By Michael Howell
In early March of 2011, officials at the Department of Environmental Quality received an anonymous complaint that someone at the Hamilton Golf Club had dug a trench behind the maintenance shop for disposal of garbage, barbed wire and plastics.
Larry Alheim, enforcement officer for DEQ, met with Walt Smith of the Hamilton Golf Club in September and again in December to examine the site. In his report Alheim states that all the solid waste material had been removed from the trench and was placed along the bank of the trench for future removal to the landfill. Alheim observed wooden fence posts, wire, scrap metal, and other items along the bank of the trench. He reported that Smith planned to have the garbage removed in the spring.
On Monday, June 11, Deputy County Attorney Dan Browder met with the county commissioners and said he had just recently been made aware of the DEQ violation. He said that the Golf Club was working with DEQ to address the solid waste disposal violation but that the violation was compounded when the Golf Club failed to report the violation to the county.
Browder said that the county, as landowner, holds a lease with the Golf Club that requires proper disposal of solid waste and has a provision requiring the county to be notified of any permit violations relating to activity on the golf course. He said that DEQ is handling the solid waste problem, but recommended that the commissioners send a letter to the Golf Club notifying them of the failure to notice violation as well and urge them to comply with the notice provision in the future.
The Commissioners agreed to send the letter.