INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday afternoon to keep the Winter Beach Customer Convenience Center open for the time being.
Commissioner Tim Zorc, who originally voted to close the center, moved to reconsider that decision from November and ultimately voted with Commissioners Wesley Davis and Joe Flescher to keep the facility open.
“That means it’s going to stay open for now,” Chairman Wesley Davis told the audience.
Commissioners Peter O’Bryan and Bob Solari voted to close the convenience center.
The vote came after more than three hours of staff presentation and public input, during which more than a hundred Winter Beach, Gifford and other county residents attended. Dozens spoke out in support of keeping the center open.
Some residents voiced support for paying a nominal fee to use the customer convenience center while others said they could not afford to pay that or any other fee for solid waste disposal.
Commissioners O’Bryan and Solari had floated the idea that if the center were closed, some residents would opt to pay the $15 per month for curbside collection rather than drive to the Gifford or Roseland Customer Convenience Centers.
The Winter Beach center was scheduled to close by 6 p.m. Jan. 5, 2015. With the Board’s vote Tuesday, however, the center will not be shut down as scheduled.
The Commission considered closing the center to save approximately $250,000 annually, which could then be used to help implement recycling. The State of Florida has issued a 75 percent recycling goal/mandate by 2020 for all its counties.
Indian River County currently has a recycling rate of approximately 37 percent. The State benchmarks call for a 50 percent recycling rate before the end of 2014.
What penalties, if any, the State will administer to those counties that don’t achieve the 75 percent recycling rate has not yet been determined.
