To the editor:

It is interesting to see SPSA back in the news, after a few years of flying under the radar of most people and interests. The dust has settled since the reorganization, when many were talking of the gutting of assets and rights.

It seems interesting that the rise in visibility is tied to the smell management failure of the past. Remember this? “Trust us; we are doing all we can.”
Trust is the issue with all things that touch SPSA. In the past, this organization has been very poorly managed, and transparency has suffered greatly.

The primary issue has been and remains the fact that the bigger localities have only one agenda — to pay the lowest tipping fees possible, even if it is bad for the environment and for the citizens of Suffolk.
The grander issue for those of us who live with the landfill is the fact that our own council and representatives on the SPSA board have been so easily swayed by the demands of their more sophisticated big-city neighbors.
By example, consider the utter surrender of our original rights as codified in the assembly documents that founded SPSA. Suffolk politicians have sacrificed the city’s rights on the altar of Tidewater politics.

We had a reasonable deal when all this started, and it would have given use rights to the site this coming year, but that deal was frittered away by the same politicos who now say they are watching out for us.

The original agreement stated that Suffolk would get the site and the capacity for Cells 6 and 7 in 2018. That capacity could have served the needs of Suffolk citizens for more than 60 years.
Also, what happened to the plan for improvements at the Route 58 landfill entrance — plans for a better interchange and approach for trucks entering the site? When SPSA filed for a conditional use permit from Suffolk to open Cells 6 and 7, it was noted that a flyover to the site from the western approach would be needed.

That got delayed, because SPSA was looking to close the site. Now, the site looks to be in full operation, and the cells are open. Our side got the shaft once again.
Vice Mayor Leroy Bennett and others claim they’re watching out for Suffolk in regards to SPSA. But those claims ring hollow now.

Mark my words: The city is already planning to raise your trash disposal fee to pay for Suffolk’s forfeited landfill rights, and it will not end with just one increase. Suffolk had a sweet deal when SPSA was organized. If our leaders had looked out for us all, recognizing the costs to Suffolk and her citizens of hosting the landfill, we still would.
So I really will not be surprised when SPSA once again gets the better of our career politicians, who scramble to be regional players, rather than local leaders.

Roger Leonard

Suffolk