Maverick County Commissioners Court approve Used Tire Removal Contract to comply with TCEQ Notice of Violation

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015

Maverick County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the hiring of Reliable Tire Disposal at its October 26, 2015 meeting to remove thousands of used tires stored at the Maverick County Fairgrounds, also known as the Caballo Dorado Arena, in order to comply with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Notice of Violation issued to Maverick County on July 1, 2015.

Maverick County Purchasing Director Luis Rodriguez presented Commissioners Court two proposals submitted for the removal of used tires and recommended hiring Reliable Tire Disposal under Agenda Items Nos. 32, 33 and 34.

Rodriguez advised Commissioners Court that if they approved Reliable Tire Disposal they could start the removal of the used tires at the Maverick County Fairgrounds (Caballo Dorado Arena) as early as Monday, November 2, 2015.

Rodriguez and Commissioners Court discussed certain issues, including the number of tires that could be removed with the $50,000 contributed by the Maverick County Solid Waste Authority (Maverick County Landfill). Rodriguez pointed out that the $50,000 budget will not cover the entire removal of all the used and scrap tires from Maverick County, but will cover thousands of them.

Rodriguez noted the importance of moving forward on the tire removal project due to an extended deadline of December 30, 2015 given by TCEQ to Maverick County to complete the removal of all used tires at the Caballo Dorado Arena.

“We recommend that we go with Reliable Tire Disposal for the Caballo Dorado Arena Project under the $50,000 that we have available,” said Rodriguez.

Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo asked if Commissioners Court had any further questions or a motion for agenda item No. 32 which called to approve Reliable Tire Disposal to provide services of the tire transportation for the Caballo Dorado Arena.

Commissioners Court unanimously approved agenda item No.33 which called for the approval of an agreement with Reliable Tire Disposal for the transportation of tires for the Caballo Dorado Arena.

Under agenda item No.34, Commissioners Court discussed a plan of action to advertise for the disposal of Maverick County used tires by Rodriguez.

After discussing the logistics on how to implement a sound and economical plan for the removal of the remaining used tires in Maverick County, Commissioners Court approved agenda item No.34 which called for the advertising for proposals to contract for the disposal of Maverick County tires.

Commissioners Court and Maverick County Auditor Sandra Watkins continue working on a plan to remove all the used tires from Maverick County as well as avoid in the future a similar accumulation of used tires from reoccurring.

Maverick County was originally cited by TCEQ on July 1, 2015 with a Letter of Notice of Violation regarding the thousands of used tires stored at the Caballo Dorado Arena, giving the County a September 30, 2015 deadline. However, TCEQ gave Maverick County an extension of the deadline to December 30, 2015. Although Maverick County has a budget of $50,000 to remove these tires, these funds will not be sufficient to cover the costs of the complete removal of all used tires in the County. Commissioners Court will more than likely have to find another source of funds to complete the tire removal project to comply with the TCEQ deadline of December 30, 2015. The storage of used tires causes many public health and sanitary issues to citizens and is prohibited by state law.