A citizen petition to OPEN HOBBS collection site

The State of Maryland required that a landfill located at Hobbs collection site undergo an environmental maintenance activity known as capping. This process was estimated to take six months.

The County Commissioners (Cole, Layton, Ghrist) decided to close the Hobbs collection site during the capping process for two primary reasons: safety and budget. Safety, in that the capping process uses large equipment and hard-hat activities. Budget, in that the county is seeking to cut expenses.

The Commissioners closed the Hobbs collection site on July 1, 2010. However, they did not commit to re-opening the site upon completion of capping. It was reasoned that the closure “could lead people to develop a new routine and Hobbs Road may therefore not need to be reopened” [Times-Record, June 9, 2010, p. A12].

Many citizens have not accepted the closure. Citizens have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction to the Commissioners, leading one Commissioner to say “closing Hobbs Road, even on a temporary basis, was a poor decision” [Times-Record, July 28, 2010, p. A4].

The Commissioners recently held several meetings about this topic, but have chosen to stop discussion rather than decide if and when Hobbs will open [Times-Record, August 25, 2010, p. A5].

This petition asks the County Commissioners to pass a resolution that:

• announces a specific date for the Hobbs collection site to open,

• identifies this date to be no later than the end of capping, and

• states that all services will resume (trash, recycling, brush, etc.).

Thank you for listening to the concerns of your constituents, and for your consideration in this matter.

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