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Entsorga West Virginia, summer events discussed during Town Council meeting

By Staff | Jul 19, 2019

Freedom’s Run Race Director Katie Thompson discusses where this year’s marathon, half-marathon and 5k will be held in Shepherdstown, during the Town Council meeting on July 9. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN – The Corporation of Shepherdstown’s monthly Town Council meeting was held on July 9, during which the town’s recycling program and a number of summer events were discussed.

According to Shepherdstown Visitors Center Director Marianne Davis, the town’s summer events have had good turnouts, and the visitor’s center is anticipating many more visitors to town for some upcoming events.

“There are a couple of new things coming up. Some of you already know about the National Night Out, which was founded by the National Association of Town Watch,” Davis said, mentioning Shepherdstown used to celebrate the nationwide event, and will be restarting it again this year, on Aug. 6 on the lawns of McMurran Hall and Reynolds Hall.

“The EMTs, fire department, police department, police force from Shepherd University and even the Coast Guard will be involved with the event, which was established to help law enforcement representatives meet community members,” Davis said, mentioning some Coast Guard members in the Lions Club will help coordinate the event. “We’ll be having old times games, like an egg on the spoon race and a dunk tank, which one of the officers will be in.”

Mayor Jim Auxer agreed with Davis about the positive affect this event can have on the town.

“It’s getting the police and residents to intermingle – we’re going to close off King Street for that. Our police chief, Mike King, came to me and said, ‘We want to do this.’ He was sort of asking and telling me at the same time,” Auxer said, chuckling. “I’m glad we’ll be getting back to doing this event.”

Davis also mentioned the success of the 2019 Eastern Panhandle Pride events on June 29.

“Pride was a very good event, although it was jolly hot. They got well over a thousand people,” Davis said, mentioning the Fourth of July Shepherdstown Rotary Club parade and picnic also drew a lot of visitors to town.

“I don’t think people realize that a whole lot of people stay in town after the Fourth of July parade,” Davis said. “Every single restaurant in town was slammed. We had people coming by the visitor’s center, even though we were supposed to be closed by 3 p.m. At one point, we had 30 people in the office at once.”

Freedom’s Run Race Director Katie Thompson then spoke about the upcoming race, which will be held on Oct. 5, and asked for permission to hold it again in Shepherdstown.

“We’re hoping to have 2,300 runners registered for the 11th annual Freedom’s Run. These runners will also bring their families, which means thousands of visitors will be coming to town,” Thompson said, mentioning the part of the race taking place on Shepherd University’s campus has already been approve by the university. “We appreciate everything you all do to accommodate our runners.”

The Town Council meeting ended with an idea from the mayor on how the town can become more green, without any additional cost to taxpayers.

“The Entsorga is a plant in Martinsburg that turns garbage into fuel. They send the fuel to Argos, the cement plant, which they claim helps Argos reduce their coal consumption by 30 percent,” Auxer said about Entsorga West Virginia, which is run by Apple Valley Waste LLC., Entsorga USA and BioHiTech Global. “Tonight I’d like you to authorize a contract for me to go ahead and work with them.”

According to Public Works Director Frank Welch, driving the town’s trash to the plant will decrease the town’s gasoline consumption and manpower costs. The cost per ton of trash will be $53 with Entsorga West Virginia, which is $3 more than the town is currently paying Apple Valley Waste LLC.

“The distance is not as long, so in figuring that out, even with increased cost of dumping, we’ll be saving on the fuel, the labor and the depreciation of the garbage truck,” Welch said, mentioning the plant cannot process two things – credit cards and chlorine.

Auxer’s request was approved, and a motion was passed to allow him to pursue developing an agreement with Entsorga West Virginia.

“The best thing about this will be the impact this will have on the environment. It’ll save us money and it won’t fill up the landfills,” Auxer said.

To learn more about Entsorga West Virginia, visit entsorgawv.com/.