The Budget Committee heard an official recommendation from Landfill Committee chairperson Sonja Culler and Solid Waste Director Benny Lyons on a new possible location for a new Recycling Center, after the Cherokee Park Drive location caught fire over the summer.

Culler said the day they were going to do the appraisal for the previously proposed King building, they received a phone call from someone who told Culler she had another offer to give them.

“When Benny and I looked at this building, we thought it was much more suitable,” Culler said.

This new offer, which the committee chose not to publicly identify, is two buildings, the first roughly 10,000 square feet, while the second is about 1,650 square feet, roughly five acres of total property.

“This is not on the walking path,” she said. “It is not going to be down there where people are going to be falling in pits and breaking their legs.”

She said the appraisal for this location came out to $400,000, and the current owners are requesting $380,000 for the property.

Culler said the Landfill Committee’s request to Budget was for $430,000, which consists of the $380,000 for the property and $50,000 to prepare some of the extra steps, though Culler said they may not need all of that $50,000.

Charles Von Cannon expressed security concerns about the property, pointing to a fencing issue that could allow vandalism or theft of the center’s property.

“I do not want to get flat-footed,” Von Cannon said. “There is an alleyway of 615 feet that is not fenced […]”

Culler said observations like that are part of what the $50,000 will go towards as the project continues.

Lyons said an advantage of this proposed location is the ability to separate the loading dock from the rest of the equipment inside the buildings, which frees up more space.

“If we set it up right, we will have a loading dock out here by itself, the bailer will be over here by itself,” Lyons said. “Nothing will ever interact with anything.”

One downside, however, is the height of the ceiling, which he said is too low to allow the dump truck to come in, meaning the county will need to add on to the front of the building in order to give the right clearance.

Lyons said they might be able to use some of the incoming insurance money in order to cover that cost.

The Budget Committee unanimously approved the budget request to set aside $430,000. The full commission meets Monday evening, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse.