St., Vero Beach, and is currently scheduled to be closed permanently as of Jan. 5, 2015.
Commissioners Wesley Davis and Joe Flescher tried to spare the Winter Beach center but lost the vote. On Tuesday, they swayed their fellow Commissioners to at least hear more information and gather public input.
The matter will be placed on the Dec. 16 agenda and those who use the Winter Beach Customer Convenience Center are encouraged to address Commissioners at that time.
A few Winter Beach residents who use the center spoke before Commissioners Tuesday, urging them to reconsider their vote.
With the Winter Beach center’s closure, those who wanted to use a convenience center would have to drive to Gifford – the nearest Customer Convenience Center.
The centers are placed throughout the county to assist residents who don’t have curbside solid waste service with trash and recycling disposal. Instead of hauling their waste and recycling to the county landfill, they can drop their waste at the centers.
Utilities Director Vincent Burke told Commissioners that they have learned over time that the convenience centers – convenient as they are – are not cost-effective.
They make up 30 percent of the department’s budget but account for a sliver of collection. In Winter Beach’s case, the center takes in 9 percent of the County’s trash and 6 percent of its recycling.
“I’m adamantly opposed” to closing the center, Commission Chair Davis said. “It’s a lifestyle in Indian River County we’ve grown accustomed to.”
Indian River County does not force unincorporated residents to participate in curbside solid waste collection. Instead, residents are responsible for their own disposal, whether at a convenience center or the landfill.
Winter Beach resident Rodney Walker told Commissioners that he and others fear that if the center were closed as planned that people would continue to take their trash to the site and dump it there. He noted that that had been happening on days when the center was closed as part of its regular schedule.
“We’re going to have collateral concerns,” Flescher agreed.
Commissioner Bob Solari, who supports closing the convenience center, told his fellow Commissioners that the County must make a good faith effort in meeting the State’s 75 percent recycling goal. Doing so is going to cost money and take several steps to accomplish.
Solari said he’d prefer to see three convenience centers closed, the County move to single-stream recycling, and increase public education on recycling. He also mentioned the possibility of making curbside service mandatory rather than voluntary.
“We’re looking at the big picture here,” Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said, agreeing with Solari. The Commission will have to make tough decisions, he added, explaining that when the County was financially crunched, it made the hard decision to remove lifeguards from a popular County beach. He said he understands that their choices will impact some in the community.
In voting in favor of bringing the matter back for further discussion, O’Bryan cautioned the audience that he is not expecting to change his mind and did not want to give them false hope.
